The Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC

The Smithsonian Institution is the largest museum complex and research center in the world. It is composed from 19 museums and art galleries, 9 research centers and the National Zoological Park. The museum complex also includes outdoor museums.

The Smithsonian Institution is the keeper of a collection composed by over 142 billion objects representing the most important historical heritage of the United States of America. The tourists who want to visit the whole collection of this great museum complex would need to be prepared for a day of walking through all its galleries. Of course, it is practically impossible to see everything in a single visit. The best plan would be to choose one topic and to research only that in one visit. Depending on your area of interest, you can choose among the many existing museums, such as The Air and Space Museum, The African Art Museum, The American Art Museum, The Natural History Museum, The American History Museum, The American Indian Museum, the IMAX movie theaters and many many others. Most of the museums are open every day of the year, except December 25. Most of them can be visited for free.

Interesting to notice, you can find here the postal stamps collection of John Lennon, exposed in the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. The custodians of the collection insist that the former member of the Beatles music band was a fanatic collector of postal stamps. The story goes that the cousin of John Lennon bought the stamp collection and offered it as a present to John Lennon when he was 9 years old. The John Lennon's collection consists of 565 postal stamps.

The Capitol Building in Washington DC

In the capital city, Washington DC, rises the grandiose and famous Capitol, one of the most impressive and most easily recognizable building in the US.

The Capitol is located on a plateau 26 meters above the Potomac River. There is the starting point of the National Mall, spreading on a surface of 2 km. It is the symbol of democracy for the people of the United States of America. The Capitol building is the center of the government for the legislative power and the United States Congress. The Dome of the Capitol is a fascinating piece of architectural art, built in a neoclassical and baroque style. For the last two centuries the Capitol was the meeting point of all forms of government and many historical decisions were taken here. In Washington DC, the Dome of the Capitol is on the fifth place among the tallest buildings.

Thomas Jefferson held a contest in 1792 to choose the projects to be used in the construction of the Capitol. The works on the Capitol were started in 1793, when President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the building. The construction has been carried out by African Americans. While the building was not completely finished yet, The Congress of the United States of America was reunited in 1800 for the first meeting in the Capitol of Washington.

Visiting the building's interior is a very popular tourist attraction in Washington DC. The guided tour includes usually a presentation of the political activities taking place here. The tour is free for any visitors, tourists or locals. Here you can see impressive statues of the most important personalities in the American history.