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Washington is the capital of the United States, and from the beginning it was thoughtfully designed in the best American style. The city is unlike any other city in the United States and the world, with its many splendid buildings, political power centers, large memorials, outstanding museums and not least known buildings from countless TV broadcasts in worldwide news and from varies movies.
A walk in Washington will undoubtedly seem exciting and familiar to many who can not recognize scenes from film and television. For example, the National Mall’s lawns are like a jump into television news. All places seem familiar, not least the White House and the Capitol. Many other places such as the FBI building can also be easily recognized. Along the way you discover a lot of other interesting sights as well.
Washington’s national museums, which are assembled under the Smithsonian Institution, are all among the most prestigious of its kind in the world, and the rich collections make visits particularly enriching. It goes for everything from American history and art to the capital’s unique aviation and aerospace museum.
Washington also offers neighborhoods from old days such as especially Georgetown and various streets around downtown. National Cathedral gives the same impression; strongly inspired by European cathedrals. It is also just a boat or train ride to places like Alexandria, which form an interesting contrast the grand and modern Washington.
The White House is the residence and workplace of the President of the United States. The mansion is undoubtedly one of the world’s best-known buildings. It was built in Neoclassical style following the decision in 1790 to establish the District of Columbia (D.C.) as the nation’s federal capital. George Washington was the country’s first president, and he helped choose the site for the construction of the sandstone mansion, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1792.
The inspiration was taken from not least Leinster House in Dublin. The White House was completed in 1800. However, it was not until President Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 that the mansion got its current name.
The White House has a total of 5,100 square meters divided into 132 rooms and halls. The most famous place in the house is The Oval Office, the office of the US President, which has been featured in numerous Hollywood productions and historic photos.
The National Mall is the large lawn and park area that stretches between the Potomac River and the United States Capitol building. There are various monuments throughout National Mall that are reflected in the reflection pools, and the western part (West Potomac Park) with its Japanese cherry trees is very beautiful in the spring flowering time.
The broad green belt was laid out by Pierre Charles L’Enfant in his 1791 plan for the new American capital. Back then, however, it was like a central boulevard instead of the facilities that were initially realized with Andrew Jackson Downing’s plans from the 1850s. Small facilities, buildings, greenhouses and a railway with associated station were among what had been constructed in the 1800s. It was radically changed with a plan in 1901, which was the result of a general beautification movement in the city.
During this period, the National Mall was cleared and the current open lawns were laid out as central to Washington’s urban plan. It’s about two miles from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol, and the distance is worth walking. On the tour you can see the White House, the Washington Monument and a number of Washington’s famous museums.
On the National Mall, there have been large celebrations over the years, such as at the inauguration of new presidents. There have also been demonstrations, for example one in 1963 for civil rights, where Martin Luther King gave his famous speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial with the words “I have a dream”.
Lincoln Memorial is a monument to Abraham Lincoln located along the Potomac River. Lincoln was president of the Union during the American Civil War. He was the 16th president of the United States, and since then he has been continuously assessed by the American population as one of the best American presidents in the country’s history.
The Lincoln Memorial was built in the Greek temple style in the years 1915-1922. There are 36 Doric columns in it, which is the same number as states in the United States at the time of Abraham Lincoln’s death, and at each column is written the name of a state. The building was designed by Henry Bacon, while the statue of the seated Abraham Lincoln was executed by Daniel Chester French. You can see texts from Lincoln’s most famous speeches in the monument, which in history has formed the setting for Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech on August 28, 1963.
The National Gallery of Art is Washington’s national art museum, and it houses a fine collection of works from the Middle Ages to the present day. Virtually all art forms are represented, and here is everything from old European masters to today’s artists.
The art gallery is located in two buildings, which respectively date from 1941 and 1978. The oldest building, located to the west, was built in Neoclassicism in marble from the state of Tennessee.
John Russell Pope was responsible for the design, and for the interior he was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome in the central rotunda. In the western building you can find collections from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Among the artists represented are Jan Vermeer, Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci.
The building to the east was designed by the architect Ieoh Ming Pei, using geometric shapes throughout the construction. In terms of art, there is modern and contemporary art in this building, and you can enjoy works by Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, among others.
The United States Capitol building is home to the US legislature, the Congress, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. They are housed in the southern and northern wings of the impressive building, respectively. 100 senators and 435 members of the House of Representatives work in the building, in addition to civil servants, etc.
The Capitol is one of Washington’s landmarks, and the building stands as one of the most magnificent structures that illustrate the ability of the United States. The foundation stone was laid by George Washington in 1792, and the first meetings were held here in 1800. Already 11 years later, the building was completed. After some destruction in the war against the British in 1812, the Capitol was rebuilt in a slightly remodeled version in 1815-1830.
