Is There a Modern Art Museum in Washington Dc

Photograph: James Di Loreto / Smithsonian

Here'southward which museums to visit when you're visiting the nation's capital.

Everyone knows about the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.'s crown jewel of museums and research centers established in 1846 "for the increased and diffusion of knowledge." They're amidst the globe's most visited museums and a major reason why millions of tourists traipse effectually the nation'south capital every year. But the best museums in D.C. extend above and across the Smithsonian, including entire entities devoted to language (Planet Give-and-take), spies (International Spy Museum), and women artists (National Museum of Women in the Arts). Large and small, eclectic and unique—these museums bridge a world of natural and cultural curiosities.

As we emerge from the COVID pandemic, museums are still gaining their foothold. Some of the Smithsonians, for instance, remain closed on certain days, and the hours of other museums are in flux. Some take taken the opportunity to close for renovations. Many museums at present require timed entry passes, available online ahead of your visit. Whatsoever piques your interest, here are the best museums to visit in Washington D.C. beyond the Smithsonian.

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National Gallery of Art

I of the world's finest collections of Western Fine art, the National Gallery of Art on the National Mall, is where you come to see rooms full of Old Masters and Impressionists (in the neoclassical West Edifice) and their more than modern contemporaries (in the I. 1000. Pei-designed Eastward Building). A souvenir of Pittsburgh banker and industrialist Andrew Mellon in 1937 to the American people, the collection continues to expand—from the original 126 paintings and 26 sculptures, there are now more than than 155,000 artworks and ever-growing (with ii,300 or so on display at ane time). Highlights include Auguste Renoir'southward "A Girl with a Watering Can," Wayne Thiebaud'due south "Cakes," and the Western Hemisphere's only Da Vinci, "Ginevra de' Benci" (be sure to peek at the allegorical portrait on its behind). The Sculpture Garden across the street showcases larger-than-life sculptures.

INSIDER TIP Continue an eye out for the blockbuster exhibits that come through—Sargent, Canova, and Rothko are recent examples—accompanied by a full accessory of lectures, concerts, and related menu at the Garden Café. Note: general admission is free, and the east fly is airtight for renovations until June 2022.

General Admission: Free, and the east wing is closed for renovations until June 2022.

PHOTO: Wayne Hsieh [CC By-NC-ND 2.0] / Flickr

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Belmont–Paul Women's Equality National Monument

An epicenter in the fight for women's rights, this celebrated two-story brick house merely a stone'due south throw from the U.S. Capitol dates back to 1799. Multimillionaire socialite Alva Belmont helped purchase the house in 1929 for the National Women's Political party (NWP), which lobbied for women'due south rights for more than a century. Alice Stokes Paul, the NWP'southward founder and writer of the Equal Rights Amendment, lived hither for twoscore years. Today, this is Washington'due south just museum devoted to women'southward history. You'll find rooms filled with sepia photographs, original busts of pioneer champions of women'south rights, fading suffrage parade banners, and Susan B. Anthony's desk.

Full general Admission: costless. The monument is temporarily closed for renovations, with plans to reopen in 2023.

INSIDER TIP If yous're interested in women's history in the D.C. area, accept a day trip to Lorton, Virginia, where the Lucy Burns Museum at the Workhouse Arts Eye describes the Night of Terror. The nearby Turning Point Suffragists Memorial in Occoquan Regional Park is the first national memorial for the suffrage move.

Photo: John S. Quinn / Shutterstock

PHOTO: Rob Crandall / Shutterstock

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

The epic National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall opened in 2016 to great fanfare, immediately becoming 1 of the acme Washington D.C. attractions. You start at the everyman level, in the depths of the globe, symbolizing the devastating journeying formerly enslaved people took from Africa into a life of servitude. The exhibits— spanning the Civil War, Restoration, Jim Crow era, the Ceremonious Rights movement, and more—don't shy away from the horrific realities, forcing visitors to examine some savage truths of America'due south very foundation. On the upper levels, African-American arts and culture are celebrated with original artifacts, including Louis Armstrong's trumpet and Marian Anderson's red-orange silk clothes, which she wore while singing at her famous Easter Sunday concert in 1939 at the Lincoln Memorial (after being rebuked from Constitution Hall).

