Reagan Library Reopens

The reopening of President Ronald Reagan's hilltop library drew hundreds of visitors to the tomb where the United States' 40th president was laid to rest over the weekend.

A crowd of about 300 people were waiting when the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library opened at 10 a.m. From toddlers to seniors, some wore patriotic T-shirts showing the U.S. flag or simply "U.S.A." Several people carried flower bouquets.

Reagan died at his Los Angeles home June 5 at age 93 from pneumonia complicated by Alzheimer's disease.

After his death, the library and museum was closed for ceremonies, though the public was invited to pass by Reagan's casket in the lobby. About 106,000 people filed past the flag-draped casket during a 34-hour tribute June 7 and 8. Most waited in line for hours.

The mahogany coffin was entombed early Saturday in a garden crypt surrounded by oak trees, just 30 meters (100 feet) from a piece of the Berlin Wall, which came down two years after he demanded that the Soviet Union "tear down this wall."

Next month, on the United States' Independence Day holiday on July 4, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library unveils a new museum exhibit, "Mourning in America," on last week's funeral ceremonies and tributes that followed Reagan's death.

The exhibit will include photo montages, shell casings from the 21 gun salute and the bier on which Reagan's casket rested. Videos of the five days of funeral events in California and Washington will also be shown.

The library reopened Monday with extended hours.

Reagan's widow, Nancy, and his three surviving children had left the library following a Friday night sunset ceremony.

Workers closed the underground crypt overnight Saturday while a handful of Secret Service agents, library personnel and mortuary representatives watched, said Duke Blackwood, the library's executive director.

The mahogany casket was sealed within a bronze-lined vault, two meters (seven feet) underground inside the crypt, which also includes space for his wife's final resting place. Workers covered the crypt with earth and a concrete pathway.