Here I am again with another episode in my ‘Friday Discoveries‘ series, including some cool museums located in Washington DC.

Sackler Gallery + National Museum of African Art

Today I visited the Sackler Gallery and the National Museum of African Art (see the pictures in the gallery below). Both are located in the National Mall in Washington DC and are part of the Smithsonian Institution, meaning they are free. Their size is pretty small compared to their fellow museums along the National Mall and it took me around 2 hours to visit them. All galleries are underground.

I wandered around the Sackler Gallery first. One of the exhibits on display was the ‘Sculpture of South Asia and the Himalayas‘, including beautiful Buddha figures. Then I admired one of Mark Rothko´s painting and headed to the Chinamania and Peacock Room exhibitions. I really liked the atmosphere of the latter!

I also examined the black and white photographs of Indian artist Gauri Gill in her ‘Notes from the Desert’ display.  Right after that I visited the exhibition ‘The art of the Qur’an‘ and wandered around the ‘Turquoise Mountain: artists transforming Afghanistan‘. The latter features the formidable reconstruction work that has taken place for a decade in the Murad Khani district in Kabul, involving the revival of craftmanship skills such as pottery, jewelry or constructing with mud .

Sublevel 3 of the Sackler Gallery connects with the lower level of the National Museum of African Art. I explored the collection of African masks, sculptures, paintings and various objects on my way up til I reached the ground level.

Smithsonian Castle + National Sculpture Garden

Right after visiting both museums I walked around the Smithsonian Castle and admired the beautiful Arts and Industries building, which is now under renovation. I’ll make sure I come back when they reopen!

My last stop before heading back home was the National Sculpture Garden, where there is an ice rink during the winter.

If you haven’t checked out all these places yet, you should!