MUSEUMS
Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, located at the National Mall in D.C., is the country’s top-flight destination for aviation and spaceflight history. The museum celebrates man’s quest for the skies and beyond. Aptly located near the museum entrance is the Wright Flyer, the first powered heavier-than-air aircraft to sustain flight designed by the Wright brothers, that started the age of flight and aviation. Included to their numerous displays of significant objects and machines that transformed air flight and space exploration is the Spirit of St. Louis of Charles Lindbergh which made the first successful solo trans-Atlantic flight, the Apollo 11 Columbia command module which was part of the mission that landed the first man on the moon, the Bell X-1 which broke the sound barrier, the Friendship 7 capsule which took the first American in space, and many more flying machines which played important parts in human history. Apart from historical air and space machines, one of the highlights of the museum is a replica of the fictional spacecraft USS Enterprise from the Star Trek series.
Museum of the Bible
The Bible is not just a religious text but is also a historical record. Whether you are Christian or not, learning about the history and narrative of the Bible is a very enriching experience. The Museum of the Bible in Washington DC allows you and your group to experience the Bible like never before. The museum presents exhibits on the history, narrative, and impact of the Bible in world culture and areas like science, government, justice, and freedom. It also contains a vast collection of objects and artifacts of Christian and Jewish origins from Biblical times, ranging from the period of Abraham to the New Testament era, including several fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Visitors can also get a glimpse of life in the 1st century through a recreation of the village of Nazareth.
National Portrait Gallery
The National Portrait Gallery is a Smithsonian art museum dedicated to the faces who made America the country it is today. It is presently housed at the grand Old Patent Building in the National Mall. The museum's permanent collection includes numerous portraits of the distinguished men and women who made significant impacts on the United States and its culture. The National Portrait Gallery offers visitors the experience to meet these prominent Americans face-to-face and learn about their lives and the contributions they gave to American society. The institute began collecting portraits as early as 1921, but the gallery was only established until 1962. Traditionally acquiring only portraitures made using oil paint, the gallery expanded its collection beginning in 1976 by including portraits in all media, photographs, and sculptures.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Known as the United States’ first art collection, the Smithsonian American Art Museum holds an unmatched amalgamation of American Art, spanning from the colonial period to modern times. It is also the most inclusive art collection in the world with over 7,000 artists of different schools and styles represented. Pieces on permanent display include colonial-era portraits, 19th-century landscape paintings, Realist and Impressionist artworks, crafts, folk art, African-American pieces, crafts, and Hispanic art. The exhibitions are mainly displayed at the Old Patent Building, shared with the National Portrait Gallery. The museum also maintains the Renwick Gallery, located right across the street of the White House, for its craft and decorative arts displays.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Holocaust may be a very dark part of human history, but we have a lot to learn from it. The USHMM is the nation’s official memorial to the Holocaust. The institute aims to educate and help leaders and citizens of the world to overcome hate, prevent another genocide, promote the dignity of men, confront racism and anti-Semitism, and uphold democracy. The museum houses 12,750 artifacts, 85,000 historic photographs, 49 million pages of documents, a list of over 200,000 survivors and their families. Over time, it also has collected 1,000 hours of archival footage, 93,000 library items, and 9,000 oral history testimonies - which helps the recording, study, and interpretation of the history of the Holocaust. Two exhibitions have been continuously running at the museum since 1993; the Permanent Exhibition which tells the story of the Holocaust through artifacts, films, and testimonies, and the Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story exhibit which is designed to explain the sensitive issues of the Holocaust for a younger audience.
Smithsonian Museum of American History
True to its mission of empowering people to create a just and compassionate future by exploring, preserving, and sharing the complexity of our past, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History is a great place to learn the social, cultural, political, military, and scientific history of this nation. The museum features various exhibits that celebrate various milestones of American history. These include the original Star-Spangled Banner flag, the John Bull locomotive, the Greenough statue of George Washington, the Greensboro lunch counter, the gunboat Philadelphia, and numerous artifacts on America’s entertainment, sports and music history. There is also a gallery dedicated to the men who held the highest office in the land and the women behind them, the First Ladies. Visitors can even learn the history of American lunch boxes while enjoying their meal at the Star and Stripes Cafe at the lower level of the building.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
National Museum of African American History and Culture Standing out from a crowd of the traditional white buildings around the National Mall, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, with its angular bronze latticed facade, is truly an architectural landmark by itself. The institute is the only national museum dedicated to the celebration of African American life, history, and culture. The museum currently holds more than 40,000 pieces on their collection of artifacts related to the African American community, family, the visual and performing arts, religion, civil rights, slavery, and segregation. Around 3,500 items are on display for the public. Some notable items include salvaged items from a sunken slave ship, a slave identification badge from the 1850s, a Bible owned by Nat Turner, a segregated drinking fountain, a trainer aircraft used by the Tuskegee Airmen and Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves among other valuable items.
National Museum of Natural History
Embark to a journey that will explore the history of life itself at the most visited natural museum in the world. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. is one of the largest institutions of its kind anywhere around the globe. Its wide collection contains more than 145 million artifacts of natural and cultural significance. The museum has some of the rarest specimens - from precious gems like the famous Hope Diamond, taxidermic and live animal specimens, horticultural displays, prehistoric human remains to complete fossils and bones of dinosaurs. The institute is also home to more than 185 professional scientists and researchers - perhaps the largest group of men and women dedicated to the study of the history of the natural world.