National Museum of African Art
The largest African art collection in the US sits almost entirely underground on the National Mall.
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Founded in 1964 after a Foreign Service officer spent his savings on the Frederick Douglass House on Capitol Hill, this Smithsonian museum holds 9,000 works spanning Sub-Saharan and North Africa, traditional to contemporary. It was the first US institution dedicated to African art, and the Washington Post named it the main venue for contemporary African art in the country. Two to three temporary exhibitions rotate year-round.
What to look for
- The mostly underground 1987 building — the main galleries are below street level, an unusual experience on the Mall
- Works from both Sub-Saharan and North Africa — a geographic breadth rare in a Western collection of this size
- 300,000 photographs held alongside the 9,000 fine-art works, making it as much an archive as a gallery
Among the smallest Smithsonian museums, so a focused visit fits in under 90 minutes.
National Museum of African Art is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Washington, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Washington pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Washington
- White HouseBritish forces torched it in 1814. It has been the U.S. president's home and office ever since.
- The PentagonDesigned and built in 16 months during World War II — 17.5 miles of corridors, a five-acre central courtyard, and a 9/11 memorial at the exact point of impact.
- United States CapitolEvery street address in Washington DC radiates outward from this building — it is literally the zero point of the city.
- Washington MonumentThe faint color seam partway up the shaft marks where construction stopped for 23 years.
- Smithsonian InstitutionBritish scientist James Smithson left a bequest that became 157 million objects, 21 museums, and a zoo — almost all free to walk into.
- Arlington National CemeteryThe ground holding 400,000 graves was seized from Robert E. Lee's own family over an unpaid tax bill in 1864.