General Access: gratuitous.

INSIDER TIP Timed passes are required for entry. Passes tin can be reserved online up to thirty days in advance; reserve them here. Same-day timed-entry passes are released at viii AM daily.

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The Phillips Collection

Visitors flock to The Phillips Collection for ane famous painting: Renoir's "Dejeuner of the Boating Political party," acquired in 1923 by museum founder and art collector Duncan Phillips. That was merely two years afterwards he established what would go the nation'southward oldest modernistic art museum in the Dupont neighborhood. What truly sets the collection apart is the fact that Phillips was more interested in paintings that spoke to him rather than their market value—though his instinct was spot on. Examples reign throughout the museum, including the chapel-like Rothko Room, designed to the artist's precise specifications, and Jacob Lawrence's "Migration Series, "which chronicles an of import chapter in American history. Spotter for blockbuster traveling exhibits.

General Access: $xvi, and timed tickets are required. Reserve them here.

INSIDER TIP Bring together a free 30-infinitesimal meditation inspired by calming artworks from the museum's permanent drove on Zoom every Wednesday at 12:45 PM.

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Planet Word

Who knew language could exist so much fun? Planet Discussion, which opened in 2020 in the celebrated Franklin Building in downtown D.C., approaches language with various interactive exhibits that entertain adults and children alike. But it'due south more than that. It'southward the world's get-go voice-activated museum. A giant talking wall of lit-upward, 3D words asks visitors questions (interspersed with interesting facts, such as the greatest language innovators of words are teenage girls). The scenes of books, hiding backside hush-hush mirrors, spring to life in the magical library as yous read passages etched beneath. You can tape a voice communication, effort to make your friend laugh with corny jokes, and learn about end words and other rhyming techniques while singing karaoke. Whatever the case, you'll leave both wowed and smarter, guaranteed.

General Admission: Suggested $fifteen donation. Admittance is by advanced timed passes, available online.

INSIDER TIP Eschew climbing the stairs to the third floor, where the visit starts. The elevators are decked out with a literary twist you shouldn't miss.

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National Museum of Women in the Arts

The elegant Renaissance Revival-style building in downtown D.C. is the perfect setting for the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the world's only major museum devoted to women's contributions to the arts. You lot'll find the large hitters here, including Camille Claudel, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, and bottom-known artists, including Lavinia Fontana, Rosa Bonheur, and Justine Kurland. In total, more 5,500 works span the 16th century to modern twenty-four hour period.

General Admission: $10. The museum is closed for a major renovation, with plans to reopen in autumn 2023.

INSIDER TIP A lively calendar of events includes gallery talks, fine art workshops, and concerts.

PHOTO: Wayne Hsieh [CC Past-NC-ND two.0] / FLickr

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Mary McLeod Bethune Council Firm National Celebrated Site

The adult female who lived at this Second Empire Victorian row house in the Logan Circle neighborhood between 1943 and 1949 should be more famous than she is. Mary McLeod Bethune was a renowned educator, social advocate, and adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt, who fought for racial and gender equality throughout the U.S. and the globe. She led the National Council of Negro Women, among other organizations, property meetings and formal dinners in the dining room. She hosted such distinguished guests every bit Outset Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and activist Mary Church Terrell, and heads of state and ambassadors. Tours of the museum—the nation'due south first museum and archives defended solely to African-American women'due south history—take in many of her original holding, including her massive conference table.

Full general Admission: Free. The museum is temporarily closed due to the pandemic.

INSIDER TIP You tin can visit the house on a really cool virtual tour here.

Photograph: James Di Loreto / Smithsonian

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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

You'll need all day to explore the massive Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, covering everything from mammals to human origins (including replicas of ancient paintings) to gems and minerals to dinosaur fossils—more than 126 million natural scientific discipline specimens and cultural artifacts in total. If information technology's all a tad overwhelming, start past seeking out the most famous exhibitions: the African Bush Elephant in the entrance rotunda, the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond, and the Indo-Pacific coral reef swarming with tropical fish. You'll surely exist curious to explore further from there.

