Around the National Mall in Washington DC you’ll find some of the renowned Smithsonian museums, gardens and galleries. The museums under the Smithsonian are all free to enter but encourage donations as a way to keep these museums open for future generations. The Smithsonian Castle is one building that very clearly sticks out from all the others. Although the interior contains only references to the other museums and a cafeteria, on the back side of the castle is where you’ll find the gardens that are beautifully maintained.
One of the first museums that we visited on our trip was the National Museum of American history. This museum covers everything that shaped the country as we know it today, from the development of different industries to the evolution of pop culture. The most impressive item on display, apart from the bat mobile from 1989’s Batman, is the American flag that inspired our National Anthem. It’s in a fragile condition after so many years preventing you from taking any kind of picture but it was pretty neat to see it up close.
A very memorable stop on our trip was at the Renwick gallery, which at the time was housing art and decorations from the Burning Man festival. Having never been to the festival it was incredible to see the imaginative and elaborate pieces of art that sometimes end up getting burned down. The displays at the gallery consisted of different suits, statues and a temple made of wood that was spared from the fire. The temple was really cool because they allowed you to add pieces of wood that contained messages, some of which were very heartfelt.
Not forgetting about the art enthusiasts, there are two galleries I recommend. The National Gallery of Art is home to one of the few pieces of Leonardo da Vinci’s collection outside of Europe. The gallery also contains many paintings from great artists such as Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne, and features some interesting pieces that depict different biblical figures and events. The other art gallery is the National Portrait Gallery that is located a few blocks away from the National Mall. As the name implies, this gallery contains many portraits and busts of different historically influential figures. Some of its newer additions at the time of our visit included the Barack and Michelle Obama portraits.
Out of all the museums we visited though, my favorite stops were the Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum. I have always had a fascination with our planet along with the evolution of the different species that live on it. On the other hand, I also marvel at the achievements made by humans to not only achieve the ability of flight but to escape our planet’s gravity altogether giving us the chance to look at ourselves from a different perspective.
Now we did not see all the museums that were available to us as there was a lot of walking involved with just seeing the ones I listed. However there will be a chance in the not so distant future and I recommend everyone with the means to go to DC to check out these cultural hotspots!