In the 1850s, the building was expanded significantly, and the dome was made much larger than the original one. Today, the dome is 29 meters in diameter and 88 meters to the top, where you can see Thomas Crawford’s Statue of Freedom. It has been here since 1863 and measures six meters in height. The Statue of Freedom is an allegorical woman with a sword and laurel.
With the renovations in the 1850s, the Capitol got its current appearance, which is elegant both externally and internally. It was also at this time that the north and south wings of the political chambers were built.
The very name Capitol was insisted on by Thomas Jefferson, and it refers to the Capitol Hill in Rome, where a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus originally was. In that way, there was greatness in the name, which was otherwise intended as just the Congress Building. Europe was also an inspiration for the design with the large dome, and inspiration came from not least to St Paul’s Cathedral in London, England.
In 2008, the Capitol Visitor Center opened below street level in front of the Capitol’s east entrance. From here the way leads to the building’s beautiful interior, where there is a central rotunda, the Capitol Rotunda. From here, rooms, corridors and halls spread to the north and south and thereby the Senate and the House of Representatives. You can also sense the contours of the Capitol before the expansions in the 1800s.
There are many architectural details that impress, as does the art in the building. In the Capitol Rotunda you can see eight large paintings depicting the development of the United States as a nation. You can also admire Constantino Brumidi’s frescoes in several places in the building, which also houses the National Statuary Hall Collection. The collection consists of 100 statues, with each of the 50 US states providing two statues depicting important figures in the development of those states, and additional two from District of Columbia and one for all the states. Examples are king Kamehameha I from Hawaii and Jefferson Davis from Mississippi.
Washington National Cathedral is the main church of the episcopal church of the United States, which is the oldest Anglican church outside the British Isles. It is in every way an impressive building with its dimensions, decoration and furnishings. The National Cathedral is one of the world’s largest churches and is a must-see on a visit to the city.
The foundation stone of the cathedral was laid in 1907, and after 83 years construction was completed in 1990. It was built in a different location than originally intended by the city planner Pierre L’Enfant, who had set aside space for a grandiose national church on the site of the National Portrait Gallery. In 1891 a meeting was held to initiate renewed plans for the cathedral, and two years later the church received permission from Congress to establish the church. After this, the fine location on the Mount Alban ridge was chosen.
It was President Theodore Roosevelt who laid the foundation stone. After five years, Betleham Chapel was consecrated in 1912, thereby officially opening the church. However, construction continued until 1990, and both the construction and its maintenance were and are financed by private funds.
In terms of style, the church is a mixture, but mainly you can find European Gothic with inspiration from several of the European cathedrals from the Middle Ages. The church is shaped like a cross, and above it rests the tower Gloria in Excelsis at 91 meters in height. The top of the tower reaches 206 meters above sea level, and it is the highest point in the American capital. The decoration has towers, spires and sculptures of gargoyles and indeed Darth Vader on the tower to the northwest. Inside there are Gothic vaults and mosaic windows.
The National Cathedral has been the setting for many major ceremonies since its opening. Among other things, it was the venue for the funerals of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan and for memorial services for Harry Truman and Richard Nixon.
Arlington National Cemetery is a military cemetery established during the American Civil War on the grounds of General Robert E. Lee’s house. Fallen from all of America’s wars have since been buried in the huge cemetery.
Among the places of interest at Arlington is the Tomb of the Unknowns, which commemorates fallen soldiers and others during US military service. An eternal flame also burns at the grave of former President John F. Kennedy. Next to John F. Kennedy lies his wife, Jacqueline, and Robert Kennedy is also buried nearby.
Another of the attractions at Arlington Cemetery is the impressive Changing of the Guard that is performed periodically. The changing of the guard is rehearsed as a show and is interesting to see.
On the cemetery grounds you can also see Arlington House. This Greco-Neoclassical style building was the residence of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The mansion was built in the years 1802-1818. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Lee went to Richmond, which was the capital of the Confederate States of America. Lee was later buried in Lexington, Virginia.
Washington Monument is a monument that was erected in honor of the first president of the United States, George Washington. The 169 meter high obelisk was built from 1848 to 1884 in granite, marble and sandstone. There was a break in construction in the years 1854-1877, which can be seen in the cladding at a height of 46 metres.
When it was inaugurated in 1884, the Washington Monument was the tallest building in the world. The height surpassed the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, and this status was maintained until 1889, when the Eiffel Tower was opened in Paris.
