Video PlayerClose

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The world's first public museum dedicated to vision and eye health will be built in San Francisco with a donation of 4 million U.S. dollars, the American Academy of Ophthalmology said Saturday.

The 3,500-square-foot (about 325.16-square-meter) museum, which is to be located in the heart of the city's major tourist destination, Fisherman's Wharf in the popular neighborhood of the northern waterfront area of San Francisco, will house a collection of more than 38,000 artifacts, books, and instruments collected for more than 30 years as the treasure of the Museum of Vision now sitting on the northern tip of San Francisco.

The academy said these valuable treasures offer limited opportunities for people to view them at a yearly exhibit at its annual conference. Some of them can be viewed only by appointment at the academy's headquarters in San Francisco.

The project of constructing the new museum, which is expected to complete by 2020, is funded by the donation from prominent ophthalmologist Stanley Truhlsen, who is a past president of the academy.

The new museum will receive more than 30,000 visitors in the first year alone, and it underscores the academy's Saturday effort to highlight the rich history of medical and surgical eye care and to help people understand their eye health, said the academy.

It will also be the first-of-its kind by providing year-round access to the public without an appointment, the academy added.

"Most people don't know what ophthalmology is or how ophthalmologists protect sight ... The new Museum of Vision will be the first of its kind where the public can go to learn about sight, to see it, to touch it," said David Parke II, CEO of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

With the donation, the academy is one-third of the way to its goal of raising 12 million dollars to create a permanent endowment to operate the museum that offers full free access to the public.