The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art fosters the discovery and appreciation of the visual arts of Africa, the cradle of humanity. The National Museum of African Art is home to a wide-ranging collection with more than 9,000 objects of artworks reflecting the rich cultures of the African continent. The museum’s permanent collection, The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection, features approximately 525 artworks from the world-famous collection, including a rare 15th-century ivory tusk carved in Sierra Leone that bears the coats of arms for Portugal’s and Spain’s ruling houses. Other exhibits on view include: Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley, African Mosaic: Celebrating a Decade of Collecting, Artists in Dialogue 2: Sandile Zulu and Henrique Oliveira, and A Brave New World.
In addition, the museum offers a variety of education programs, including lectures, public discussions, films, storytelling, musical performances, and workshops with some geared towards involving the whole family.
10 am to 5:30 pm daily except December 25
Admission is free into the museum
This tour delivers the goods. Being raised just outside of washington d.c. (Bethesda), I've gone on innumerable DC sightseeing tours in my lifetime. Every time a family friend or relative visited from out of town meant another trip down to the Mall, another sightseeing tour. Monument tours, ghost tours, "Duck" tours, you name it I've done it. But out of all the DC tours I've been on this was one of the best. I went last weekend with my nieces and nephews on the Capitol Hill tour, which lasted a little over two hours. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable of the historic sites and presented the information in a fun and lively manner. His enthusiam for the subject was infectious. He had my nieces and nephews in rapt atttention from start to finish. Highly recommend.