The monument stands centrally and almost at the top of the National Mall, and it gives a nice view of the area and the lawns and buildings. Originally, the plan was to erect an equestrian statue of George Washington, but this plan was dropped in favor of an idea of a grand monument that symbolized Washington’s importance. The process began in 1832, which was the 100th anniversary of the president’s birth. Robert Mills designed the monument in 1836, and it was intended to include both an obelisk, a colonnade and a series of statues of heroes from the American freedom struggle. Only the obelisk was realized.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a museum with collections of mainly historical and modern American art, but there is also a fine European collection. Thomas Gainsborough, Edward Hopper, Joan Mitchell, Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet are among the artists represented. The Corcoran Gallery of Art closed as its own museum in 2014, with the collections transferred to the National Gallery of Art, also located in Washington.
The museum was opened in 1874 and was founded on the philanthropist William Wilson Corcoran’s collection of paintings and sculptures, which he donated to the city. After having been located in a smaller place in the city, which today is opened as the Renwick Gallery (1661 Pennsylvania Avenue), a new museum building was constructed and opened in 1897. The museum was designed by Ernest Flagg in a distinguished French Beaux Art with elements from Greek architecture.
The National Museum of American History is a museum that has a rich collection of all kinds of objects and artifacts, each representing parts of American history. Here there are locomotives, furniture, art, computers etc., and you can often see interesting themed exhibitions about special things, places or people.
There are selected highlights in the many effects and collections. Among these are Robert Stephenson’s locomotive John Bull from 1831 and one of the tables that became part of the abolition of racial segregation in the United States in 1960 at Woolworth in North Carolina.
National Air and Space Museum is undoubtedly one of the world’s best aviation and space museums. The exhibits in the collection are impressive, and much is exhibited in the building on the National Mall. Another part, such as larger aircraft, is exhibited at the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy-Center, which is outside the city.
Among the planes on the National Mall are the German Messerschmidt 109 and 262A, an English Spitfire and the Wright brothers’ plane from 1903. In the branch outside the city, you can see the Boeing bomber Enola Gay, which dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Other things include the German V1 and V2 rockets, SS-20 missiles, a replica of Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin’s space suit from training for his historic space flight for the Soviet Union, and a scale model of the impressive Saturn V rocket.
The museum was established in 1946, and the current exhibition building on the National Mall opened in 1976. The National Air and Space Museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. It was inaugurated in an elegant and monumental classicist style in 1935. Until its opening, the Supreme Court had been housed in the United States Capitol since the election of Washington as the federal capital. Previously, the country’s highest court was located first in New York and then in Philadelphia.
The height of the building is 28 metres, and the facade to the west was built in marble from the state of Vermont. The cladding of the facades facing the inner courtyards is of marble from Georgia, and there is marble from Alabama inside. There are various works of art in and around the Supreme Court. Among them are the statues The Contemplation of Justice to the north in front of the building and The Authority of Law to the south.
The grandiose Union Station in Washington is one of the largest railway stations in the United States, and it is also here that the company Amtrak has its headquarters. The railway station was opened as the city’s unifying railway hub in 1907, and before this time the individual railway companies operated their own stations around the city.
It was the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad that announced in 1901 that they had agreed to build the new Union Station together. With the station it was possible to secure a large railway construction that matched other large buildings in the capital, and with it it was also possible to remove the tracks and areas that had been used on the National Mall.
The station was opened with 32 tracks, 12 of which were in the basement, to which a tunnel was built under Capitol Hill. The first train arrived at the platforms on the morning of 27 October 1907. The building is imposing and many styles have inspired and contributed to the decoration; however, the railway station was mainly built in beaux arts. In addition to the large railway station hall, a presidential reception hall was built where official guests of the city could be received.
Ford’s Theaters is a theater building whose roots are an 1833 church building that was the first building on the site. After the conversion from a church to a theater, it opened in 1863, and on April 14, 1865, it became the setting for the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln. He was shot while attending a performance at the theater.
After being shot, Abraham Lincoln was carried across the street to the Petersen House, where he died the following morning. Petersen House, like Ford’s Theatre, is also open to visitors, and together the two places provide an insight into the president’s last days. Ford’s Theater had to close, but after 103 years the place reopened in 1968 and there are now performances on stage again.
The Library of Congress is the United States’ national library, and it is among the world’s largest libraries. In the beautiful building there are millions of books, and among them is one of Gutenberg’s original Bibles.
The library’s history goes back to 1800, and the current main building was built in 1897. The interior is beautiful, and the large round reading room in particular is a sight to see, considered by many to be one of the city’s absolute architectural gems.
