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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

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Attractions

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Washington, DC · National Mall

About

The fossil hall at the National Museum of Natural History, at 10th Street and Constitution Avenue, runs backward in time. You start at the Rotunda end, with early human ancestors, and walk back through 10 geologic periods to the formation of the Earth, past the Nation's T. rex posed eating a Triceratops. Henry, an African bush elephant about 13 feet tall, has stood in that Rotunda since 1959. In the Sant Ocean Hall a 45-foot model of a North Atlantic right whale named Phoenix hangs from the ceiling, and a 24-foot squid sits in 1,800 gallons of clear fluid.

Highlights

Hope DiamondSant Ocean HallDeep Time fossil hallFree admission

Getting there

10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20560

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