General Access: Free

INSIDER TIP The museum can become extremely crowded, especially in summer. Visit during the week, if possible, and/or early or late in the day.

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National Children's Museum

Yous slide down a cloud-inspired "dream auto" to access the National Children's Museum exhibits in downtown D.C.—you don't have to, just that'due south the kid-way to practise it, for sure. Within the 20,000 foursquare anxiety of exhibit space, you'll find low-tech and high-tech experiences that extol STEAM (scientific discipline, applied science, engineering arts, math). You learn most probability while being slimed (without a mess); create lightning, clouds, and rain at a digital immersive greenish screen that explores weather-making; and tackle the mechanics of a home run hit at a digital/physical batting cage. There's a lot to learn here, and kids don't even know it; they're having that much fun.

General Access: $15.95 for children 1+ and adults. Avant-garde tickets are recommended, and available online.

INSIDER TIP The Visiting Exhibit Hall showcases don't-miss traveling exhibits from around the world.

PHOTO: Ron Cogswell [CC BY-NC-ND two.0] / Flickr

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President Lincoln'south Cottage

For three oppressively humid summers during the Civil War (1862, 1863, and 1864), President Abraham Lincoln retreated to this Gothic-Revival-fashion cottage on a colina overlooking Washington, D.C. Here, he and his family enjoyed refreshing breezes and a more relaxed presidential protocol than at the White House, 3 miles away. Only here, besides, Lincoln made of his well-nigh defining presidential decisions, including the formulation of the Emancipation Annunciation. A small museum has Lincoln exhibits, and guided tours are bachelor of the cottage. The house is situated on the grounds of the Old Soldier'south Home, where you tin can picnic among landscaping that resembles how it looked in Lincoln's twenty-four hours.

Full general Access: $15. Advanced tickets are required and can exist purchased online.

INSIDER TIP The cottage hosts a slew of interesting events, including speakers, forums, commemorations—and a comedy series.

PHOTO: 010110010101101/Shutterstock

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The Octagon

President James and Dolley Madison briefly lived in this eight-sided house in 1814, subsequently the British burned the nearby President'southward House (every bit the White House was then called), and they had to move. Designed for Virginia planter John Tayloe 3 by Dr. William Thornton, beginning architect of the Capitol, it was completed in 1801. Madison signed the Treaty of Ghent in an upstairs parlor, ending the War of 1812. Today the house looks as it did during Tayloe'due south fourth dimension, though rooms are sparsely busy. You tin take a cocky-guided tour, exploring the drawing-room, dining room, upstairs parlors, Treaty Room (study), and basement.

General Admission: $10.

INSIDER TIP The American Constitute of Architects purchased the business firm in 1898 and established its headquarters here; its renovation was i of the nation'due south first preservation projects. They've since moved into offices directly behind the house.

Photograph: Smithsonian'southward National Air and Space Museum

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Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Ane of D.C.'s top attractions is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum—filled with historic celebrity air and spacecraft, including Charles Lindberg's Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 command module Columbia, and a Boeing 747 cockpit. The museum is undergoing a major renovation and volition be airtight until fall 2022. When information technology reopens, the museum's west wing will introduce eight reimagined galleries, including "Destination Moon" and "Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Historic period." The building's eastern half volition remain closed until 2025.

While the museum remains closed, you can come across some of its collection in other museums, including several meteorites at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Tomahawk cruise missile at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and the Stearman PT-13D Kaydet aircraft at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Its annex, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre in Chantilly, Virginia, which houses air and spacecraft besides large to fit into the museum, remains open.

