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World's Largest
Museum Complex |
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Museums
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National Programs
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Research Centers
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Visitor Information
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Kids Stuff
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When you visit any of the Smithsonian’s
18 museums and galleries or the National Zoo, you’re entering
the world’s largest museum complex. The Smithsonian Institution
holds more than 143.7 million artifacts and specimens in its trust
for the American people. The Institution, also a center for research,
is dedicated to public education, national service and scholarship
in the arts, sciences and history. The Smithsonian was established
in 1846 with funds bequeathed to the United States by James Smithson,
an English scientist, “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
Ten Smithsonian museums and galleries are located on the National
Mall between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol. Six other
museums and the Zoo are elsewhere in the Washington metropolitan area.
The Cooper–Hewitt, National Design
Museum and the National
Museum of the American Indian’s George Gustav Heye Center
are located in New York City. The newest museum to be established
within the Smithsonian is the National Museum of African American
History and Culture,which will be built on the National Mall in Washington,D.C.The
Arts and Industries Building is closed in preparation for renovation.
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Administrative headquarters, which houses offices, the Smithsonian
Information Center and an exhibition in the Commons titled “The
Smithsonian Institution: America’s
Treasure Chest”
Highlights: Video orientation, interactive touch-screen stations with
information on the Smithsonian in six languages and a scale model
of the federal city
1000 Jefferson Drive
S.W. Metro Station: Smithsonian (Mall exit) Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30
p.m.
Available Services: Food Service, Museum Store, Information, Money
Machine, Wheelchair Access, Public TTY
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Exhibitions of Asian art highlighting varied artistic traditions,
from ancient times to the present
Highlights: Chinese jades and bronzes, ancient Iranian silver, Persian
manuscripts, modern Japanese ceramics
1050 Independence Avenue S.W. Metro Station: Smithsonian (Mall or
Independence Avenue exits)
Available Services: Museum Store, Information, Cloakroom or Lockers,
Wheelchair Access
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Exhibitions of Asian art with objects dating from Neolithic times
to the early 20th century, as well as the world’s most important
collection of works by American artist James McNeill Whistler
Highlights: Chinese paintings, Japanese lacquer, Indian sculpture,
Korean ceramics, Islamic metalware, Whistler’s Peacock Room
Jefferson Drive at 12th Street S.W. Metro
Station: Smithsonian (Mall or Independence Avenue exits)
Available Services: Museum Store, Information, Cloakroom or Lockers,
Wheelchair Access
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Displays the art of our time in a cylindrical structure and adjoining
plaza and sunken sculpture garden
Highlights: Large sculptures by Rodin, Moore, Muñoz and Lichtenstein
in plaza and garden; paintings by de Kooning, Warhol and Richter in
the galleries; Calder mobiles; film series
Independence
Avenue and Seventh Street S.W. Metro Station: L’Enfant Plaza
(Smithsonian Museums exit)
Available Services: Museum Store, Information, Cloakroom or Lockers,
Wheelchair Access, Public TTY
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Twenty-three galleries, exhibiting hundreds of aircraft, spacecraft,
missiles, rockets and other flight-related artifacts
Highlights: Wright 1903 Flyer, Spirit of St. Louis, SpaceShip-One,
Apollo 11 Command Module, Hubble Space Telescope test vehicle
Independence Avenue and Seventh Street S.W.
Metro Station: L’Enfant Plaza (Smithsonian Museums exit)
Available Services: Food Service, Museum Store, Information, Money
Machine, Wheelchair Access, IMAX® Theater, Planetarium
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Exhibits the finest examples of traditional and contemporary art from
the entire continent of Africa
Highlights: Sylvia H. Williams Gallery dedicated to contemporary African
art
950 Independence Avenue S.W. Metro
Station: Smithsonian (Mall or Independence Avenue exits)
Available Services: Museum Store, Information, Cloakroom or Lockers,
Public TTY |
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Devoted to the scientific, cultural, social, technological
and political development of the United States, the museum is closed
for major building renovations until mid-2008. Visit the museum’s
Web site at americanhistory.si.edu
to explore exhibitions, collections and activities. |
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National
Museum of the American Indian
Home to one of the largest and most diverse collections of American
Indian cultural objects in the world, with exhibitions—presented
from a Native point of view—covering North, Central and South
America
Highlights: Three films, “Who We Are,” “Welcome
Home,” and “A Thousand Roads”; Resource Center with
computer stations and reference materials
Independence
Avenue and Fourth Street S.W. Metro Station: L’Enfant Plaza
(Smithsonian Museums exit)
Available Services: Food Service, Museum Store, Information, Money
Machine, Wheelchair Access, Public TTY |
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Exhibitions on earliest human origins; development of world cultures;
ancient and modern mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects and
sea creatures
Highlights: Dinosaurs; history and culture of Africa; geology, gems
and minerals; Hope Diamond; Mammal Hall; Discovery Room
10th
Street and Constitution Avenue N.W. Metro Station: Federal Triangle
or Smithsonian (Mall exit)
Available Services: Food Service, Museum Store, Information, Cloakroom
or Lockers, Money Machine, Wheelchair Access, Public TTY, IMAX®
Theater
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The International Gallery features changing exhibitions on subjects
related to science, history, art, technology and culture from Smithsonian
museums and other organizations.
