smithsonian national museum virtual tour

Virtual Travel

A Smithsonian magazine special report

Smart News | March 20, 2020

Ten Museums You Can Virtually Visit

Museums are closing their doors amid the coronavirus crisis, but many offer digital exhibitions visitors can browse from the comfort of home

Nadine Daher

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, museums and cultural institutions across the globe are closing their doors to the public. But while visitors can no longer roam the halls of these institutions, virtual tools and online experiences mean anyone with an internet connection can browse world-class collections from home.

The Smithsonian Institution , of course, has its own array of virtual tours, experiences and educational resources . Among the other experiences on offer: Scroll through an extensive trove of 3-D photographs from the Minneapolis Institute of Art , explore online exhibits from the National Women’s History Museum in Virginia, or admire artistic masterpieces from the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Spain. Additionally, around 2,500 museums and galleries, including the Uffizi Galleries in Florence and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, are offering virtual tours and presenting online collections via the Google Arts and Culture portal.

For those in search of armchair travel inspiration, Smithsonian magazine has compiled a list of ten museums that have found new ways to fulfill their critical mission of cultivating creativity and spreading knowledge.

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza

Home to the world’s second largest private collection of art, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza owns masterpieces by giants of virtually every art movement—to name just a few, Jan van Eyck, Titian, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Picasso and Dalí. To spotlight these artistic treasures, the Madrid museum offers an array of multimedia resources . Users can take a virtual tour of the entire building (or a thematic tour covering such topics as food, sustainability, fashion and even “inclusive love”); browse current and closed exhibits ; and watch behind-the-scenes videos featuring interviews, lectures and technical studies.

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Committed to offering a culturally rewarding experience since opening its doors in 2013, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul (MMCA) has established itself as a prominent cultural platform and leader in Korean art. In collaboration with Google Arts and Culture, the MMCA is now offering a virtual tour of its collections. This experience takes visitors through six floors of modern and contemporary art from Korea and around the world. Those seeking an educational walkthrough can follow along by tuning into curator-led recorded tours.

The Anne Frank House

The Anne Frank House , established in cooperation with the famed diarist’s father, Otto, in 1957, strives to inform the public through educational programs and tours of the building where the teenager and her family hid during World War II. To delve deeper into the story detailed in Frank’s diary, online visitors can watch videos about her life; virtually explore the Secret Annex ; look around the house where she lived before going into hiding; and view the Google Arts and Culture exhibition “ Anne Frank: Her Life, Her Diary, Her Legacy .”

The Vatican Museums

Home to some 70,000 artworks and artifacts spanning centuries, continents and mediums, the 5.5-hectare Vatican Museums are among Italy’s finest cultural institutions. Virtual visitors can tour seven different sections of the sprawling complex, enjoying 360-degree views of the Sistine Chapel , perhaps best known for Michelangelo’s ceiling and Last Judgment fresco; Raphael’s Rooms , where the Renaissance artist’s School of Athens resides; and lesser-known but equally sumptuous locations such as the Pio Clementino Museum, the Niccoline Chapel and the Room of the Chiaroscuri.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

“Since its founding, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has maintained a belief in the transformative powers of art,” reads the Manhattan museum’s website . “In uncertain times such as these, art can provide both solace and inspiration.”

In a nod to this mission, the Guggenheim , a cultural center and educational institution devoted to modern and contemporary art, has opened up its collections to online visitors. The building itself, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is an architectural masterpiece; audiences can listen to an audio guide of its history or journey up its spiral halls via a Google Arts and Culture virtual tour . For those who want to take a deeper dive into the museum’s collections, the Guggenheim’s online database features some 1,700 artworks by more than 625 artists.

The London National Gallery

Take a virtual tour of 18 gallery rooms, enjoy a panoramic view of the museum’s halls and click through a wide collection of artistic masterpieces using the National Gallery ’s virtual tools . Based in London, this museum houses more than 2,300 works reflecting the Western European tradition between the 13th and 19th centuries. Collection highlights include Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers and J.M.W Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire .

NASA Research Centers

For those fascinated by space exploration, NASA offers online visitors the chance to take a behind-the-scenes look inside its facilities. Visitors can take virtual tours of the organization’s research centers, where aeronautic technology is developed and tested, and learn more about the functions of different facilities. The online tour of Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, covers 16 locations, including the Flight Research Hangar and the Katherine Johnson Computational Research Facility. The virtual tour of the Glenn Research Center in Ohio, meanwhile, takes visitors inside facilities such as the Supersonic Wind Tunnel, where high speed flight is researched, and the Zero Gravity Research Facility, where microgravity research is conducted.

The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City

Home to the world’s largest ancient Mexican art collection, in addition to an extensive collection of ethnographic objects, the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City preserves the country’s indigenous legacy and celebrates its cultural heritage. In collaboration with Google Arts and Culture, the museum has made some 140 items available for online visitors to explore from their homes. Among the objects available for viewing are the famous Aztec calendar sun stone and the striking jade death mask of ancient Mayan king Pakal the Great.

San Francisco’s De Young Museum

One of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco , the de Young Museum ’s new copper-clad building in Golden Gate Park combines art with architecture. The collection features a priceless array of American art dating from the 17th to the 21st centuries, as well as artifacts from Africa and Oceania, modern and contemporary art, costumes, and textiles. Through Google Arts and Culture, the de Young offers 11 exhibits, including “ Cult of the Machine ” and “ Ruth Asawa: A Working Life .”

Housed in a large fortress along the banks of Paris’ Seine River, the Louvre regularly tops rankings of the most-visited museums in the world, with millions of visitors flocking to its halls in search of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa , the Venus de Milo and other instantly recognizable artworks. Virtual tours offered by the Louvre include a walkthrough of the Egyptian antiquities wing and a view of the museum’s moat, which was built in 1190 to protect Paris from invaders.

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Nadine Daher | | READ MORE

Nadine Daher is a digital intern at Smithsonian magazine. She is a senior at Northwestern, where she studies journalism and international studies.

Take a virtual tour of exhibitions at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

These virtual tours are made possible through the generous support of Eric Byunn and Alyssa Rieder.

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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Washington, United States

Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History seeks to understand the natural world and our place in it. We curate an irreplaceable archive of Earth’s physical, cultural, and biological diversity—more than 145 million objects in all. Through a long tradition of research, exhibitions, and public programs, we explore fundamental questions, spark curiosity, and connect people everywhere to Earth’s unfolding story.

Admission to the museum is free. The museum is open daily except December 25, 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM. The museum is open for extended museum hours until 7:30 PM during certain days. Please check the museum website for extended hour days.

What is a Siphonophore?

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Virtual Tours

Schedule a free virtual tour for your group of ten or more adults. These live, interactive tours feature high-resolution images of artworks and provide online visitors an opportunity to engage in conversation with the museum’s docents. The tours are thematic explorations of both the museum’s permanent collections and special exhibitions. Using the online meeting platform Zoom, participants have the opportunity to examine and respond to exceptional artworks. These tours for adults are approximately one hour long and can also accommodate children. To schedule your adult group, please use the virtual reservation form . All virtual tours must be scheduled at least four weeks in advance. the request form .-->

Virtual tours for adults are offered in the following languages by request: English, Cantonese, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin.

Request a tour

Tour topics

New anyang: china’s ancient city of kings.

A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur

Art Across Cultures

Arts of the Islamic World

Cherry Blossom Tour

Chinese Brush Painting

Chinese Ceramic Art

Eat and Celebrate

Explore Buddhist Art

Freer in Egypt

Korean Ceramic Art

This docent-led online tour will feature works of art from the museum’s collections of Korean art. The tour will provide participants with the opportunity to take a close look at and gain an appreciation of the beauty of these artworks, including Korean celadon—one of the world’s best-known types of ceramics—while also learning about the history of Korean art and listening to interesting stories of how these works were acquired.

Nature in the Arts of Asia

The Peacock Room and American Art

Past Exhibitions

If you missed the exhibition when it was on view, you can still request a virtual tour.