General Admission: Gratis

Photograph: Sainaniritu | Dreamstime.com

PHOTO: National Museum of American History

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Smithsonian National Museum of American History

The Smithsonian Institution is frequently referred to equally the nation'south attic. At that place's no identify more obvious of this fact than at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a repository of America's almost important artifacts. Nosotros're talking astonishing stuff similar the Star-Spangled Imprint, Julia Child's Kitchen, Abraham Lincoln'southward Top Hat, Judy Garland's Red Cherry-red Slippers, even the Starting time Ladies' Inaugural Gowns. A recent acquisition includes personal items from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away in 2020. The museum, covering everything from transportation to food to the President'southward part to innovation, has three meg artifacts in total, with just three to five percent on brandish at whatsoever once.

General Admission: Costless

INSIDER TIP Sound guide rentals are currently not available, but access select free audio tours on your own device hither.

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National Archives

This sacred marble National Athenaeum almost the National Mall houses the nation's almost of import documents: the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Yous'll find them in the hushful rotunda, each on a marble platform, surrounded past argon gas and encased in a golden-plated titanium frame. But those are simply the superstars of a repository numbering more than 16 billion super-important Federal papers dating back to 1774, plus millions of maps, charts, drawings, photos, motion pic films—and 1,265.7 terabytes of electronic data (to be exact). The David M. Rubenstein Gallery'southward Record of Rights showroom interprets some of America'south near important crossroads, including the civil rights struggle, immigration, and the women'south suffrage movement, while the Public Vaults showcase original records, roofing everything from Federal investigations to Congressional flying saucer hearings to the Nuremberg trials. The Lawrence F. O'Brien Gallery presents changing topical exhibitions that highlight diverse stories of American history equally revealed through the Archives' holdings.

Admission: Free. Entry is by appointment only; sign up hither.

INSIDER TIP You can acquit archival research in the research center entered via Pennsylvania Artery, including genealogical info such as births, dates, and census info on family; immigrant ships' passenger lists; and maps dating from America'due south earliest days.

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Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress

Where are the books? That's the first question everyone asks when entering the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill, the globe'south largest library. Indeed, the Grand Hall resembles a veritable Italian-Renaissance palazzo rather than a library, with marble statues, landscape mosaics, and architectural flourishes. You can peer down on the octagonal Chief Reading Room, with 250 desks beneath a towering dome, while side galleries incorporate permanent and temporary exhibits pulling from the library'south vast collection. More than 39 one thousand thousand books (plus millions of recordings, photographs, maps, sail music, manuscripts, and baseball cards) are tucked abroad on approximately 838 miles of shelves.

General Admission: Free

INSIDER TIP The Library of Congress, perched beyond the street from the Capitol, is surrounded by many noble marble buildings and flowery townhouses. Take a Capitol Hill Walk, best on a sunny spring twenty-four hours. General Admission: Gratis. Timed entry passes are required; sign up here.

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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Yous're given an "identity card" of a real-life person who experienced the Holocaust upon entering the blocky, redbrick United States Holocaust Memorial Museum most the National Mall. By the cease of your visit, you'll know whether they survived or not. This is not an easy museum to visit, simply it's an important 1 to remind us of the atrocities committed by the Nazis betwixt 1933 and 1945 toward Jews, Romans, the LGBTQ customs, the mentally ill, and others. The exhibitions detailing the history are detailed, some are graphic. At the terminate, a Hall of Remembrance provides a much-needed chance to reflect.

General Admission: Free, but timed entry tickets must exist secured in accelerate (reserve them here) or obtained on a commencement-come, first-served basis starting at 10 a.m.

INSIDER TIP This museum is not recommended for children nether 11, merely the "Remember the Children: Daniel'due south Story" exhibit on the basis floor tells the story from a young male child's perspective; no entry tickets are required.

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Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens

Cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post filled her northwest D.C. habitation with French and Russian works of art, always with the heed of turning information technology into a museum. Upon her death in 1973, the doors of this sumptuous, 36-room Georgian mansion were opened to the public equally the Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens, providing a glimpse into a spectacular globe of exquisite gustatory modality and fine living, a place where presidents, royals, dignitaries, and celebrities were fêted. Highlights include the Louis XVI drawing-room, Russian icons and tapestries, and an impressive collection of Fabergé eggs, one of the largest outside Russian federation. There's too a dacha on the vast, landscaped grounds that features temporary exhibits.

