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John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Since opening in 1971, the Kennedy Center has continued its efforts to fulfill his vision-presenting the greatest performers and performances from across America and around the world, nurturing new works and young artists, and serving the nation as a leader in arts education.

 

Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre broadens and brightens the region's cultural landscape with its bold productions of challenging new and established works. Musical Theater is Signature's "signature," and the Theatre is renowned for its definitive Sondheim productions, inventive adaptations of overlooked or forgotten works, and investment in fresh new projects.

signature
 

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Woolly Mammoth is acknowledged as "WASHINGTON'S MOST DARING THEATRE COMPANY" (The New York Times), as a regional and national leader in the development of new plays, and as one of the best known and most influential theatres in America. Woolly Mammoth has gained this reputation by holding fast to its unique mission: . . to ignite an explosive engagement between theatre artists and the community by developing, producing and promoting new plays that explore the edges of theatrical style and human experience, and by implementing new ways to use the artistry of theatre to serve the people of Greater Washington, DC.

 

Museums

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Addison/Ripley Fine Art Museum

Established in 1981 by partners Sylvia Ripley and Christopher Addison, Addison/Ripley has become one of Washington's foremost contemporary galleries, featuring changing exhibitions of the work of leading area and of internationally recognized artists. Painting, sculpture, photography and fine arts prints are among the disciplines presented.

Addison

 

Anacostia Community Museum

As the Smithsonian Institution's museum of African American history and culture, the Museum explores American history, society, and creative expression from an African American perspective. The museum encourages the collection, protection, and preservation of materials that reflect the history and traditions of families, organizations, individuals, and communities.

Anacostia

 

Arlington National Cemetary

Arlington National Cemetery is a military cemetery in the United States, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House. The cemetery is situated directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., near The Pentagon. More than 290,000 people are buried in an area of 624 acres. Veterans and military casualties from every one of the nation's wars are interred in the cemetery, from the American Revolution through the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Arlington National Cemetary

 

Arthur M. Sackler and Freer Galleries

Asian art is the focus of this museum and the neighboring Freer (together, they form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States). The Sackler opened in 1987, thanks to Arthur M. Sackler's gift of 1,000 priceless works. Since then, the museum has received 11th- to 19th-century Persian and Indian paintings, manuscripts, calligraphies, miniatures, and book bindings from the collection of Henri Vever. In spring 2003, art collector Robert O. Muller bequeathed the museum his entire collection of 4,000 Japanese prints and archival materials.

arthur sackler

 

Corcoran Gallery of Art

Only a block from the White House and just a short walk from the historic National Mall, the Corcoran Gallery of Art stands as a major center of American and European art. It is simultaneously one of America's most distinguished museums and colleges of art and design.

corcoran

 

Dumbarton Oaks

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, in Washington, DC, is an institute of Harvard University dedicated to supporting scholarship internationally in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships, meetings, exhibitions, and publications. Located in Georgetown and bequeathed by Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss, Dumbarton Oaks welcomes scholars to consult its books, images, and objects, and the public to visit its garden, museum, and music room for lectures and concerts.

dumbarton

 

FDR Memorial

The FDR Memorial has proven to be one of the most popular of the presidential memorials since it opened in 1997. Its popularity has to do as much with its design as the man it honors. This 7 1/2-acre outdoor memorial stretches out, rather than rising up, across the stone-paved floor. Granite walls define the four "galleries," each representing a different term in FDR's presidency from 1933 to 1945. Architect Lawrence Halprin's design includes waterfalls, sculptures (by Leonard Baskin, John Benson, Neil Estern, Robert Graham, Thomas Hardy, and George Segal), and Roosevelt's own words carved into the stone.

fdr memorial

 

George Mason Memorial

The George Mason Memorial, dedicated on April 9, 2002, honors the little known but widely felt contributions of an important Founding Father. The memorial is located in East Potomac Park near the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Born in 1725 George Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights and later attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

George Mason Memorial

 

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is a leading voice for contemporary art and culture and provides a national platform for the art and artists of our time. The museum seeks to share the transformative power of modern and contemporary art with audiences at all levels of awareness and understanding by creating meaningful, personal experiences in which art, artists, audiences and ideas converge. It enhances public understanding and appreciation of contemporary art through acquisition, exhibitions, education and public programs, conservation, and research.

Hirshhorn

 

The International Spy Museum

The International Spy Museum is the first and only public museum in the United States solely dedicated to espionage and the only one in the world to provide a global perspective on this all-but-invisible profession. It features the largest collection of international spy-related artifacts ever placed on public display. The stories of individual spies, told through film, interactives, and state-of-the-art exhibits, provide a dynamic context to foster an understanding of espionage and its impact on current and historic events.