Fashioning an Empire

One of our docents will share the art and culture of Safavid Iran (1501–1722), including textiles with sumptuous surfaces, original designs, and technical sophistication. These luxury textiles played a critical role in the social, cultural, religious, and economic life of Safavid Iran. Used for clothing, furnishing, and movable architecture, fabrics also functioned as important symbols of power and as ubiquitous forms of artistic expression.

The tour begins on March 1 to coincide with Nowruz, the celebration of the Persian New Year.

Hokusai and the Art of Japan

My Iran: Six Women Photographers

Greenhouses

Take a Virtual Tour of the Smithsonian Gardens Greenhouse

Butterfly greenhouse, interior plants greenhouse.

The Interior Plants Greenhouse houses mostly tropical and sub-tropical plants ranging in size from miniature terrarium varieties to large Cycads and Dracaenas, all of which are used to enhance the interior spaces of the Smithsonian museums. This greenhouse is climate controlled and shaded to replicate the low-light conditions the plants will encounter when on display. The Interiors Team maintains and provides new plants to refresh and enhance the horticultural displays they design, including 2,300 square feet of planted beds in the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard. Once removed from a museum, many plants are brought back to the greenhouse to be rejuvenated and prepared for display once again.

Explore our interior horticulture displays >

Orchid Collection Greenhouses

Production greenhouses, propagation greenhouse.

Smithsonian Gardens’ Propagation Greenhouse is unique from all the other greenhouses thanks to it having an automatic mist system. Six different zones can be customized to create more ideal growing environments for recently planted surface-sown seeds and rooted cuttings. Newly arrived poinsettia plugs also get a chance to acclimate in their new environment by first making a stop in the propagation greenhouse before moving on to the production greenhouses. In addition to propagation, this greenhouse is home to many stock plants and tender specimens. Here, the plants are nurtured and rejuvenated so that they can be used as sources for seeds and cuttings for spring and summer crops destined for display in the Smithsonian gardens and landscapes. Trial plants and small batches of unusual or rare plant varieties are also found in this space.

Tropical Greenhouses

With nearly 10,000 square feet of greenhouse space, Smithsonian Gardens’ Tropical Plant Team grows an array of foliage, flowering, and other exotic tropical and semi-tropical plants used for display throughout the Smithsonian gardens. Specimens range from fragrant flowering gardenias to massive palms. Moving these plants from the Greenhouse Facility to the Smithsonian campus presents many challenges. Forklifts and flatbed trucks are needed to load and transport specimens reaching as high as twenty feet tall. Due to the fact that few of them would be able to survive Washington, D.C.’s winters, the tropicals are returned to the Greenhouse Facility at the end of each fall season. During the winter they are fertilized, treated for any pest or disease problems, and pruned as needed so they will be ready for their annual spring return to the Smithsonian gardens.

Colorful violas perched on carts await transplanting in the Smithsonian gardens on the National Mall.

Early cool-season vegetables including broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, and red mustard are grown in the Greenhouse Production section for the National Museum of American History’s Victory Garden.

Heat-loving plants like this Brugmansia or Angel’s Trumpet spend their winters in the Tropicals greenhouses.

Horticulturist Jill Gonzalez stakes Poinsettias destined for holiday displays that start to appear inside the Smithsonian museums in November.

The striking orange of the Osteospermum stands out against the contrasting purple Cleome seen in the background. These are some of the many colorful annuals grown for summer displays.

Dracaenas, Aglaonemas, Philodendron, Pothos, and various bromeliads grow in the Interiors greenhouse before they are showcased inside select museum spaces.

The large Queen Sago Palms seen here are rotated in and out of The Garden Lounge exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History.

Variegated Furcraea, or False Agave, is one of many plants that overwinter in the Tropicals greenhouse. It is found on display outside the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall during the summer months.

Warm-season annuals, such as Coleus, Peppers, Isotoma and Iresine, can be found in the Production greenhouses in the springtime.

Orchid Collection Greenhouse

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Experience the museum’s collections in a deeper and more meaningful way. Our free, hour-long, on-site tours led by knowledgeable docents will inform and engage you while providing a unique look at the museum, and our free online tours bring the museum to you.

With a range of topics, there is something for everyone. Reserve your tour today to begin your journey of discovery.

