Hurricane Katrina may have largely spared the French Quarter, but the catastrophic storm is destined to be memorialized there in powerful detail in a major exhibition the Louisiana State Museum plans to open next year in the historic Presbytere on Jackson Square.

Artifacts -- everything from a blue tarp to a Coast Guard helicopter rescue basket to Fats Domino's flood-damaged piano -- will tell some of the story. In addition to photographs and audio-visual presentations, the museum also may engage storm survivors to tell their stories in person.

The 9,500-square-foot Katrina exhibit is just one of several innovations envisioned by the museum's director, David Kahn.