Ottawa is going to have a new museum dedicated to portraits of Canadians.
The Portrait Gallery of Canada will be located in the former American Embassy building on Wellington Street.
Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps made the announcement today.
Most of the portraits will come from the National Archives of Canada.
The archives currently hold more than one million portraits of important Canadians rarely seen by the public.
The cost of getting the gallery up and running will be more than $22 million. Copps says it's money well spent.
"I think that $23 million is a small investment to permit the famous and less famous, but important, figures in Canadian history to be seen across the country," Copps says.
The portrait gallery will also have a web site to make it possible to take a virtual tour of the collection.
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