Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines. While most of its 19 museums, its zoo, and its nine research centers facilities are located in Washington, D.C., sites are also located in New York City, Virginia, Panama, and elsewhere.

The Smithsonian has over 136 million items in its collections, publishes two magazines named Smithsonian (monthly) and Air & Space (bimonthly), and employs the Smithsonian Police to protect visitors, staff, and the property of its museums. The Smithsonian Institution is the largest museum complex in the world, and many of its buildings are historical and architectural landmarks. In addition, 156 other museums are Smithsonian affiliates.

Smithsonian museums are:

- African American History and

- Culture Museum

- African Art Museum

- Air and Space Museum

- Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center

- American Art Museum

- American History Museum

- American Indian Museum

- American Indian Museum Heye Center

- Anacostia Community Museum

- Arts and Industries Building

- Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

- Freer Gallery of Art

- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

- National Zoo

- Natural History Museum

- Portrait Gallery

- Postal Museum

- Renwick Gallery

- Sackler Gallery

- Smithsonian Institution Building,

- The Castle

Other venues

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Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

2 East 91st Street, New York City, United States of America

National Air and Space Museum

Independence Ave. at 6th Street, Washington, D. C., United States of America

National Museum of Natural History

National Mall, Constitution Ave NW & 10th St NW, Washington, D. C., United States of America

Exhibitions and events

America by Air

Permanent exhibition

Flying was new and daring in the early years of the 20th century. Traveling by airplane was rare. Airlines, airliners, airports, air routes—none of these existed. But by century's end, you...

Fifty Years of Human Spaceflight

Permanent exhibition

The Soviet Union and the United States transfixed the world by launching the first human beings into space in 1961. Engineers and rocketry enthusiasts had planned such missions for decades, but Cold...

The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age

Permanent exhibition

Removed temporarily from its place of honor in Milestones of Flight, the 1903 Wright Flyer, the world's first successful airplane, serves as the centerpiece of this exhibition, which celebrates the...