Discovery Theater offers live educational performances in music, theater,
storytelling and puppetry for young people ages 2to 14, from September
through July. For reservations and schedule, contact (202) 357-1500
or visit the Web site www.DiscoveryTheater.org.
1100 Jefferson Drive S.W. Metro Station: Smithsonian
(Mall exit)
Available Services: Wheelchair Access
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This branch museum is dedicated to exhibiting American contemporary
crafts from the 19th to the 21st centuries.
Highlights: Larry Fuente’s “Game Fish,” Albert Paley’s
“Portal Gates,” Wendell Castle’s “Ghost Clock,”
Grand Salon, craft sales in the Museum Store
Pennsylvania
Avenue at 17th Street N.W. Metro Station: Farragut West (17th Street
exit) and Farragut North (K Street exit)
Available Services: Museum Store, Information, Wheelchair Access,
Cloakroom or Lockers |
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Devoted to the history of America’s mail service and the hobby
of stamp collecting
Highlights: Full-size semi-truck-cab cutaway; three vintage mail planes;
a stagecoach; 1931 Ford Model A postal truck; replica of a railway
car; letters; mailboxes and a circa 1917 post office; special exhibits
of rare and important stamps; videos, computer interactives and hands-on
activities
2 Massachusetts Avenue N.E.
Metro Station: Union Station (First Street exit)
Available Services: Museum Store, Information, Post Office, Wheelchair
Access |
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Some 2,400 animals of 400 species in a 163-acre park 20 minutes from
the National Mall by subway
Highlights: Giant pandas; Asia Trail; tropical rain forest exhibit;
rare Sumatran tigers; “Kids’ Farm,” Great Ape House
Main Entrance: 3001 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Limited
paid parking available. Metro Station: Woodley Park/Zoo/Adams Morgan
is a few blocks south on Connecticut Avenue. Hours: March–November,
grounds, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., and buildings, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; November–Marchl,
grounds, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and buildings, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed
December 25. For information, call (202) 633-4800 (recording) or (202)
673-0127 (voice).
Available Services: Food Service, Museum Store, Information, Parking,
Money Machine, Wheelchair Access
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Tells the stories of America through the individuals who have shaped
our
nation, from pre-Colonial times to
today, including poets and presidents,
visionaries and villains,actors
and activists
Highlights “America’s Presidents,”
with images of the 42 presidents in
the nation’s only complete collection
of presidential portraits outside the White House; Lunder
Conservation Center, a new innovative public space with
interactive kiosks and video
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Artworks, including paintings, sculpture, photographs, folk art
and decorative arts from the Colonial period to today, offer an
unparalleled record of the American experience
Highlights Lunder Conservation Center, a new innovative public space
with interactive kiosks and video; Luce Foundation Center for American
Art, new public study center with more than 3,300 artworks to explore
The Reynolds Center contains both museums at Eighth and F Streets
N.W. Metro Station: Gallery Place/Chinatown. Hours: 11:30 a.m. to
7 p.m. Closed December 25.
Available Services: Food Service, Museum Store,
Information, Cloakroom or Lockers, Wheelchair Access
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Dedicated to documentation, preservation and
interpretation of African American history and culture from a community
perspective
Highlights Research library; call (202) 633-4862 for required reservation.
“Precious Memories,” a free genealogy workbook; call
(202) 633- 4868 for a copy
1901 Fort Place S.E. Take the Green Line to Anacostia Metro Station;
transfer to W-2 or W-3 bus (both stop in front of the museum). From
the National Mall, take Independence Avenue east to Pennsylvania
Avenue to 11th Street S.E. Cross the 11th Street Bridge to Martin
Luther King Avenue to Morris Road;
it becomes Erie Street, then Fort Place.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed December 25.
