National Museum of Natural History

National Museum of Natural History

Main facade
Location within Washington, D.C.
Established	1910; 115 years ago (1910)
Location	National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States
Coordinates	38°53′29″N 77°01′33″W / 38.8913°N 77.0259°W / 38.8913; -77.0259
Type	Natural History
Visitors	6 million (2017)[1]
Director	Kirk Johnson
Public transit access	at Federal Triangle
Website	www.mnh.si.edu

The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It is administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Admission is free and the museum is open 364 days a year.

The museum's collections total over 500 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, and human cultural artifacts (made objects). With 7.4 million visitors in 2009, it is the most visited of all of the Smithsonian museums.^[2] It is home to about 185 professional natural history scientists – the largest group of scientists dedicated to the study of natural and cultural history in the world.

The main building includes a popular "Insect Zoo" and an IMAX theater.

1. ↑ "Visitor Statistics". Smithsonian Newsdesk. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
2. ↑ Zongker, Brett (January 5, 2010). "Smithsonian reports 20% jump in museum visitors". USAToday. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. Retrieved 2010-07-05.