Spy Museum

 

The Kreeger Museum

The Kreeger Museum is a private, non-profit art museum located in the former residence of David and Carmen Kreeger. Highlights of the collection include works by Monet, van Gogh, Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, Chagall, Rodin, Miro, Moore, Kandinsky and Washington artists Gene Davis, Sam Gilliam, William Christenberry and Kendall Buster as well as examples of traditional African and Asian Art.

kreeger

 

National Air and Space Museum

The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum maintains the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. It is also a vital center for research into the history, science, and technology of aviation and space flight, as well as planetary science and terrestrial geology and geophysics.

air and space

 

National Aquarium

Through transforming experiences, the National Aquarium inspires people to enjoy, respect and protect the aquatic world. Vision The National Aquarium's leadership will inspire people to celebrate and nurture the world's aquatic habitats from tropical rain forests to coral reefs; from the Chesapeake Bay to the world's oceans.

national aquarium

 

National Building Museum

Created by an act of Congress in 1980, the National Building Museum has become one of the world's most prominent and vital venues for informed, reasoned debate about the built environment and its impact on people's lives. Our exhibitions, educational programs, and publications are well regarded not only for their capacity to enlighten and entertain, but also as vehicles for fostering lively discussion about a wide range of topics related to development, architecture, construction and engineering, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban planning.

national building museum

 

National Gallery of Art

Permanent collection of European and American paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and works on paper, plus changing exhibitions of art from around the world.

National Gallery of Art

 

National Museum of African Art

The National Museum of African Art is home to the largest publicly held collection of contemporary African art in the United States, as well as the famous Walt Disney- Tishman African Art Collection of more than 525 pieces of the finest traditional African sculpture. The three-level underground museum on the National Mall features textiles, household objects, architectural elements, decorative arts and musical instruments. Its diverse collection is drawn from many of Africa's more than 900 cultures.

National Museum of African Art

 

The National Museum of American History

The National Museum of American History dedicates its collections and scholarship to inspiring a broader understanding of our nation and its many peoples. The museum creates learning opportunities, stimulate imaginations, and presents challenging ideas about our country's past.

american history museum

 

The National Museum of Natural History

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is part of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's preeminent museum and research complex. The Museum is dedicated to inspiring curiosity, discovery, and learning about the natural world through its unparalleled research, collections, exhibitions, and education outreach programs. Opened in 1910, the green-domed museum on the National Mall was among the first Smithsonian building constructed exclusively to house the national collections and research facilities.

natural history museum

 

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Welcome to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to recognizing the contributions of women artists. The museum houses a collection of more than 2,500 works by women artists from around the world including Cassatt, O'Keeffe, Kahlo and Nevelson.

women in the arts

 

National Portrait Gallery

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery tells the story of America through the individuals who have shaped U.S. culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts, and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists who speak American history.

national portrait gallery

 

National Postal Museum

The National Postal Museum, a Smithsonian Institution museum, is located in the old Post Office building next to Union Station in Washington, D.C. The Museum was created by an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Postal Service in 1990 and opened to the public in 1993.

national postal museum

 

Newseum

The Newseum - a 250,000-square-foot museum of news - offers visitors an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits.

newseum

 

The Phillips Collection

The Phillips Collection, opened in 1921, is America's first museum of modern art. Featuring a renowned permanent collection of nearly 2,500 works by American and European impressionist and modern artists, the Phillips is internationally recognized for both its incomparable art and its intimate atmosphere. Housed in founder Duncan Phillips' 1897 Georgian Revival home and similarly scaled additions in Washington, D.C.'s Dupont Circle neighborhood, The Phillips Collection is widely regarded as one of the world's finest small museums.

 

Renwick Gallery

The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery collects, exhibits, studies, and preserves American crafts and decorative arts from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries. Housed in a historic architectural landmark across the street from the White House, the Renwick features one-of-a-kind pieces created from clay, fiber, glass, metal, and wood.

renwick

 

Smithsonian National Zoo

The Nation's Zoo demonstrates leadership in animal care, science, education and sustainability. The Zoo provides the highest quality animal care; advances research and scientific knowledge in conserving wildlife; teaches and inspires people to protect wildlife, natural resources and habitats; and practices conservation leadership in all that it does.

zoo

 

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum stimulates leaders and citizens to confront hatred, prevent genocide, promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy. A public-private partnership, federal support guarantees the Museum's permanence, and donors nationwide make possible its educational activities and global outreach.

Holocaust Memorial Museum

 

Outdoors

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Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

Thousands of water plants, waterlilies, lotuses, water hyacinths and bamboo grow in ponds along the Anacostia River. In an age old dance land, water, and wind combine at Kenilworth Park, Aquatic Gardens, and Marsh. Sparkling in the sun on a breezy day, this natural area of Anacostia Park has origins in a 1926 act authorizing parks to preserve forests and natural scenery. The park reflects the history of the nation's rivers and wetlands.

kenilworth

 

National Arboretum

A 446 acre living museum two miles from the Capitol: gardens, collections, bonsai museum, herb garden, azaleas, flowering cherry trees, and the original columns from the Capitol.

national arboretum

 

Tours

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DC Ducks

See Washington DC on the land and water with this most unusual tour. Traveling in original WW II DUKW amphibious vehicles, this 90 minute tour will take you through the city of Washington DC before splashing down into the Potomac River for the most unique ride and tour of your vacation!

DC Ducks

 

Lincoln Memorial

"In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever." Beneath these words, the 16th President of the United States-the Great Emancipator and preserver of the nation during the Civil War-sits immortalized in marble. As an enduring symbol of Freedom, the Lincoln Memorial attracts anyone who seeks inspiration and hope.

lincoln memorial

 

Washington Walks

Since 1999, Washington Walks guides have been escorting visitors and locals alike through quaint neighborhoods, along hip urban thoroughfares, and past Washington, D.C.'s instantly recognizable landmarks and memorials. Whether you're a first-time visitor or long-time resident, the same holds true: if you haven't been on a Washington Walk, you haven't been to Washington, D.C.!

washington walks