On-site Tours

Enjoy some of the finest works of art on a free, hour-long, docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas. No reservations required.

Please visit the museum’s events calendar for details of all tours currently on offer.

Review our visitor policies and admission information before planning your visit.

Walk-in Tours

Celebrate our museum’s centennial with a tour featuring Charles Lang Freer’s collection of Asian and American art. Join our docents on an interactive journey to explore the highlights of the museum’s outstanding collections , including the famous Peacock Room . No reservation needed.

Join a tour of the special exhibition Anyang: China’s Ancient City of Kings , featuring artworks excavated from the capital of the ancient Shang Dynasty (ca. 1250 BCE–ca. 1050 BCE), including jades and bronze vessels. Learn about the advanced technology of bronze casting, explore intricate and sophisticated designs of ritual objects, and discover famous “oracle bones.”

11 a.m.–12 p.m., first Sunday of every month; meet at the Freer information desk

We read books about the art we love, and we can explore so many materials online. But how much time do we get to spend with objects in person? And how will we see those objects differently when we use a pencil and a sketchbook—not because we are artists but because sketching can help us see and understand art traditions and artworks in a different way?

Join docent Sushmita Mazumdar every first Sunday of the month as she guides you to use pencil and paper to consider the unique ideas and expressions of Asian artists from various traditions spanning the continent across centuries. All materials will be provided. No reservation needed.

American artist James McNeill Whistler’s Peacock Room is a highlight of the National Museum of Asian Art, and his ideas and influence can be felt throughout the museum. Experience Whistler’s paintings, watercolors, pastels, and prints along with objects by Asian artists that inspired his style and subjects. Join a walk-in, docent-led tour to explore the many sides of Whistler.

The National Museum of Asian Art invites you to celebrate the women in our collection—ancient and modern, human, and divine. This docent-led tour will introduce you to influential women and their little-known stories.

Join our docents for engaging and collaborative hands-on activities that are geared toward families with children ages 5 and up. Exciting stories, scavenger hunts, sketching, and other activities will bring the whole family together to imagine, create, and learn.

Group Tours

You can schedule a private on-site tour for a group of ten or more visitors by going to the on-site tour request form. Please use the Notes section if you would like to customize your tour to feature specific topics or a special exhibition.

We also offer these tours in other languages: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Spanish, and Cantonese.

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Self-Guided Visits

Groups with ten or more visitors are welcome to experience the National Museum of Asian Art as a group on their own schedule and at their own pace. Advanced registration is encouraged.

Bringing a self-guided group:

• Familiarize yourself with the exhibitions that will be on view during your visit.
• Review the “things to know” below.
• Complete the request form for self-guided groups at least one week in advance of your visit.
• See the plan your visit page for general information about hours, public transportation, and parking.
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Group Visit Guidelines

Things to know.

• All groups must provide at least one chaperone per ten students. Chaperones must remain with their assigned group at all times and assist with encouraging museum rules, managing the group, and modeling good behavior.
• Please provide clipboards if students will be writing to discourage the use of walls and display cases as writing supports.
• Pencil is the only writing implement permitted in the galleries.
• Photographs may be taken of the permanent collections but not of loan objects or exhibitions; please be aware of “no photography” signage in the galleries.
• Please indicate any accessibility requests in the “additional notes” section of the request form.

Adult Group Tours

I agree to the following:

• The group leader/contact will respond to the tour scheduler in a timely manner to confirm the reservation.
• Arriving late for a reserved tour will result in a shorter tour.
• Arriving more than 20 minutes late for a reserved tour will result in cancellation. A new form will need to be submitted to request another reservation.

