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Attraction >Museum
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Description and Basic Information ::
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 (The National Portrait Gallery is closed for renovation until 2004).
The National Portrait Gallery is the perfect place to slow down one’s frantic tour of Washington D.C. Adults will appreciate the lack of rambunctious children and will be able to share a quiet moment together either in the gallery with the many famous portraits or perhaps even at the indoor/outdoor café with a loved one.
The National Portrait Gallery can be reached from any floor of the National Museum of American Art, which is also located in the Old Patent Office Building. These two Museums offer the chance to study American history through art, and, as a bonus, they tend to be less crowded than the other Smithsonian Museums on the National Mall.
The best place to start your tour of the museum is on the third floor so you can work your way down and then across to the neighboring National Museum of American Art. The Great Hall and Rotunda of the Portrait Gallery was once the largest room in America and now houses the gallery’s Civil War collection. The second floor contains the famous Hall of Presidents, where each President is represented in portraiture.
Portraits of notable figures from American history range from Benjamin Franklin to Elvis Presley. One criterion for acceptance into the collection is that the subject be deceased for at least ten years so that their contributions can be evaluated. Presidents are accepted from this rule as Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton all are represented.
The first floor has portraits of sports figures and celebrities and also houses the special exhibit 'Faces of Time, Seventy-five Years of Time Magazine Cover Portraits'. |
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