TICONDEROGA -- Dedication of the Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center at Fort Ticonderoga coincides with the first new exhibit at the fort in decades.

Hundreds of guests are expected for the official opening of the Mars Education Center at 2 p.m. Sunday.

"The newly restored magasin du roi, the King's Warehouse, was blown up by the evacuating French in 1759," fort Marketing Director Marci Hall said.

"This building completes the restoration of the fort to its original 1755 configuration and houses a new exhibit, Face of War,' and state-of-the-art educational space."

She said French troops destroyed the building in 1759 to keep the advancing British from benefiting from their stores. The new French ambassador to the United States, Pierre Vimont, is expected from Washington, D.C., for the dedication of the Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center.

"Monsieur Vimont's visit will be a fitting highlight to the dedication," Hall said.

The Early Music Society of New York City will present a concert at the Mars Education Center at 3:30 p.m. Sunday and a reception at 5:30 p.m.

Deborah Clarke Mars and her husband, Mars candy company heir Forrest Mars Jr., won't be at the dedication, however.

The Mars are traveling and can't make it back in time, according to Mr. Mars.

The Mars contributed a substantial portion of the facility's $24 million cost.

The 15,200-square-foot Mars Education Center is a state-of-the-art facility that includes geo-thermal heating and cooling and special conservation techniques.

The most prominent feature of the new building is the climate-controlled exhibit space that allows for display of collection items not previously seen, Hall said.

The first such exhibit is "Face of War; Triumph and Tragedy at Ticonderoga, 1758-1759."

With life-sized figures, collection objects, texts and maps, the exhibit will illustrate the French and Indian War from the Indian, French and British perspectives.

Participants' own words from their diary entries and other items from the fort's collection will lead the visitor through the gallery and impart the experience of the soldiers who fought in the tumultuous battles, Hall said.