What to do and see in National Mall, District of Columbia (DC): The Best Museums

We belong to you. The National Gallery of Art—the nation’s museum—preserves, collects, exhibits, & fosters understanding of works of art.

A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. Tickets are only needed from March 1 to August 31 to visit the Museum's Permanent Exhibition, which tells the history of the Holocaust from 1933 to 1945. Exhibitions Include: Permanent Exhibition: The Holocaust Spanning three floors, the self-guided Permanent Exhibition presents a narrative history of the Holocaust and features historical artifacts, photographs, and film footage. Personal objects and the concluding eyewitness testimonies highlight the stories of individuals. Recommended for ages 11 or older. The Portal: A Real-Time Conversation with People Forced to Flee Persecution The Shared Studios Portal allows you to have a face-to-face conversation with someone in another part of the world-as if you are standing in the same room. Through this installation, visitors will be able to converse in real time with displaced persons or refugees in Iraq, Jordan, and Germany Remember the Children: Daniel's Story Representing the experiences of many Jewish children during the Nazi era, "Daniel" narrates through his diary the history of the Holocaust in ways that children can understand. Recreated environments present life in a middle-class German home, in a Jewish ghetto in occupied Poland, and finally at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The exhibition is explicit without being graphic. Recommended for ages 8 or older. Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration & Complicity in the Holocaust Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration & Complicity in the Holocaust addresses one of the central questions about the Holocaust: How was it possible? The central role of Hitler and other Nazi Party leaders is indisputable. Less well understood is these perpetrators' dependence on countless others for the execution of Nazi racial policies. Within Nazi Germany and across German-dominated Europe, circles of collaboration and complicity rippled throughout governments and societies wherever victims of persecution and mass murder lived.

Established in 1910 and located on the National Mall, this prestigious museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution, holds the world's most extensive collection of natural history specimens and human artifacts including the remains of dinosaurs and tools used by early man.

Note to visitors: Starting Oct 7, 2019, please enter through the Jefferson Drive entrance (National Mall side). The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum maintains the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world.

The Kreeger Museum is an art museum located in the former residence of Carmen and David Kreeger. Designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, the Museum houses the Kreegers’ collection of 19th and 20th-century painting and sculpture and outstanding examples of African and Asian art.

The Smithsonian Institution has two museums of Asian art: the Freer Gallery of Art, which opened to the public in 1923, and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which welcomed its first visitors in 1987. Together known as the Freer|Sackler, the museums are physically connected by an underground passageway and ideologically linked through the study, exhibition, and sheer love of Asian art. Please note: The Freer Gallery of Art will be closed to the public from January 2016 until summer 2017. The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Library, and Archives will remain open for the duration of the renovation.

A museum of American craft art that begins with James Renwick’s architectural design of the building itself.

The DAR Museum looks at the American experience through objects and art of the American home from the Colonial Era to the early 20th century. Visitors can tour 31 period rooms, learn about the history of American furnishings through a fun interactive area, and research their family history in the library.

The National Woman's Party at the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument is the only museum in the nation's Capitol that tells the inspiring and ongoing story of women's quest for equality. The Sewall House has stood strong on Capitol Hill for over two hundred years. Early occupants of the house participated in the formulation of Congress and witnessed the construction of the US Capitol and the Supreme Court. In 1929, the National Woman's Party (NWP) purchased the house, and it soon evolved into a center for feminist education and social change. For over sixty years, the trail-blazing NWP utilized the strategic location of the house to lobby for women's political, social, and economic equality.Today, the National Woman's Party tells the compelling story of a community of women who dedicated their lives to the fight for women's rights. The innovative tactics and strategies these women devised became the blueprint for women's progress throughout the twentieth century. The Museum exhibits highlight the tactics and strategies used during the 20th century women's rights movement. Artifacts from the NWP collection bring the story to life. Public Programs showcase the Museum's commitment to continuing conversations on women's progress while examining the ongoing national and international quest for women's equality.The site was dedicated as a National Monument for its significance to the history of the United States.