NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A New Orleans history museum's $38 million expansion includes a permanent exhibit about the French Quarter's history and incorporates a touch station, a smelling station and virtual reality. The Historic New Orleans Collection plans a block party Saturday, when it opens its new buildings to the public.

  

The 36,000-square-foot new campus includes a restored 200-year-old mansion and a new building behind it, and doubles the museum's public spaces.

  

A large touchscreen table at the center's entrance features an interactive map with information about hundreds of buildings in the French Quarter.

  

On the second and third floors overlooking a courtyard, virtual reality binoculars show what it looked like in earlier times. A virtual window in an elevator also illustrates everyday lives of people who lived and worked in the building.