Available Services:Parking Wheelchair Access
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Displays hundreds of aviation and space artifacts that are too large
to exhibit in the museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.,
along with thousands of small flight-related artifacts
Highlights: Space Shuttle Enterprise, B-29 Superfortress Enola
Gay, Concorde, Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbird, Boeing Stratoliner
14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway Chantilly,
Virginia; near Washington Dulles International Airport
Available Services: Food Service, Museum Store,
Information, Cloakroom or Lockers, Parking (fee), Money Machine,
Wheelchair Access, IMAX® Theater |
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Changing exhibitions on compelling and current issues in design explore
the role of design in daily life and often include objects from the
museum’s collections of wallcoverings, applied arts and industrial
design, drawings and prints, and textiles.
2 East 91st Street, New
York City
An admission fee is charged;
free to Smithsonian Associates and museum members.
Hours: Monday–Thursday,
10am to 5pm; Friday, 10am to 9pm; Saturday, 10am to 6pm; Sunday,
noon to 6pm. Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's
Day.
Call 212.849.8300 or 212.849.8400
(recording) for information.
Available Services: Food
service, Museum Store, Information, Checkroom or Lockers, Wheelchair
Access |
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With a dynamic schedule of changing exhibitions, family and school
programs, film festivals and performances, the museum presents the
lifeways and traditions of Native peoples throughout the Americas
Heye
Center, 1 Bowling Green, New York City
Free admission. Hours: 10am
to 5pm daily, and on Thursday until 8pm Closed December 25.
Call 212.668.6624 (recording),
212.514.3700 (voice) or 202.357.1729 (TTY) for information.
Available Services: Museum
Store, Information, Checkroom or Lockers, Wheelchair Access |
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Check out maps and information signs located around the National
Mall and at the Donald W. Reynolds Center
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Free, unless otherwise noted. |
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The Washington, D.C., museums are open daily, except December
25, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., unless otherwise noted. Extended
summer hours are determined annually. The Smithsonian Information
Center in the Castle is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. |
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Most museums offer free highlights tours on a walk-in basis.
For times and other details, call Smithsonian Information, ask
at any museum information desk or check online |
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General information brochures are available in various languages.
Publications and services for visitors with disabilities are
available in alternative formats. To request an English version
of this brochure in an alternative format, contact Smithsonian
Information |
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The Institution offers a range of memberships that appeal to
a variety of interests. Contact Smithsonian Information to learn
more
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Check the brochure map for the locations of these Smithsonian
gardens—Enid A. Haupt Garden; Kathrine Dulin Folger Rose
Garden (no tours); Mary Livingston Ripley Garden; Butterfly
Habitat Garden (in season). From mid-April through September
(weather permitting), horticulturists lead 30- to 45-minute
tours once a week. Check at garden entrances for signs about
a tour for that day
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Usually 10 days in early summer, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
brings musicians, cooks, storytellers, artisans and workers
to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to speak about their
experiences and demonstrate their creative talents |
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Outdoors on the National Mall, across Jefferson
Drive from the Arts and Industries Building, the Smithsonian
carousel operates seasonally
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ImaginAsia,
a free program usually offered weekly, invites children ages
6 to 14, with adult companions, to explore an exhibition and
create a related art project to take home. Children also hear
stories and learn about Asian culture through music and art
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ArtLab in the Sculpture
Garden, a learning space where innovative programs stimulate
creativity and broaden understanding of modern and contemporary
art in people of all ages. Free “Family Guides”with
color-coded Artcards,
teen workshops,“Young at Art” programs and family
activities open
shared pathways into art’s magic for kids and teens.
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The gallery “How
Things Fly” explains the principles of flight and
features hands-on activities, live demonstrations and more
than 50 interactive stations. The Einstein
Planetarium projects images about space and astronomy
onto a star-filled, domed ceiling. The Lockheed
Martin IMAX Theater shows large-format films on a screen
five stories high
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Programs held throughout the year for children of all ages offer
African music, hands-on workshops, storytelling and special
tours |
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Revised August 2006. Information subject to change.
Please call 202.633.1000 (voice) or 202.633.5285 (TTY) to verify dates
and other information. |
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Note: The National Gallery of Art is not a Smithsonian museum. |
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Web Visitor
Information |
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Phone 202.633.1000 or 202.633.5285
(TTY) Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and weekends from 10am-4pm |
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Mail Write to Smithsonian Information,
SI Building, Room 153, MRC 010, P.O. Box 37012, Washington,
D.C. 20013-7012 |
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Email info@si.edu |
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