School Group Tours

• tours in some foreign languages (please specify)
• tours for visually impaired visitors
• sign language interpreters
• The group leader/contact will carefully read the written confirmation and logistical information, including which building the group should enter, that will be provided two weeks before the experience.
• To cancel or change tours, the group leader/contact should call the tour scheduler immediately at 202.633.1012. (For same-day or weekend cancellations and changes, please also call 202.633.0470.)
• The students participating in this experience are within the recommended ages listed on the field trips page .
• At least one chaperone must be provided per ten students.
• Chaperones will remain with their assigned group at all times.
• Chaperones must assist with encouraging museum rules, managing the group, and modeling good behavior.
• Students will not be given assignments by teachers or chaperones to complete during guided tours. (Docents will have activities prepared for students.)
• Food, beverages, and gum are not permitted.
• Please walk—do not run—in the galleries.
• Please do not lean on cases.
• Use your eyes, not your hands, to examine objects on display.
• You may speak at a regular level in the galleries, but please do not shout.
• Please make sure there is enough room for people to get around your group and through nearby entryways.
• When you arrive, all bags must be inspected.
• When you arrive, all student coats, bags, and lunches will be deposited into a large storage cart. If this is not an ideal situation, you may choose to leave these items on the bus. Contact us at [email protected] with any logistics questions.

Virtual Tours

Join a free, docent-led, virtual tour to explore highlights of the museum’s collections that showcase the richness and diversity of Asian art. Register here to select a date .

You can also request a free virtual tour for your group of ten or more adults. Our May schedule for reserved virtual tours is full. Please consider joining a public virtual tour in May.

• Request a Virtual Tour

Virtual Tour Topics

Anyang: china’s ancient city of kings.

Book a virtual tour of the special exhibition Anyang: China’s Ancient City of Kings , featuring artworks excavated from the capital of the ancient Shang Dynasty (ca. 1250 BCE–ca. 1050 BCE), including jades and bronze vessels. Learn about the advanced technology of bronze casting, explore intricate and sophisticated designs of ritual objects, and discover famous “oracle bones.”

Art Across Cultures

The creation of art is a universal human endeavor, but what connects artworks across cultures, and what sets them apart? Freer Gallery of Art founder Charles Lang Freer wrote, “For those who have the power to see beauty, all works of art go together.” The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art is home to more than 46,000 objects, with strengths in arts of the Islamic world; the ancient Near East; South, East, and Southeast Asia; and the United States. On this museum highlights tour, your group will enjoy selections from diverse regions and time periods, exploring commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.

Arts of the Islamic World

The arts of the Islamic world encompass a great diversity of traditions far ranging in geography and historical period—from North Africa to India and since the advent of Islam in the late seventh century. The National Museum of Asian Art holds one of the country’s finest collections of arts of the Islamic world , with particular strengths in illustrated manuscripts and ceramics. Explore selections from the museum’s more than 2,200 Islamic art objects in an interactive online tour with one of our docents.

Cherry Blossom Tour

The revered sakura , or cherry blossom, has been celebrated in landscapes, figure paintings, and prints by artists from medieval Japan to Katsushika Hokusai and beyond. Long after the cherry blossoms fall in Washington, DC, you are invited to embrace hanami , the traditional Japanese custom of “flower viewing,” by going cherry blossom viewing in the museum’s Japanese art collections!

Chinese Brush Painting

In traditional Chinese literati culture, painting is esteemed as one of the “Three Perfections” alongside poetry and calligraphy. The Freer Gallery of Art houses one of the most important collections of Chinese painting outside of Asia, including masterworks and representative pieces from diverse genres and categories. In this online tour, participants will view stunning imagery and will examine refined brushwork in a selection of Chinese handscrolls, hanging scrolls, and more.

Chinese Ceramic Art

Ceramics is one of the most significant forms of Chinese art, and Chinese ceramics are among the most prized examples of the art form globally. A Chinese invention, porcelain ceramics are so identified with the country that they are still called “china” in the English-speaking world. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art houses an impressive collection of Chinese ceramics spanning more than four thousand years, from the Neolithic period to the early twentieth century. Highlights include works from renowned kilns and representative pieces from diverse genres and categories. Participants in this online tour will take a close look at beautiful ceramic works, gaining an appreciation of the creativity, artistic expression, and technical mastery of Chinese potters while also learning about the evolution of ceramic art in China.

Eat and Celebrate

Food is an important part of holiday celebrations throughout the world. You can join our docents to investigate works of art across Asia to discover how people in the past and the present celebrated through food and rituals. What foods were important and how they were grown or made? How and when were certain foods eaten? What special meaning did some foods have and why? What rituals and foods are still part of cultural traditions that people observe today? Explore food culture and celebrations through art.

