November 29, 2007Well my blitz of the Smithsonian Institute is in full swing. There are 15 Smithsonian Museums (although one is closed until summer 2008 so I am only counting 14) and I aim to get to them all. You have already seen my pictures from the Zoo (which technically isn’t a museum but a zoological park instead but still counts) and I also have visited the postal museum (which sounds boring but isn’t. It was quite interactive and I like museums where there are things I can play with) so I am down to 12 left to visit. Oh and did I mention they are all FREE to visit.
So just to give you a little background on the Smithsonian Institute it is named for James Smithson, who was a wealthy English scientist. When he died he left his entire estate to fund an establishment in Washington DC dedicated to “the increase and diffusion of knowledge”. The money sat around for a few years until finally someone said “hey a museum would do that” (ok that probably isn’t a direct quote) and the Smithsonian Castle was built. At first no one figured there would be enough stuff to fill that one building. Who knew they would need to build like 13 more. 
My next stop after the Washington Monument I headed to the Smithsonian Castle, which is now mostly an information centre but gave me all the maps I would require to find my way to the other museums. I decided I would just start at one end and work my way down so that lead me to the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Both of these galleries focus mainly on Asian art although there is one section in the Freer Gallery dedicated to Whistler, who was an American artist. Here are a few pictures.
This is a throne leg from the 13th century Ganga dynasty of India
This is Shiva Nataraja (Lord of the Dance) from the Chola dynasty of India.
Tamon-ten, Guardian of the North from the Japanese Kamakura period (1185-1333)
Kongonkishi or Ni-O from the Japanese Kamakura Period
Daoist Stela from the Northern Zhou dynasty of China. It has been inscribed and dated 572.
This is a Chimera from the Six Dynasties period (3rd to 4th century)
Julie
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