INSIDER TIP The garden café is a relaxing place for lunch or tea.

General Access: $eighteen

PHOTO: Courtesy of the International Spy Museum

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International Spy Museum

Yes, there are existent-life spies in D.C., and while we don't know where they are and what they're doing, we tin can larn about their ways at the thrilling, 140,000-square-human foot International Spy Museum in L'Enfant Plaza (it moved from its original Penn Quarter site in 2019). Exhibits delve into the history of espionage, going as far back as Moses' apply of spies in Canaan; inventions and gadgets used to steal secrets; famous spies, including Mata Hari; and much more. You can even cleft codes, spy on other "spies," and examination your other spy skills at digital and physical interactives throughout the museum—you lot just have to remember your embrace identity.

General Admission: $26.95. Advanced tickets are required; purchase them here.

Photo: Wayne Hsieh [CC By-NC-ND 2.0] / Flickr

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Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

Born enslaved in 1818, abolitionist, author, and statesman Frederick Douglass lived in this Anacostia business firm from 1877 until he died in 1895. He chosen information technology Cedar Colina for its tree-shaded hilltop perch offering a vista of the U.Southward. Capitol hovering above the D.C. skyline. I of the get-go black national historic sites designated past Congress, the house has been meticulously restored. It's filled with Douglass's belongings, including books, Limoges china, and photographs, down to his spectacles perched on his roll-elevation desk-bound, painting an prototype of his public and individual life. The tour starts with a moving picture at the nearby visitor middle, and visits are past guided tour only.

General Admission: Costless. Reservations are strongly encouraged; get them hither. The museum is temporarily closed for renovations.

INSIDER TIP Douglass was as well an accomplished violin player. Expect for his violin on the house bout.

Photo: Paul Morigi ,Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery

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Smithsonian American Art Museum/Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

You get two museums in one at this commemoration of American fine art, occupying the glorious Greek Revival Old Patent Function in Penn Quarter. Smithsonian'southward American Fine art Museum exults more than three centuries of art, serving as an unparalleled record of the American experience. Works range from Early on America to Western Art to Impressionism to Modernism and include photography, modern folk and self-taught fine art, African American Art, Latino fine art, and video games. Highlights include the earth's largest collection of New Deal art, a fine collection of American impressionism (including Mary Cassatt), and Albert Bierstadt'south celebratory Western landscapes. Yous'll notice the merely consummate collection of presidential portraits outside the White House at the adjoining Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, only these aren't necessarily their official portraits. Some are staged; others are just fun. Look for Grover Cleveland's portrait in French Impressionist style, Beak Clinton'south abstract portrayal past Chuck Close, and the virtually recent, the hugely symbolic portraits of sometime President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, past artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, respectively.

INSIDER TIP The museum's Kogod Courtyard, with a canopy by Norman Foster, a snack bar, and free WiFi, is a favorite hang-out spot.

Full general Access: Free

Photograph: Sainaniritu | Dreamstime.com

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Smithsonian National Postal Museum

A postal museum might not sound like the near heady museum around, but this tribute to the U.Southward. Postal Service is especially well done. Housed in the former Washington City Post Role, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum's interactive exhibits look at the history of mail commitment, postage collecting, straight marketing, and more. The postage collection, comprising more half dozen million specimens, includes the stamp that delivered the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian. A prop plane and antique railway motorcar in the atrium remember mail commitment in the olden days.

General Admission: Costless

INSIDER TIP The Postal Museum has a famous (blimp) puppy named Owney. He'southward traveled all effectually the earth, including coming together the Emperor of Japan. You'll discover him in the museum'due south atrium.

