Museums
FreeHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
FreeSee modern and contemporary art in a drum-shaped Smithsonian museum on the National Mall, with a sunken sculpture garden beside it.
Photo: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
MuseumsRainy-Day PickFree
National Museum of Asian Art
1050 Independence Ave SW · Washington, DC
Why you should go…
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art is made up of the Freer Gallery of Art, opened in 1923, and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, opened in 1987, in connecting buildings on the National Mall. Together they hold about 45,000 works of Asian art. Displays range from Chinese jade and porcelain to scroll paintings, and the Peacock Room is part of the museum. Under Charles Lang Freer's will, works from the Freer collection never travel, so you can see them only here.
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- #asian art
- #smithsonian
- #national mall
- #peacock room
Good to know
General museums guidance
Habits that pay off across this whole category, not rules for this one venue. Always check the official site for the specifics.
Check the special exhibition separately
Touring shows usually carry their own ticket and their own opening hours, listed apart from general admission.
Look for the free window
Many museums run community days, member evenings, or discounted late openings. It is worth a look before you pay full price.
Travel light through the door
Large bags and backpacks often have to go to a coat check, and lines for it move slowly at opening.
Weekday mornings beat weekend afternoons
School groups clear out by early afternoon midweek, while weekends stay busy from late morning on.
What's around here?
The closest stops to National Museum of Asian Art, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
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National Mall
FreeWalk the long green lawn from the U.S. Capitol toward the Lincoln Memorial, past monuments, memorials and Smithsonian museums.
0.2 mi awaySwitch it up: Sport & Outdoor
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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
FreeThe Hope Diamond, the Nation's T. rex, and Henry the elephant, the Mall's busiest free museum packs the whole natural world under one green dome.
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Smithsonian National Museum of American History
FreeDorothy's ruby slippers, the actual Star-Spangled Banner, and Julia Child's kitchen, America's attic, free on the National Mall.
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Washington Monument
FreeRide 500 feet up the world's tallest stone obelisk for the only aerial panorama of the White House, Capitol, and Mall.
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