Arts and Industries Building, Smithsonian museum at National Mall, Washington DC, United States
The Arts and Industries Building is a museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built in red and yellow brick with a floor plan shaped like a Greek cross and a central rotunda. Its four wings open toward the center, creating tall, light-filled exhibition spaces under a roof of iron and glass.
The building opened in 1881 as the second Smithsonian museum and was first used to house objects from the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971, after decades of changing collections and several rounds of restoration work.
The building hosted the inaugural banquet of President Garfield in 1881, just weeks after it opened. Walking through its tall open halls today, visitors can still sense how the space was meant to impress and to mark important public occasions.
The building sits directly on the National Mall and can be reached on foot from several other Smithsonian museums nearby. Since exhibitions change regularly, it is worth checking what is on before visiting.
Above the north entrance, a sculpture titled Columbia Protecting Science and Industry is mounted directly on the building and tends to go unnoticed by most visitors. It shows a female figure shielding two smaller figures, a reference to the original purpose of the building when it opened.
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