PHOTO: Nicole S Glass / Shutterstock

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Dumbarton Oaks

Dumbarton Oaks is famed for its Beatrix-Farrand-designed gardens, merely few know most the small notwithstanding extraordinary museum housed in the mansion on the grounds. Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, Mildred, amassed a globe-form collection of Byzantine and Pre-Columbian fine art, now curated past Harvard Academy and on brandish in specially designed galleries. The Byzantine collection spans the fourth to 15th centuries, including fine golden, silver, statuary vessels, jewelry, and coins. Housed in a glass-and-travertine wing designed by Philip Johnson, the Pre-Columbian collection gleams with gold pectorals, formalism jewelry, and stone carvings of Aztec deities and animals.

Full general Access: Free. Timed tickets are required; reserve them here.

INSIDER TIP The Blisses were all about the details of a slice and specifically bought artworks best admired close upwards. Exist sure to get a skillful look.

Photo: Wally Gobetz [CC BY-NC-ND two.0] / Flickr

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Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art

Step into the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art (formerly the Freer Gallery)—the National Mall's first art museum (1923), housed in a Renaissance-fashion palazzo—and y'all're whisked into a hushed globe of eclectic Asian and American art. The collections number more than 45,000 objects, ranging from ancient Egyptian rock sculptures to Korean pottery to Persian manuscripts. Here, also, you'll discover the stunning Victorian-era Peacock Room by James McNeil Whistler (closed for restoration June–September 2022).

Full general Admission: Complimentary.

INSIDER TIP The National Museum of Asian Art is associated with the adjacent Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, displaying Asian art. The two museums are connected via an underground passageway.

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Anderson Firm

This Golden Age mansion in the Dupont Circle neighborhood showcases the eclectic décor, tapestries, furniture, sculpture, and paintings collected during various diplomatic postings around the world of its former owners and D.C. socialites, Larz and Isabel Anderson. But what truly sets it apart is the fact that it'due south also the official headquarters of the Social club of the Cincinnati. You lot know, that historical society founded by Revolutionary War veterans in 1783 (George Washington himself served as the first president general, and Larz Anderson was a devoted member). You lot'll learn all about the nation's oldest private patriotic organization on the commencement two floors.

General Admission: Free. Tours, exhibitions, and historical programs resume on April 1, 2022.

INSIDER TIP A total roster of events with a patriotic twist is offered, including concerts and lectures.

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Museum of the Bible

The monstrous, 430,000-square-human foot Museum of the Bible just south of the National Mall opened in 2017 to much fanfare—and controversy (it's the pet projection of Hobby Anteroom head and evangelist Steve Green). Most agree, notwithstanding, that in the end, it provides a fascinating and richly textured look at the world'due south best-selling volume of all fourth dimension—and its continued influence on the world today. State-of-the-art displays break the mold of museum exhibiting, including a 4-D moving-picture show experience that takes you on a virtual flying tour through D.C. in search of biblical references; a living history feel of first-century Nazareth, including costumed interpreters who field questions about life back then; and rare artifacts from the Vatican and Israel. Y'all'll want to prepare aside a expert clamper of time to take everything in—and fifty-fifty then, you won't encounter everything.

General Access: $nineteen.99 online ($24.99 walk-up).

INSIDER TIP A full roster of events with a patriotic twist is offered, including concerts and lectures.

Photograph: White Business firm Historical Association

Photograph: White House Historical Association

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White House Visitor Center

Rest assured, even if you lot don't accept tickets to visit the White House, i of the top Washington D.C. attractions, you lot still can have a White House feel—at the White Business firm Visitor Center's fun, hands-on museum on Pennsylvania Avenue. Exhibits present the history of the Executive Mansion, behind-the-scenes stories (including the usher's function), and a touchscreen tour of the White House. You'll acquire what it takes to motility one President out and one President in on moving solar day; favorite presidential snacks (James Garfield enjoyed squirrel soup); and personal insights from past presidents on what it means to live in America'southward most famous residence.

General Admission:Gratuitous.

INSIDER TIP Beyond the street stands the venerable Willard Intercontinental, i of the all-time hotels in Washington D.C. with a ton of history. Open for 200 years and counting, its lobby is said to have inspired the term "lobbyist," for the people who came to plead their cases to President Grant equally he relaxed in that location with a cigar.