St Matthews Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Washington of the Catholic Church. The beautiful Romanesque church with Byzantine elements was inaugurated in 1895 after construction had begun two years earlier, and with its location on a ridge it can be seen from far and wide. Incidentally, it was here that the ceremony at the funeral of assassinated President John F. Kennedy took place. Senator Joseph McCarthy was also buried from the cathedral, which Pope John Paul II visited in 1979.
The church is beautiful inside, where there is a lot of fine decoration. Marble and paintings are some of what characterizes the impression, and Edwin Blashfield’s 11 meter high mosaic of the evangelist Matthew behind the altar is a good example of the church’s works of art.
Georgetown is a cozy district that stands as a contrast to Washington’s grandiose buildings. Just a few kilometers from the center of the American capital, the atmospheric Georgetown awaits with its low-rise buildings and old townhouses. M Street is a street that is centrally located in the old part of Georgetown, and you should take a stroll down it.
South of M Street and down towards the Potomac River is the modern center Georgetown Harbor, where there is a different and very good atmosphere. From here you can sail on the river to the city of Alexandria to the south.
Georgetown was founded in 1751 in what was then the state of Maryland. This makes the city several decades older than Washington D.C., which got its territory from both Maryland and Virginia, however, the area from Virginia was returned in 1847. Georgetown maintained its status as an independent city until 1871, when the United States Congress established a new and unified form of government for the entire District of Columbia, of which Georgetown was and is a part.
Over time, several famous people have lived in Georgetown for a shorter or longer time. Among them were Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, John F. Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor.
The Marine Corps War Memorial is a statue group in the form of a famous bronze monument depicting troops raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II in February 1945. The monument is a memorial to all in the US Marine Corps, that has fallen since 1775. It is one of the few places where the Stars & Stripes fly around the clock, illuminated at night. The figures are ten meters high, while the flagpole measures eighteen meters.
The monument was designed by Horace W. Peaslee and sculptor Felix de Weldon produced the sculpture group. It is based on the famous photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, which was taken on February 23, 1945 by Joe Rosenthal. The monument was unveiled in 1954.
Alexandria is a city located in the area south of Washington. Alexandria’s old town is like stepping back in time a few hundred years. The first habitation arose here in 1695, and the actual town grew through the 18th century.
Today, large parts of the old city center down towards the Potomac River have been preserved or built in the old style. King Street is the main street, and among the city’s attractions are the childhood home of General Robert E. Lee and the church from which former President George Washington was buried.
The harbor is also an experience with its maritime environment, restaurants and shops. You can sail between Georgetown close to Washington and Alexandria on the Potomac River, which is a beautiful experience where you get close to many of the monuments of the capital. You can also sail south to George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is an impressive building and a Catholic basilica. It is one of the world’s largest churches and, after the Washington Monument obelisk, the tallest building in the American capital.
The prehistory of the church was that Bishop Thomas Joseph Shahan, who was also rector of the Catholic University of Washington, proposed to Pope Pius X a monument to the Conception of Mary. That was in 1913 and the Pope personally donated $400.
Construction took place from 1920 to 1961, and architecturally the inspiration came from mainly Byzantine style. The ground size measures 140×73 metres, and there are 72 meters to the top of the cross on the church’s dome. Inside, you can enjoy the large church interior, an elegant ceiling decoration, and much more.
Hillwood is a beautiful mansion set in beautiful gardens. The building exhibits the site’s distinguished collection of various works of art. There are ceramics, glassware and metalwork here, and you can enjoy a number of Russian works of art such as several Fabergé eggs.
Hillwood’s beautiful gardens are the work of Marjorie Merriweather Post. She started in 1955 by arranging pleasure gardens for her own and her guests’ enjoyment, and today visitors can enjoy many different facilities. Here, for example, there is a rose garden, a Japanese garden, a French garden and a place where a Russian summer house has been built, a datja that was built in 1969 to house Russian art.
Baltimore is the largest city in the US state of Maryland. Its history started with the foundation of the town in 1729, although a port was constructed here as early as 1706 for the extensive tobacco trade in the region. Development started slowly, and in 1752 there were just 27 houses in the town. Later in the century, however, there was prosperity in the city in line with increasing trade with not least Caribbean countries, and in 1796-1797 the neighboring towns of Jonestown and Fells Point were merged with Baltimore.
In 1820, there were 60,000 inhabitants in the city, where textile industries, shipyards and shipping all left their mark on Baltimore. Development continued after the American Civil War, but in 1904, downtown Baltimore was ravaged by a large fire that left large parts of the city in ruins. By this time, the city had more than 500,000 inhabitants, and Baltimore was rebuilt at a fast pace after the fire.
