subject: National Museum of the American Indian [print this page] National Museum of the American Indian
We all know that the American Indians were the native of the United States, before the European occupied America. The original of the museum is "Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI)." The museum was built in 1989 and it has three facilities: the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C; the George Gustav Heye Center, a permanent museum in New York City; the Cultural Resources Center in Maryland.
This museum is one of the popular attraction for the tourist as it purpose is to present the lifestyle, culture, art, skills and literature of American Indian before the tourists. The museum covers an area of about twenty thousand square feet.
What's To Do and See?
The building of the museum is a great work of architecture, located in the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House. The walls and floors are made from white shiny marble. The architect of this magnificent building is Cass Gilbert.
The galleries in the museum are arranged in a winding and maze like pattern within the semi circle of the rotunda. The museum has two story building.
The museum offers a large range of American Indian artifacts which almost four hours to explore all the artifacts. A lot of artwork by Native American Indians and Contemporary American Indians is also offered for exhibition in the museum.
George Gustav Heye contributed over 1,000,000 items that focus on the Native American Indian theme to the museum. The items donated by George Gustav Heye include stone and wood sculpture obtained from the North West Coast, basket, clothes, pottery, bonnets etc. the museum also features a lot of items belong to different American Indian tribes such as Olmec items and Mayan items. The gold and textile items by Andean people are also presented in the museum. Most of the items put into exhibition represent the cultures of major American Indian tribes and the items ranges from Paleo-Indian to the present day.
There are over ninety thousand photographs of the Native American in the collection along with an archive for audio visual media and documents. A festival is held every year to publicize the documentary films featuring the American Indians.
Exhibitions
Temporary exhibitions such as "Landscape of the Native Imagination" are also offered by the museum in which the masterpieces from artists feature the landscape of the American Indian in several aspects like culture, home, lifestyle etc. In exhibition the major work is contributed Emmi Whitehorse, Jeffrey Gibson, Charles Lavadour and Erica Lord. Other major Exhibition is Beauty Surround US.
Public Programs
There are a lot of family programs offered by the museum. The purpose of these family programs is to present the traditions of American Indians to the public so that they learn more about them.
The Store
The museum has two gift stores, each located on every floor. These stores offer a lot of souvenirs of crafts and artwork made by American Indian.
Visiting the Museum
There are no entrance charges. The opening hours of museum are from 10am to 5pm and on Thursday, closing time extends to 8pm. The museum remains closed on major holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year.
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