St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is known as the final resting place for Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau and will soon have an attraction for residents and visitors to tour. The old building across from the cemetery will be turned into a museum for New Orleans’ culture on how funerals are done in the Crescent City. 
The three-story red brick building will be getting a $10 million facelift by Kern Studios. Barry Kern, CEO explains that they are planning to turn the building into a $10 million attraction designed to explain one of New Orleans’ most unique cultural phenomena: The way it sends off and celebrates the dearly departed.They have a 99-year lease on the building that is owned by the Housing Authority of New Orleans.
The attraction will be called The City of the Dead and will focus on the death and burial of New Orleans. “It’s going to be interesting, interactive and fun. We will tell real stories and it will be an attraction for the whole family. But it won’t be a history museum. It’s an attraction,” explains Kern.
Construction began this summer and should take around eighteen months to complete. The attraction should open in early 2025, which is the same year that New Orleans will host Super Bowl LIX.
“We hope to have a soft opening on All Souls Day 2024, (which is November 2, the day after Roman Catholics celebrate All Saints Day). But we want to be ready and rolling for the first of the year for Super Bowl,” said Kern.
“New Orleans is stronger when our visitors come to appreciate our culture, not just our nightlife on Bourbon Street. The cemetery experience will be another safe, family friendly activity for locals and visitors alike to learn about one of the more mysterious elements of our culture that Mark Twain referred to as Cities of the Dead,” boasts Jaeger.