Mount Vernon is a old plantation that was the residence of former President George Washington. In 1761, the property came into his possession, and in addition to the many years of residence here, George Washington also stayed at Mount Vernon for 434 days during his presidency in the years 1789-1797. After his death in 1799, George Washington was buried here.
Mount Vernon was built in Neoclassical Georgian style. The elegant building gives a fine impression of a southern plantation. On a visit, you can visit the plantation buildings and contents, the fine gardens and learn about the plantation’s operation.
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New York Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, 7th Street and 14th Street, Wisconsin Avenue, Georgetown
National Air and Space Museum
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National Aquarium
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National Zoo
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The colonization of the North American territory led to the settlement of present-day Washington being inhabited from the 17th century. At that time, there were already people from the tribe of Nacotchtank, who, however, largely left the area in time for the beginning of the 18th century.
In 1751, the Maryland Assembly decided to found a new city on the Potomac River. A plot of land was purchased from landowners George Beall and George Gordon, and they named the town Georgetown. Initially, 80 building lots were minted, and thus the start shot went to what later became a suburb of the upcoming US capital.
Throughout the first year of the United States, Philadelphia was the nation’s capital, but after a rebellion in the state in 1783, it became clear to the nation’s leaders that the capital had to be located in an area that was not subject to one of its states.
On July 9, 1790, the United States Congress passed the so-called Residence Act, which included the decision to establish a national capital on the Potomac River. President George Washington signed the agreement July 16, and he was to pinpoint the exact location of the new city.
The president wanted both the city of Georgetown from 1751 in Maryland and Virginia’s Alexandria, founded in 1749, to be within the new metropolitan area.
The states of Maryland and Virginia both donated land to the federal capital, which, from the beginning, did not belong to any states. The metropolitan area measured 10 miles on each link with axes north-south and east-west. The area was a total of 260 km2 .
The land area of the capital was called The Territory of Columbia, and the city was named after the first president; Washington. When the Residence Act was passed in 1791, due to George Washington’s land holdings near Alexandria, Virginia, it was decided that the public facilities in the capital could only be located east of the Potomac River and thus in Maryland.
The new capital was now to be constructed, and French engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant was set to develop an overall urban plan for the central parts and public administration. In 1791 his plans were presented but due to various disagreements they were not adopted and L’Enfant was dismissed the following year. Instead, Andrew Ellicott adjusted L’Enfant’s drawings, and as they became Washington’s urban plan, the Frenchman’s ideas were nevertheless brought to fruition.
In the year 1800, the seat of government was moved from Philadelphia to the new city of Washington, which thus became the concrete capital. At this time, 8,144 people lived in the city.
In 1802, Washington gained municipal rights, and the first electoral laws were passed. In this connection, the city got its first mayor, who was not directly elected, but was appointed by the president.
Further construction work by national institutions and implementation of L’Enfant’s plans also progressed these years; among others, with the excavation of the low channel, the Washington City Canal, which connected the Anacostia River with Tiber Creek and thereby the Potomac River. However, the canal did not become a permanent part of Washington as it was covered later in the century after a long period of still less use.
The independence gained from the British was not completely stable, and during the British-American War in the years 1812-1815 Washington was attacked.
Many of the city’s buildings, such as the Capitol and the White House, were burned, but despite visible devastation, the conflict was not prolonged. Prior to the attack, President James Madison had fled the city with federal forces.
The war officially ended with the Treaty of Ghent, signed December 24, 1814. The treaty returned to pre-war borders, giving the Americans back some land otherwise conquered by the British. The war thus ended without actual victories; with the exception that Canada remained free of treaties, thus avoiding future US attacks.
1820 became the year when new laws for the capital came into force. The city’s residents were now given the opportunity to elect their mayor by direct election.
The railroad came to the city from 1835, when a line between the capital and Baltimore was opened, and access to and from Washington became much faster for a number of cities, and over the years the rail network further developed with more connections from Washington.
In 1846, the metropolitan area, District of Columbia, city limits were finally established. This was the result of a decision to return the district of Alexandria to the state of Virginia, which was partly due to the decision not to build the capital west of the Potomac River. In addition, Alexandria had been disadvantaged financially over Georgetown and Washington itself, so the return to Virginia had also been supported by a referendum in Alexandria. The city became part of Virginia from 1847.
In 1846, Washington’s largest cultural institution, the Smithsonian Research and Museum Complex, was founded. Since then, the institution’s rich collections have been continuously expanded, and over the years several museum buildings have been erected, and today it is one of the world’s foremost museum complexes.