General Admission: Complimentary

Photograph: U.South. Botanic Garden

Photo: U.S. Botanic Garden

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U.Due south. Botanic Garden

Await, this is a garden, not a museum! Is that what you're thinking? Really, the U.S. Botanic Garden accumulates, and catalogs plants culled on military and exploring missions. In effect, it's a museum of plants. Created in 1820, its origins lie with George Washington, who wanted a national botanic garden in the new federal urban center (though the cataloging responsibilities didn't kick in until 1842). The drinking glass-roofed structure contains more than ten,000 seasonal, tropical, and subtropical specimens, including cacao, pineapple-scented sage, and the corpse flower, which smells similar a rotting corpse when in blossom. Be certain to stroll through the pelting wood, filled with tropical specimens, likewise every bit look down upon information technology from the catwalks. Other rooms present Mediterranean and desert specimens; orchids; Hawaiian plants; a primeval garden of Jurassic-era plants; and medicinal plants, while the National Garden just outside contains gardens devoted to roses, butterflies, regional plants, and h2o plants. Across the street, the gardens of famous Bartholdi Park environs the historic, 30-foot-tall "Fountain of Light and Water," created past the sculptor of the Statue of Freedom.

General Admission: Free.

INSIDER TIP Kids tin ask for a Junior Botanist backpack at the front desk, which offers all kinds of fun activities throughout the conservatory.

PHOTO: Smithsonian Institution

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Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Modern and contemporary art are extolled at the circular-shaped, poured-physical Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden on the National Mall. All the superstars are here, including Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly, Helen Frankenthaler, and Ed Ruscha. But there are some under-the-radar exhibits to note as well, including dramatic postwar art (Yayoi Kusama'south eight-pes "Pumpkin" (2016), for case). The sunken Sculpture Garden, merely across the street, is undergoing a major renovation by Japanese artist-architect Hiroshi Sugimoto from belatedly fall 2022 to spring 2025, simply many treasures are reinstalled on Hirshhorn'due south 4-acre Plaza.

General Admission: Free

INSIDER TIP Continue an eye out for the frequent temporary exhibitions that highlight important modernistic artists and fine art trends.

Photo: Wally Gobetz [CC BY-NC-ND two.0] / Flickr

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Decatur House

Enthralling stories about early Washington come to life on tours of this federal-style row house on Lafayette Square, a block from the White House. Naval hero Stephen Decatur and his wife, Susan, lived here from 1819, when information technology was built, until his death 14 months later in a duel with Commodore James Barron. She went on to rent rooms to Secretary of State Henry Dirt, amid others. John Gadsby, a rich hotel and tavern owner, bought it and turned information technology into a retirement home in 1836. Enslaved workers lived in the two-story dependency, Washington's only extant slave quarters. Tours feature the celebrated slave quarters along with the first and 2nd floors, much of which reflects the influence of a subsequently owner, socialite-to-ambassadors-and-politicians Marie Beale.

General Admission: Free.

INSIDER TIP The White House Historical Clan operates a retail shop here, offer quality White House-related items such as Jackie Kennedy–inspired jewelry, art books, and the annual Christmas tree ornament.

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Renwick Gallery

Yous never know what to expect at the Renwick Gallery, a branch of the Smithsonian'southward American Art Museum. Located steps from the White House, this ode to American crafts and decorative arts continues to amaze with its exhibits rooted in its 2,000-stiff collection of objects, daring to push button the boundaries, entirely devoted to its motto: Dedicated to the Hereafter of Art. "The Present Moment: Crafting a Better Globe" exhibit (May 13, 2022–April 2, 2023), for example, shows how artists can aid spark essential conversations and promote activism past presenting often-overlooked stories of women, people of color, and other marginalized communities.

General Access: Free. The museum is closed until May 13, 2022, in anticipation of its new exhibit.

All of the museums have gift shops, just the Renwick's is the all-time for unique, hand-created gifts.

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Source: https://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/washington-dc/experiences/news/the-23-best-museums-in-washington-d-c

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