Explore Buddhist Art

Encounter the beauty and diversity of Buddhist religious art across Asia on this docent-led online tour. From Buddhism’s origins in India and Nepal to its eventual arrival in Japan and Indonesia, participants can follow the journey of Buddhist art throughout the continent. This route features works from the exhibition Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia and selections from the permanent collections. Participants will receive an introduction to sites of contemplation and sacred power in Buddhist art and practice.

Freer in Egypt

In addition to his travels throughout East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and West Asia, museum founder Charles Lang Freer visited Egypt three times between 1906 and 1909. Freer saw Egyptian art as an important part of his vision of universal beauty. His acquisitions included valuable Biblical manuscripts, glazed ceramics, glass, and other artifacts dating back thousands of years to pharaonic Egypt. Join your docent on this online tour to explore Freer’s vision, retrace his travels, and look carefully at the objects he acquired during his visits.

Korean Ceramic Art

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art houses an excellent collection of Korean art , especially ceramics. Charles Lang Freer (1854–1919), founder of the museum’s Freer Gallery of Art, acquired nearly 500 Korean art objects. When the museum opened its doors in 1923, Freer’s assembly of Korean art was considered unparalleled in quality and historical scope, and the collection has been expanded over the years.

This docent-led online tour will feature works of art from the museum’s collections of Korean art. The tour will provide participants with the opportunity to take a close look at and gain an appreciation of the beauty of these artworks, including Korean celadon—one of the world’s best-known types of ceramics—while also learning about the history of Korean art and listening to interesting stories about how these works were acquired.

Lunar New Year

Leap into the year of the dragon in 2024 with a virtual tour of our collections! On the tour, visitors will explore popular legends, learn to identify auspicious messages, and uncover the symbolism of animals, plants, and colors associated with the Lunar New Year.

Nature in the Arts of Asia

How are human relationships to the natural world expressed in art across cultures? How have artists throughout time celebrated the beauty of Asian landscapes? From flora and fauna to sea and sky, explore nature motifs in the museum collections in this online tour. Join our docents for an exploration of the natural world through art—perfect to get you ready for warmer weather and for being outdoors in the summertime.

Whistler's World

American artist James McNeill Whistler’s Peacock Room is a highlight of the National Museum of Asian Art, and his ideas and influence can be felt throughout the museum. Experience Whistler’s paintings, watercolors, pastels, and prints along with objects by Asian artists that inspired his style and subjects. Join a virtual, docent-led tour to explore the many sides of Whistler.

Virtual Tours of Past Exhibitions

If you missed an exhibition when it was on view, you can still request a virtual tour.

A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur

Immerse yourself in the ambience of an Indian city with a tour of the special exhibition A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur . Established in 1553, Udaipur was the capital of the Mewar kingdom in northwestern India. The exhibition features paintings commissioned by Udaipur’s royal court between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries. Colored with opaque dazzling pigments, these large paintings on paper and cloth feature topographical landscapes of Udaipur’s palaces, lakes, and hillsides. Join this tour of Udaipur’s painted world and experience the moods of its court ceremonies, festivities, hunting grounds, and temples.

Fashioning an Empire

Virtually visit the exhibition Fashioning an Empire: Safavid Textiles from the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha . View extraordinary seventeenth-century textiles, full-length portrait paintings from the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, and beautiful illustrated manuscript folios from our collections.

One of our docents will share the art and culture of Safavid Iran (1501–1722), including textiles with sumptuous surfaces, original designs, and technical sophistication. These luxury textiles played a critical role in the social, cultural, religious, and economic life of Safavid Iran. Used for clothing, furnishing, and movable architecture, fabrics also functioned as important symbols of power and as ubiquitous forms of artistic expression.

The tour began on March 1 to coincide with Nowruz, the celebration of the Persian New Year.