However, despite Washington’s status as the capital and the many new builds, the population did not increase dramatically in numbers through the first half of the 19th century. In 1820, there were 23,336 people living here, which had risen to 51,687 in 1850.
The American Civil War broke out when the southern states broke with the union and formed an independent nation with Jefferson Davis as president and capital of Virginia’s Richmond.
The federal capital of the Union was still called Washington, and it was on the border between the southern and northern states. Virginia on the opposite bank of the Potomac River was part of the new nation, while Maryland, despite a slave state status, remained in the union. The southern capital of Richmond was also quite close to Washington.
During the Civil War, in 1862, slavery was abolished in Washington’s territory. In July 1864, the Southern Army launched an attack on the city, the so-called Battle of Fort Stevens, and it became the only time in office that Northern State President Abraham Lincoln was present during actual combat operations.
Lincoln, in connection with the war, had established an independent military force for the capital’s defense; Army of the Potomac, and the town was continually kept from a ring of forts.
During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln had also allowed the construction of the new Capitol to continue as evidence of the country’s continued and unbroken development.
The American Civil War actually ended April 9, 1865, but not many days passed before Washington re-entered the country’s history. On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln entered the Ford Theater, where he was shot. He died the morning after the gunshots.
Due to many new public institutions and general growth in the wake of the Civil War, the capital of the capital rose from 75,080 in 1860 to 131,700 ten years later. It was a figure that, through the rest of the 19th century, grew to 278,718 in 1900.
The American Civil War had thus started a major population growth in Washington, changing the city from a relatively small American city to one of the country’s major.
Despite its growth through 1860, Washington was still a city with many dirt roads and poor hygiene. It was a stark contrast to the city’s many state buildings, and President Ulysses S. Grant rejected proposals to relocate the capital to ensure better conditions.
Instead, the Organic Act of 1871 was passed and it restructured governance in the metropolitan area. Two years later, the appointed governor, Alexander Robey Shepherd, initiated a series of large-scale public projects aimed at rapidly advancing Washington’s development.
The plans were implemented, and despite large budget overruns with new governance as a result, much happened in just a few years. Among other things, the city’s first motorized trams ran in 1888, and the Washington City Canal, which had almost become a sewer, was covered.
The continued relocation itself required some new construction, and around 1900 Pierre Charles L’Enfants initially rejected plans from 1791, and urban planning again partially followed the over 100-year plan.
The new plan came into being in 1901 and named The McMillan Plan after the commission that created the revised plan for the construction of the National Mall in the area between the Capitol and the Potomac River.
The McMillan Plan created a grandiose area whose planning and surrounding buildings were partly inspired by European cities such as Rome and Paris and partly through monumental architecture to exude the greatness and ability of the United States. The plan transformed the central area of the city from poor low-rise buildings to a number of large public buildings. The plan was largely implemented with completion in the early 1920s.
Washington’s population peaked around 1950, when the population numbered the 800,000. Suburban expansion in Maryland and Virginia led to a relocation from Washington and the District of Columbia, but the entire area was continuously strengthened in population. In 1957, Washington became the first major city in the United States, with the country’s black population becoming a majority.
The closer ties with neighboring states in 1967 resulted in the establishment of one public transport system for the entire area. The establishment of the city’s metro was also initiated on that occasion.
In 1963, the Washington National Mall was the scene of a major human rights demonstration involving up to 500,000 people. This is where Martin Luther King delivered his famous speech for equal rights between races. He began with the words: “I have a dream”.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, political steps were taken to make the District of Columbia and thus Washington the United States state number 51, yet without changing Washington’s special status as a federal capital.
On September 11, 2001, he entered the history of the United States and also the Washington. Here, the US Department of Defense Pentagon, located on the west side of the River Potomac River, was partially destroyed by a terrorist attack carried out by a passenger plane.
The American capital today is a beautiful meeting with the thoughts of its establishment in 1790, L’Enfant’s urban plan of 1791, the grand and stately 19th-19th century buildings as well as modern infrastructure, art and high technology at the Smithsonian Institution’s museums, among others.
Overview of Washington
Washington is the capital of the United States, and from the beginning it was thoughtfully designed in the best American style. The city is unlike any other city in the United States and the world, with its many splendid buildings, political power centers, large memorials, outstanding museums and not least known buildings from countless TV broadcasts in worldwide news and from varies movies.
A walk in Washington will undoubtedly seem exciting and familiar to many who can not recognize scenes from film and television. For example, the National Mall’s lawns are like a jump into television news. All places seem familiar, not least the White House and the Capitol. Many other places such as the FBI building can also be easily recognized. Along the way you discover a lot of other interesting sights as well.
About the upcoming Washington travel guide
About the travel guide
The Washington travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the American city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.
