There are a ton of museums in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian, the Air and Space Museum, the National History Museum, the National Museum of African American History… but my personal favorite happens to be The Newseum. Don’t get me wrong: I love going to see the Ruby Slippers and the Hope Diamond, but The Newseum was incredibly relevant when I visited in 2016 for the first (and admittedly, only) time.
It’s in a huge glass building that’s on the north side of the Mall, across from the National Gallery of Art. On the outside in stone is written the First Amendment, which most of us would probably argue is pretty freaking important to the news and journalism.
Inside you can look at interactive exhibits about the fall of the Berlin Wall, the smoking car that was found in Times Square a few years back (that had a bomb in it that failed to detonate), and you’ll be taken through history of journalism in America throughout your journey through the museum. I’d be interested to see how they’ve updated the exhibits now, with the press under such horrible and unwarranted attack all the time (if you’ve been there recently, let me know what’s changed in the comments!).
Top Left to Right: Pieces of the Berlin Wall; the view up inside a tower that looked out over the Berlin Wall; a guard tower from Berlin; the actual car that was found in Times Square; some documents from the Boston Marathon bombing.
The best part is at the top there’s an outdoor area where you can hang out and look at amazing views of the rest of DC. Unfortunately this isn’t one of the free museums in DC and if you’re an adult, a ticket will run you $25, but it’s worth it.
I hope you check this place out when you’re in DC. It’s a fascinating, as well as educational, museum that definitely won’t bore you if you’re bored by paintings (like me).
Me, circa 2016
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