Hokusai and the Art of Japan

The Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) is widely recognized for a single image— Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa , an icon of global art—yet he produced thousands of works throughout his long life. Tour the former exhibition Hokusai: Mad About Painting , which featured works from the world’s largest collection of paintings, sketches, and drawings by Hokusai. The exhibition included works large and small, from six-panel folding screens and hanging scrolls to paintings and drawings. Together, these works reveal an artistic genius who thought he might finally achieve true mastery in painting—if he lived to the age of 110.

My Iran: Six Women Photographers

This online tour, featuring the 2019–20 exhibition of the same name, highlights Iranian postrevolutionary women’s photography in the museum’s collections. Discover nuanced and compelling stories of Iran through the contemporary lenses of Hengameh Golestan, Newsha Tavakolian, Shadi Ghadirian, Malekeh Nayiny, Gohar Dashti, and Mitra Tabrizian.

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Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

Interpretive planning and historical research internship.

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NOTE: Applications submitted through Handshake will NOT be considered.

Desired Majors or Areas of Study: Museum Studies, Museum Education, African American Studies, Africana/African Diaspora Studies and History, Latin American and Caribbean History, American Studies, Public History, Performance Studies, but all encouraged to apply

The Interpretive Planning and Historical Research Internship is located within the Office of Strategic Partnerships (OSP) at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). OSP exists to strengthen the capabilities and sustainability of historical, cultural, and art institutions focused on African American and African Diaspora, which we do through our collaborations with museum service organizations, professional associations, and related organizations. Through collaboration and partnerships, OSP delivers far-reaching and transformative support for under-resourced organizations on a regional, national, and international level; connects and builds awareness about the work of its participating institutions; provides access to training and resources that support and advance leaders and field-wide best practices.

The Office of Strategic Partnerships operates a suite of annual hybrid interpretive programs for the museum field including the Ethical Interpretation Workshop, a signature program of NMAAHC/OSP and a professional development training on Urban Environmentalism, in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. While examples of both environmentalism and ethical interpretation in practice are present throughout the museum’s object collection, digital offerings, and its physical museum exhibitions, there is no single exhibition that focuses on either of these topics exclusively. The Office of Strategic Partnerships Intern will learn through a project focusing on the development of two new exhibition guides that illustrate the work of OSP in practice – one specifically focused on ethical theory and practice and the other on urban environmentalism, to illustrate the ongoing relationship of African American communities and the natural world around them.

The intern can expect to learn the multidisciplinary nature of museum exhibitions and interpretation; develop a deeper understanding for and ability to communicate the relationships between African American or African Diasporic communities and the natural world; develop object-specific and biographical research skills; Gain insights about exhibition rotation cycles and object display length for a variety of collections materials; learn how to interpret material culture and stories in a way that makes them intelligible to a broad cross-section of the public, particularly those interested in African American art, history, and culture; gain object interpretation, public speaking, and storytelling skills; learn how to distill a large quantity of multimedia exhibition information into a thematic, succinct, and accessible museum tour; build an understanding of effective methods for program facilitation and audience engagement techniques.

As time permits, additional experiences could include the assistance of planning/scheduling/facilitation of a few virtual professional development programs and/or meetups for the Community of Practice that has actively developed around the fields of ethical interpretation and environmental justice. The selected intern will join the planning teams for these multiple initiatives and assist in the development of program-related materials for each. The intern will perform research and support administrative tasks related to these topics/programs.

Duties Include (but are not limited to):

• Participate in an online review and physical walkthrough of all museum exhibition galleries with OSP Staff, and other NMAAHC curators, as available
• Research effective methods of program facilitation and audience engagement techniques
• Identify and research key objects on view in NMAAHC exhibitions that fit within the scope and intended content of this project
• Design two (2) OSP-centered exhibition guides on the topics of ethical theory and practice and urban environmentalism for NMAAHC’s physical exhibitions
• Create a presentation and/or talking points for each exhibition guide that can be used by other NMAAHC curators, docents, and museum staff on OSP-centered tours
• Observe Museum leadership and strategic planning initiatives.
• Attend virtual cross-departmental meetings, workshops, and special events

Accessible Virtual Programming Toolkit

This toolkit for museum professionals provides step-by-step guidance on how to develop and execute virtual programs that are accessible for disabled participants.

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