UPDATE: The Civil Rights Institute will remain open during repairs as they have acquired a temporary HVAC system.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is temporarily closed to the public because of an ongoing HVAC system failure affecting the facility, according to notices posted May 22 and reports published May 22 and May 23, 2026. The closure is described as temporary, though some reports say it is closed until further notice.
The institute sits at 520 16th St. N. in Birmingham’s Civil Rights District, near Kelly Ingram Park and the 16th Street Baptist Church. It opened in November 1992 and was created after years of city-led planning to memorialize Birmingham’s civil rights history.
The idea for the museum dates to 1978, when then-Mayor David Vann first proposed that Birmingham preserve and interpret its civil rights story, and the city later advanced the project under Mayor Richard Arrington Jr.. The institute’s exhibits focus on segregation, the 1963 Birmingham campaign, the Children’s Crusade, the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church and the city’s wider role in the civil rights movement.