Smithsonian Institute

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The Smithsonian Institution, with 19 museums and the National Zoo, is the world’s largest museum complex. It was established with a $500,000 gift given to the American people by James Smithson, an English scientist. It holds some 136 million artifacts and specimens, although only about three percent are displayed at any one time.

Nine of the nineteen Smithsonian Museums are located on the Mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument:

  • Museum of American History
  • Museum of Natural History
  • Air and Space Museum
  • Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle)
  • Hirshhorn Museum
  • Arts and Industries
  • National Museum of African Art
  • Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
  • Freer Gallery of Art

Links:

Smithsonian website

Timeline

1838 1911 1923 1968
British scientist James Smithson gives Washington, D.C. a gift of half a million dollars to “Found an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” Natural History Museum is completed. Freer Gallery of Art opens as the Smithsonian’s first art museum. National Portrait Gallery and National Collection of Fine Arts opens
1974 1976 1987 2004
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden open to house modern art collection. Air & Space Museum opens. National Museum of African Art opens. National Museum of the American Indian opens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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