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![A boy smiles as he looks at a butterfly sitting on a paint brush he is holding, while a girl next to him watches in wonder.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218004306im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/hero/public/media/image/childrenbutterflypavillionnmnhpaulfetters1806309172retouchedsmall.jpg?itok=trRLIUoi)
Visit
Open daily except December 25, 10:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20560
Admission is FREE to the museum and programs, except where noted.
Special message to visitors: The National Museum of Natural History remains temporarily closed, but select Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are open. To see the locations that are currently open under the Smithsonian’s phased reopening plan, view the Smithsonian visitor information page.
In addition, this closure includes access to the NMNH collections via scientific visits or outgoing loans. Users may continue to access collections information via collections.si.edu. Please do not ship collections such as returned loans to the museum at this time. We will reopen when we are advised that it is safe to do so.
Must-do Experiences
![Two visitors standing in front of the case holding the Hope Diamond, holding up their smart phones to take a picture of it.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218004306im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/gallery/public/media/image/visitors-and-hope-diamondpaulfettersnmnh1806185933.jpg?itok=wT6skMcb)
![Two children in a dark exhibit hall looking at the coral reef fish tank which is right in front of them.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218004306im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/gallery/public/media/image/children-and-coral-reefpaulfettersnmnh1807141718.jpg?itok=G6ErrC_0)
![Two children put their hands over handprints on the wall of a model cave in the Human Origins exhibit.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218004306im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/gallery/public/media/image/children-cave-handprintspaulfettersnmnh1806308397.jpg?itok=fGj9FORd)
![A woman in front of 10 foot tall Megalodon shark jaws, holding up her smart phone to photograph four people behind the jaws.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218004306im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/gallery/public/media/image/visitors-megalodonpaulfettersnmnh1806196273.jpg?itok=gni-eKHK)
![An Insect Zoo employee holds a tarantula in his hand as three children and a woman look in amazement.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218004306im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/gallery/public/media/image/visitors-and-tarantulapaulfettersnmnh1806308716.jpg?itok=xTtT5kX6)
![Bronze sculpture of an early human with a beard and mustache squatting and holding out a piece of wood.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218004306im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/gallery/public/media/image/sculpture-human-originspaulfettersnmnh1806141222.jpg?itok=ycfPsIcm)
![A girl uses a microscope to look at a collection object in the Q?rius education center. A man helps her with the microscope.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218004306im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/gallery/public/media/image/180609world-ocean-day950x594jennifer-renteria3o0a0222.jpg?itok=b7QFNNzA)
![A view of the Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals with a hippo in the foreground.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20201218004306im_/https://naturalhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/hero/public/media/image/hall-mammalspaulfettersnmnh1806141155.jpg?itok=DrEclhdD)