Since the Castle first opened to the public, the Great Hall has welcomed legions of visitors to the Smithsonian Institution. The hall initially served as the National Museum and displayed natural ...

The Smithsonian Castle will reopen while under renovation to serve as a visitor center and convening place during the summer of 2026, when the U.S. celebrates its 250th birthday. From the Washington ...

G. Wayne Clough, Smithsonian Institution’s 12th Secretary Photo courtesy of the Georgia Institute of Technology From its early days in the 1850s, when a single building housed science laboratories and ...