Washington is waiting for you, and at vamados.com you can also find cheap flights and great deals on hotels for your trip. You just select your travel dates and then you get flight and accommodation suggestions in and around the city.
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Click the “Add to Cart” button to purchase the travel guide. After that you will come to the payment, where you enter the purchase and payment information. Upon payment of the travel guide, you will immediately receive a receipt with a link to download your purchase. You can download the travel guide immediately or use the download link in the email later.
Use the travel guide
When you buy the travel guide to Washington you get the book online so you can have it on your phone, tablet or computer – and of course you can choose to print it. Use the maps and tour suggestions and you will have a good and content-rich journey.
The White House • Arlington • Capitol • Great Monuments • Impressive Churches
Overview of Washington
Washington is the capital of the United States, and from the beginning it was thoughtfully designed in the best American style. The city is unlike any other city in the United States and the world, with its many splendid buildings, political power centers, large memorials, outstanding museums and not least known buildings from countless TV broadcasts in worldwide news and from varies movies.
A walk in Washington will undoubtedly seem exciting and familiar to many who can not recognize scenes from film and television. For example, the National Mall’s lawns are like a jump into television news. All places seem familiar, not least the White House and the Capitol. Many other places such as the FBI building can also be easily recognized. Along the way you discover a lot of other interesting sights as well.
About the upcoming Washington travel guide
About the travel guide
The Washington travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the American city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.
Washington is waiting for you, and at vamados.com you can also find cheap flights and great deals on hotels for your trip. You just select your travel dates and then you get flight and accommodation suggestions in and around the city.
Read more about Washington and the USA
Buy the travel guide
Click the “Add to Cart” button to purchase the travel guide. After that you will come to the payment, where you enter the purchase and payment information. Upon payment of the travel guide, you will immediately receive a receipt with a link to download your purchase. You can download the travel guide immediately or use the download link in the email later.
Use the travel guide
When you buy the travel guide to Washington you get the book online so you can have it on your phone, tablet or computer – and of course you can choose to print it. Use the maps and tour suggestions and you will have a good and content-rich journey.
Washington Monument is a monument that was erected in honor of the first president of the United States, George Washington. The 169 meter high obelisk was built from 1848 to 1884 in granite, marble and sandstone. There was a break in construction in the years 1854-1877, which can be seen in the cladding at a height of 46 metres.
When it was inaugurated in 1884, the Washington Monument was the tallest building in the world. The height surpassed the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, and this status was maintained until 1889, when the Eiffel Tower was opened in Paris.
The monument stands centrally and almost at the top of the National Mall, and it gives a nice view of the area and the lawns and buildings. Originally, the plan was to erect an equestrian statue of George Washington, but this plan was dropped in favor of an idea of a grand monument that symbolized Washington’s importance. The process began in 1832, which was the 100th anniversary of the president’s birth. Robert Mills designed the monument in 1836, and it was intended to include both an obelisk, a colonnade and a series of statues of heroes from the American freedom struggle. Only the obelisk was realized.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a museum with collections of mainly historical and modern American art, but there is also a fine European collection. Thomas Gainsborough, Edward Hopper, Joan Mitchell, Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet are among the artists represented. The Corcoran Gallery of Art closed as its own museum in 2014, with the collections transferred to the National Gallery of Art, also located in Washington.
The museum was opened in 1874 and was founded on the philanthropist William Wilson Corcoran’s collection of paintings and sculptures, which he donated to the city. After having been located in a smaller place in the city, which today is opened as the Renwick Gallery (1661 Pennsylvania Avenue), a new museum building was constructed and opened in 1897. The museum was designed by Ernest Flagg in a distinguished French Beaux Art with elements from Greek architecture.
The National Museum of American History is a museum that has a rich collection of all kinds of objects and artifacts, each representing parts of American history. Here there are locomotives, furniture, art, computers etc., and you can often see interesting themed exhibitions about special things, places or people.
There are selected highlights in the many effects and collections. Among these are Robert Stephenson’s locomotive John Bull from 1831 and one of the tables that became part of the abolition of racial segregation in the United States in 1960 at Woolworth in North Carolina.
National Air and Space Museum is undoubtedly one of the world’s best aviation and space museums. The exhibits in the collection are impressive, and much is exhibited in the building on the National Mall. Another part, such as larger aircraft, is exhibited at the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy-Center, which is outside the city.
Among the planes on the National Mall are the German Messerschmidt 109 and 262A, an English Spitfire and the Wright brothers’ plane from 1903. In the branch outside the city, you can see the Boeing bomber Enola Gay, which dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Other things include the German V1 and V2 rockets, SS-20 missiles, a replica of Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin’s space suit from training for his historic space flight for the Soviet Union, and a scale model of the impressive Saturn V rocket.
