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The 20th century’s love affair with flight, from its intrepid beginnings to the mastery of space travel, is explored in this wonderful museum.

Mixing the “America’s Attic” approach with fine contemporary interpretive exhibits, the museum offers a fascinating look at America’s past.

Must-see exhibits abound here: the Dinosaur Hall with its 87-ft (27-m) Diplodocus longus ; skeletal remains; the Hope diamond; the Insect Zoo; O. Orkin IMAX® theater; and a stunning mammal exhibit.

The Smithsonian’s huge collection of material and artifacts related to Native American art, history, culture, and language moved into its first permanent home in Washington in 2004. Items displayed include North American carvings, quilled hides, feathered bonnets, pottery, and contemporary prints and paintings, as well as objects from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

An ingeniously symbolic building houses documents depicting the Holocaust in Europe before and during World War II, grimly detailing the surveillance and the loss of individual rights faced by Jews, political objectors, gypsies, homosexuals, and the handicapped. Moving eyewitness accounts, photographs, and artifacts tell the story, from “Nazi Assault,” to “Last Chapter”.

Mail and fun don’t naturally go together, but at this wonderfully conceived museum, they do. The little Pony Express saddlebags, the tunnel-like construction representing the desolate roads faced by the earliest mail carriers, and the mail-sorting railroad car entertain and inform visitors.

This fascinating museum explores the role that spies have played in world events throughout history. The exhibitions tell the stories of individuals, reveal their missions and techniques, and display their equipment.

The Rotunda of the National Archives has recently been reorganized, but still proudly displays the foundation documents of American independence and government: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. The museum also now features exciting interactive activities (see National Archives of the United States).

The collections of Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art here are among the most important in the world. The elegant Federal-style house was the site of the 1944 meetings that ultimately led to the founding of the United Nations. The galleries are closed until 2007 (see Dumbarton Oaks Museum and Gardens).

One of the world’s foremost specialized museums. Its holdings include over 17,000 objects, spanning 5,000 years, and it maintains one of the finest collections anywhere of Pre-Columbian, Peruvian, Islamic, and Coptic textiles and Oriental carpets.