Between Capitol Hill and the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall holds some of the finest museums in the United States, most of them free to enter. This guide covers six places along it: the Library of Congress, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the museums of Natural History and American History, and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. You can see all of them on one walk from east to west.
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress was established in 1800, when the government moved to Washington. In August 1814 British troops burned the Capitol, and the books with it. A month later Thomas Jefferson offered his own library as a replacement, and the purchase of his collection in 1815 became the core of a new library, far broader than law and politics.
Its main home, the Thomas Jefferson Building across the street from the Capitol, opened in 1897. It was designed by the architects Smithmeyer & Pelz, and inside almost every surface is decorated: marble staircases, murals, mosaics and sculpture. The Main Reading Room sits under a high dome, and visitors can look down into it from a gallery above.
- One of only three known perfect copies of the Gutenberg Bible printed on vellum, bought by Congress in 1930 and on display in the building.
- The Court of Neptune Fountain at the foot of the entrance steps, with bronze sea creatures by Roland Hinton Perry.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum opened on the Mall in 1976, in time for the country's 200th birthday, and it holds the most famous aircraft and spacecraft in American history. A full renovation of the building began in 2018 and has been carried out in stages; the final galleries were scheduled to open in autumn 2026, so check what is open before you go.
Among the objects on show in Washington are the Wright Flyer, in which the Wright brothers made the first powered flights in 1903, Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis, the first plane to fly faster than sound, and Columbia, the Apollo 11 command module that carried the first crew to land on the Moon.
- The Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall at the entrance, where several of the best-known aircraft hang overhead.
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art was founded by Congress in 1937 with the collection and money of the banker Andrew W. Mellon. The West Building, designed by John Russell Pope in a neoclassical style, opened in 1941 and holds European and American art up to the early 20th century. The East Building by I. M. Pei, a striking composition of triangles from 1978, is devoted to modern and contemporary art.
The two buildings are joined by an underground concourse, lit by Leo Villareal's light installation Multiverse. Next to the West Building is the Sculpture Garden, opened in 1999, with large modern works around a fountain. Entry to both buildings is free.
- Ginevra de' Benci, a portrait of a young Florentine woman and the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
The Natural History building, with its green dome, opened in 1910 and was designed by the Washington firm Hornblower & Marshall. Its collections count well over a hundred million specimens, from meteorites to insects, though only a small share is on show. The dinosaur hall reopened in 2019 after a long renovation, and the Sant Ocean Hall opened in 2008.
- The Hope Diamond, a deep blue diamond with a long legend of bad luck attached to it, given to the museum by the jeweller Harry Winston, who sent it by ordinary registered mail.
- The African bush elephant that has stood in the rotunda under the dome for decades, the first thing most visitors see.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Next door, the National Museum of American History opened in 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology and took its present name in 1980. The building was one of the last designed by the firm McKim, Mead & White. Its collections cover politics, war, everyday life, science and popular culture, which gives it an unusual mix of objects.
- The Star-Spangled Banner, the huge flag that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore in 1814 and inspired Francis Scott Key's poem, now the national anthem.
- The Greensboro lunch counter, scene of a 1960 civil rights sit-in, Julia Child's kitchen and Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz.
Korean War Veterans Memorial
At the western end of the Mall, near the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated on 27 July 1995, the 42nd anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting in Korea. Its centre is a group of 19 stainless steel soldiers on patrol by the sculptor Frank Gaylord, wearing ponchos and walking through juniper bushes that stand for rough terrain.
Beside them is a black granite wall by Louis Nelson, with more than 2,500 photographs of people who served sandblasted into its surface. In 2022 a Wall of Remembrance was added with the names of more than 36,000 Americans and over 7,000 Korean soldiers who served with the US Army and died in the war.
- Look at the statues in the polished wall: with their reflections, the 19 soldiers become 38, an echo of the 38th parallel that divided Korea. The inscription Freedom Is Not Free is set in silver nearby.
How to see them in one walk
Start at the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill, then walk down the hill past the Capitol onto the Mall. The Air and Space Museum is on the south side, with the National Gallery of Art opposite on the north side. Continue west along the north side to the Natural History and American History museums, then cross towards the Washington Monument and follow the Reflecting Pool to the Korean War Veterans Memorial, on its south side near the Lincoln Memorial. With museum visits this is a full day, or more.
See Washington D.C. with World City Trail
Our Washington D.C. scavenger hunt turns the National Mall into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops from the United States Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, and all six places in this guide are among them: the Library of Congress, the Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Natural History and American History museums and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. The other stops are the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Washington D.C., for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Washington D.C. scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Washington D.C. →
Play the outdoor escape game in Washington D.C. →
Facts checked in October 2026.