D.C.’s Connected Campus extends to The National Mall. Also known as “America’s Front Yard,” The National Mall is a 309-acre park between the U.S. Capitol and Lincoln Memorial and is the country’s most-visited national park. Every spring, it hosts the month-long National Cherry Blossom Festival; year-round, it is home to various events and organized protests. The National Mall is surrounded by world-class museums, including several Smithsonian Institution properties offering free admission. Most museums have indoor and/or outdoor event spaces for groups of all sizes.
National Museum of Natural History can host 3,000 guests for receptions and seat 530 theater style. National Museum of American History has space to host 2,200 people for receptions and 350 for seated banquets. National Air and Space Museum has function space at the building on The National Mall for up to 7,000 reception guests or 1,000 banquet guests, plus additional event space at Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport to accommodate 5,000 for receptions and 1,000 for banquets. Udvar-Hazy Center is home to some of the giants of aviation and space exploration, including the Space Shuttle Discovery, an Air France Concorde, and the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, among others. National Museum of African American History and Culture can accommodate 2,500 guests for receptions and 400 for seated dinners in various event spaces, including a 350-seat theater. National Museum of the American Indian has indoor and outdoor event space, including a plaza for up to 300 reception guests; the Potomac Atrium, which seats 350 for dinners; a 314-seat theater; and other meeting and event spaces.
The National Archives Museum includes the Rotunda Galleries, which can accommodate 250 for receptions and 200 for seated banquets, a 290-seat theater, and conference rooms seating up to 65 people. International Spy Museum features behind-the-scenes tours, expert speakers, teambuilding experiences, and 18,000 square feet of function space, including a ballroom and rooftop terrace.
Memorials and statues on or near The National Mall honor past presidents and founding fathers, branches of the military, women veterans of Vietnam, and significant Americans, including Martin Luther King Jr. and leading suffragists Alice Paul and Alva Belmont. Dedicated in 2024, A Soldier’s Journey, a sculpture wall at the WWI Memorial, is the longest free-standing bronze sculpture in the Western Hemisphere, at approximately 58 feet long. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum tells the story of the Holocaust through artifacts, films, photos, and oral histories and offers faculty seminars and workshops.
Hotels near The National Mall include Hilton DC National Mall The Wharf, with 367 guest rooms and 23,000 square feet of event space, including two ballrooms, and Hyatt Place Washington DC/National Mall, with 214 guest rooms and 2,100 square feet of function space.
American Pharmacists Association, which borders The National Mall, has multiple event spaces, including a rotunda, galleries, conference rooms, and the 3,600-square-foot rooftop Potomac View Terrace. Offering views of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, the terrace can host 350 people for receptions and seat 250 for dinners.
