The Air and Space Museum, the most widely visited museum in the world, was officially open on July 4, 1976. It holds many exhibits which dramatize the history of flight, space science, and space technology. Its most popular attractions include large-screen films shown in the Langley Theater and daily presentations in the Albert Einstein Planetarium.
The collection of the Air and Space Museum was previously held in an earlier museum on the Mall, the National Air Museum. The museum was a World War I-era structure located on the present-day site of the National Museum of African Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.
From 1855 to 1964, the site had been home to the Washington Armory. The old Armory was used to store the weapons of local volunteer militia and also housed a small museum of Revolutionary War artifacts. During the Civil War, the Armor became the central receiving building for the Armor Square Hospital. Hundreds of injured soldiers were unloaded here. Poet Walt Whitman was one of the hundreds of volunteers who gave aid and comfort to the wounded Union soldiers here.
After the Civil War, the Armor was left empty until 1878. It then became a storage facility for all the donated objects from the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. These donations later became the foundation for the Arts and Industries Building. The Armor was also the site for the United States Fish Commission (now the Fish and Wildlife Service). In 1964 the building was razed to make way for the Air and Space Museum.
More information regarding the museum can be found at the National Air and Space Museum Homepage.
Smithsonian Castle and Various Art Galleries
