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Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

Photo: Billy Hathorn / CC BY 3.0 · source

🎡 Attractions

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

Washington, DC · Downtown

About

This is the one museum where you can stand face to face with every American president, from Gilbert Stuart's George Washington to Kehinde Wiley's leafy, blue-suited Barack Obama, all under one roof and all free. It fills the columned Old Patent Office Building, a Greek Revival landmark that once served as a Civil War hospital where Walt Whitman tended the wounded, and the collection runs well past the Oval Office into civil-rights leaders, ballplayers, jazz singers, and the faces that shaped the country. Save time for the Kogod Courtyard, a glass-canopied indoor plaza where the light pools across the floor and a coffee tastes earned.

Highlights

Free admission, open daily 11:30am to 7pmAmerica's Presidents: the only complete presidential portrait set outside the White HouseKehinde Wiley's portrait of Barack ObamaThe glass-roofed Robert and Arlene Kogod CourtyardHoused in the historic Old Patent Office Building, a former Civil War hospital

Getting there

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Washington D.C. Attractions23 places

Washington D.C. Attractions

No city packs more world-class attractions into a walk than Washington, and most of it is free. The Smithsonians line the National Mall like a museum mile, from the moon lander hanging in Air and Space to the Hope Diamond and the Wright Flyer. Between them stand the monuments and memorials: Lincoln gazing down the reflecting pool, the Washington Monument over the Tidal Basin cherry trees, the marble halls of the Capitol and the Library of Congress. Bring good shoes and a full day, and you still will not see it all.