The museum was established in 1946, and the current exhibition building on the National Mall opened in 1976. The National Air and Space Museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. It was inaugurated in an elegant and monumental classicist style in 1935. Until its opening, the Supreme Court had been housed in the United States Capitol since the election of Washington as the federal capital. Previously, the country’s highest court was located first in New York and then in Philadelphia.
The height of the building is 28 metres, and the facade to the west was built in marble from the state of Vermont. The cladding of the facades facing the inner courtyards is of marble from Georgia, and there is marble from Alabama inside. There are various works of art in and around the Supreme Court. Among them are the statues The Contemplation of Justice to the north in front of the building and The Authority of Law to the south.
The grandiose Union Station in Washington is one of the largest railway stations in the United States, and it is also here that the company Amtrak has its headquarters. The railway station was opened as the city’s unifying railway hub in 1907, and before this time the individual railway companies operated their own stations around the city.
It was the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad that announced in 1901 that they had agreed to build the new Union Station together. With the station it was possible to secure a large railway construction that matched other large buildings in the capital, and with it it was also possible to remove the tracks and areas that had been used on the National Mall.
The station was opened with 32 tracks, 12 of which were in the basement, to which a tunnel was built under Capitol Hill. The first train arrived at the platforms on the morning of 27 October 1907. The building is imposing and many styles have inspired and contributed to the decoration; however, the railway station was mainly built in beaux arts. In addition to the large railway station hall, a presidential reception hall was built where official guests of the city could be received.
Ford’s Theaters is a theater building whose roots are an 1833 church building that was the first building on the site. After the conversion from a church to a theater, it opened in 1863, and on April 14, 1865, it became the setting for the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln. He was shot while attending a performance at the theater.
After being shot, Abraham Lincoln was carried across the street to the Petersen House, where he died the following morning. Petersen House, like Ford’s Theatre, is also open to visitors, and together the two places provide an insight into the president’s last days. Ford’s Theater had to close, but after 103 years the place reopened in 1968 and there are now performances on stage again.
The Library of Congress is the United States’ national library, and it is among the world’s largest libraries. In the beautiful building there are millions of books, and among them is one of Gutenberg’s original Bibles.
The library’s history goes back to 1800, and the current main building was built in 1897. The interior is beautiful, and the large round reading room in particular is a sight to see, considered by many to be one of the city’s absolute architectural gems.
St Matthews Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Washington of the Catholic Church. The beautiful Romanesque church with Byzantine elements was inaugurated in 1895 after construction had begun two years earlier, and with its location on a ridge it can be seen from far and wide. Incidentally, it was here that the ceremony at the funeral of assassinated President John F. Kennedy took place. Senator Joseph McCarthy was also buried from the cathedral, which Pope John Paul II visited in 1979.
The church is beautiful inside, where there is a lot of fine decoration. Marble and paintings are some of what characterizes the impression, and Edwin Blashfield’s 11 meter high mosaic of the evangelist Matthew behind the altar is a good example of the church’s works of art.
Georgetown is a cozy district that stands as a contrast to Washington’s grandiose buildings. Just a few kilometers from the center of the American capital, the atmospheric Georgetown awaits with its low-rise buildings and old townhouses. M Street is a street that is centrally located in the old part of Georgetown, and you should take a stroll down it.
South of M Street and down towards the Potomac River is the modern center Georgetown Harbor, where there is a different and very good atmosphere. From here you can sail on the river to the city of Alexandria to the south.
Georgetown was founded in 1751 in what was then the state of Maryland. This makes the city several decades older than Washington D.C., which got its territory from both Maryland and Virginia, however, the area from Virginia was returned in 1847. Georgetown maintained its status as an independent city until 1871, when the United States Congress established a new and unified form of government for the entire District of Columbia, of which Georgetown was and is a part.
Over time, several famous people have lived in Georgetown for a shorter or longer time. Among them were Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, John F. Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor.
The Marine Corps War Memorial is a statue group in the form of a famous bronze monument depicting troops raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II in February 1945. The monument is a memorial to all in the US Marine Corps, that has fallen since 1775. It is one of the few places where the Stars & Stripes fly around the clock, illuminated at night. The figures are ten meters high, while the flagpole measures eighteen meters.
The monument was designed by Horace W. Peaslee and sculptor Felix de Weldon produced the sculpture group. It is based on the famous photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, which was taken on February 23, 1945 by Joe Rosenthal. The monument was unveiled in 1954.
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