Washington, stories come to life

What to visit in the open-air museum city.

In the spring, cherry blossoms bloom in Washington, and there is even a separate festival dedicated to them, which annually attracts one and a half million visitors. The center of the event is the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King memorials, as well as East Potomac Park.

The idea to plant cherry blossoms in her homeland came to the American writer and geographer Eliza Skidmore during her first visit to Japan in 1885. For 24 years, her attempts to transfer a piece of Japanese culture across the ocean ran into a dead end. And only in 1906, the American botanist David Fairchild imported a hundred trees from Yokohama to see if they would take root in the new lands. In 1909, Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki supported the idea of ​​giving Washington cherry blossoms, but since they were infested with pests, he had to send another batch of 3,020 cherry blossoms of 12 varieties, and finally, on February 14, 1912, after so many obstacles, negotiations and friction, the trees reached the shores of America.

In other words, when you see a Japanese cherry tree in Washington, know that it has come a long way and therefore deserves to go down in history. However, the entire capital resembles an open-air museum. Its architecture shows the influence of Ancient Egypt, classical Greece and Rome, medieval Europe and 19th-century France. For example, the White House was originally designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban based on Leinster House in Dublin, and in 1824 the Georgian-style facades of the building were decorated with a majestic portico. 

The Capitol was modeled on the Roman Pantheon, and the Library of Congress on the Paris Opera, or Opera Garnier. The Smithsonian Institution's "medieval" castle was built by James Renwick Jr. and combines elements of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Interestingly, the sandstone walls were originally gray and only acquired a reddish tint over the years.

Union Station is the work of Daniel Hudson Burnham, America's leading urban planner and the creator of the country's first skyscrapers. Built in 1907-1908, the station includes many ancient Roman architectural solutions: a classical arch reminiscent of the Arch of Constantine, majestic vaults that echo the Baths of Diocletian, 46 massive statues of legionnaires. 

Административное здание Эйзенхауэра построено в стиле Второй Империи, или Наполеона III, а Вашингтонский кафедральный собор – в неоготическом стиле.

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is built in the Second Empire, or Napoleon III, style, and the Washington National Cathedral is in the neo-Gothic style.

And how beautiful these and other architectural landmarks are at night or during a walk along the river! We will be happy to organize such individual tours for you.

There are more than 70 museums in Washington, including the largest museum complex on the planet, the Smithsonian Institution, whose 17 museums and galleries contain 150 million artifacts. There are also more popular places, such as the National Museum of the American Indian, Asian Art, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Natural History, the International Spy Museum and many others. There are also such unusual places as Planet Word - the only museum in the world where exhibits are activated by voice. Here you can learn how we master our first, native language, discover the linguistic diversity of the planet and understand how the English language was formed over the centuries. Guests are greeted by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's "Talking Willow", which responds to hundreds of languages ​​and dialects - 99% of all the linguistic diversity existing in the world.

The O Museum in the Mansion, or the Museum of Secret Doors, has 80 doors and 100 halls, and in them are collections of unusual, most diverse artifacts: from "Alice in Wonderland" to the Silk Road, from the Beatles to jazz and from Mexican cultural heritage to anime.

Another museum is dedicated to the White House, and this is the new high-tech The People's House with an exact copy of the Oval Office and the Western Colonnade, the Rose Garden. In the projection room, you can see the rooms of the state floor: the dining room, the eastern, red, blue, green rooms. The museum was created by the White House Historical Association and is located just a block from the original. You can also visit the White House itself, but this tour must be booked in advance, and our manager will be happy to take care of this.

The first modern art museum in the United States, The Phillips Collection, opened in the Dupont Circle area, famous for its embassy buildings, bookstores, restaurants and nightclubs. Here is the Woodrow Wilson House Museum, and the Anderson House - a luxurious mansion, which is called "the Florentine villa in the center of American independence", the embodiment of the main goal of America - the residence of diplomat Larz Anderson and his wife Isabel. The construction of the 50-room mansion was completed in 1905. Even then, it had electricity, central heating, telephone and two elevators. Carved wood panels on the walls, wrought iron railings, gilded ceilings and marble floors; a garden with a tennis court and stables around the house. A mansion worthy of the most beautiful city in America, which the Andersons recognized as Washington. The highest-ranking persons of the States and other countries considered it an honor to be guests at receptions here. Anderson's home was visited by Presidents Taft and Coolidge, General John Pershing and Senator Henry du Pont, and the Vanderbilts. Today, the beautiful home is open as a museum.

Within Dupont Circle is the Heurich House Museum from the late 19th century. The house belonged to the German-American brewer Christian Heurich, the owner of the largest brewery in the state, and was an example of the Richardson Romanesque style, named after the architect who popularized it. At that time, this house had, in addition to electricity, fire protection and an alarm system!

The legendary city has hotels to match, such as The Jefferson, Washington DC, which has been awarded two Michelin keys. It recently celebrated its centenary.