Past Exhibitions

100 Years of America's National Park Service: Preserve, Enjoy, Inspire

The National Park Service turns 100 this year! To celebrate, the National Park Service has teamed up with the National Museum of Natural History to present over 50 images by award-winning photographers, showcasing America's national parks.

August 4, 2016 – August 14, 2017

Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center

Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 Gloves and Helmet

In commemoration of the 47th anniversary of the first moon landing, Neil Armstrong’s lunar extravehicular gloves and helmet are on display for the first time since 2012.

July 20, 2016 – July 31, 2017

Body of Devotion: The Cosmic Buddha in 3D

Like all Buddhas (fully enlightened beings), the Cosmic Buddha, a life-size limestone figure of Vairochana, is wrapped in the simple robe of a monk. Body of Devotion is an interactive installation that explores not only the work itself, but also the evolving means and methods of studying sculpture, from rubbings and photographs to the technological possibilities of today.

January 30, 2016 – July 9, 2017

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Color in a New Light

Journeying through the collections of the Smithsonian Libraries—from chemistry to catalogs, from colorblind tests to couture—we might see color in a new light.

January 23, 2016 – May 15, 2017

orchids: A MOMENT

The Smithsonian Gardens and United States Botanic Garden 2017 Orchid Exhibition, showcases over 100 orchids in a limited-time display amidst the Hirshhorn’s unique architecture.

January 14, 2017 – May 14, 2017

Hirshhorn Museum

Primordial Landscapes: Iceland Revealed

Photographer Feodor Pitcairn and poet Ari Trausti Guðmundsson reveal a land of fire, ice, hardy life, and natural beauty. Experience the remote beauty of Iceland, a land sculpted by the elements and forged by active geologic activity.

July 2, 2015 – April 3, 2017

Mending Broken Hearts: Innovation Inside the Body

Developing a successful mechanical heart valve involved years of experimentation by a small team of doctors after World War II.

September 23, 2016 – March 26, 2017

Fantastic Worlds: Science and Fiction, 1780-1910

Travel with us to the fantastic worlds of fiction inspired by 19th-century discovery and invention.

July 1, 2015 – February 26, 2017

The Norie Atlas and the Guano Trade

This display will highlight John Norie's unique Marine Atlas, a large bound book of sea charts dating to the early 19th century, within the historical context of the guano and nitrate trades, in which many of the swiftest and strongest American square-rigged sailing ships were employed.

February 17, 2016 – January 29, 2017

A New Moon Rises: New Views from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera

A New Moon Rises showcases breathtaking images from Apollo landing sites to majestic mountains that rise out of the darkness of the lunar poles.

February 26, 2016 – January 10, 2017

Bird House

The National Zoo is home to hundreds of birds from all over the world.

1928 – January 2, 2017

National Zoo

Heirloom Garden

The Heirloom Garden is a treasury of favorites from what may be considered the classic American flower garden.

1998 – December 31, 2016

Smithsonian Gardens

Art of the Airport Tower

Smithsonian photographer Carolyn Russo elevates airport towers to beautiful objects of art.

November 11, 2015 – November 30, 2016

Science Under Glass

An examination of our collection of scientific glassware, from the 1770s to the 1970s, reveals the underlying story of the growth of laboratory science in America.

September 15, 2015 – September 18, 2016

Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea

Experience Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea, a larger-than-life exhibit of 17 marine wildlife sculptures—from jellyfish to sharks—made entirely of plastic pollution directly recovered from oceans. The sculptures represent more than 315 billion pounds of plastic in oceans, illustrating the devastating effects of the ocean's deadliest predator—trash.

May 27, 2016 – September 5, 2016

National Zoo

Nature's Best Photography: Windland Smith Rice International Awards Presents: The Best of the Best

Enjoy 20 years of nature's finest moments in the "Best of the Best" photo exhibition. This collection brings dramatic landscapes, exciting wildlife behavior, and surprising glimpses of Earth's icy peaks to mysterious ocean depths.

October 24, 2015 – August 14, 2016

National Geographic Into Africa: The Photography of Frans Lanting

Take a personal journey into the wonders of wild Africa as seen through the lens of National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting.

June 4, 2015 – July 31, 2016

Milestones of Flight

This gallery features famous airplanes and spacecraft that exemplify the major achievements in the history of flight.

July 1, 1976 – June 30, 2016

Hear My Voice: Alexander Graham Bell and the Origins of Recorded Sound

See and hear some of the earliest sound recordings ever made, by Alexander Graham Bell’s Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C., in the 1880s.

January 26, 2015 – January 24, 2016

Above and Beyond

Packed with interactive challenges this exhibition invites you to experience what it takes to make impossible dreams take flight.

August 1, 2015 – January 3, 2016

Once There Were Billions: Vanished Birds of North America

The story of the last passenger pigeon and the disappearance of the great auk, Carolina parakeet, and heath hen and reveal the fragile connections between species and their environment.

June 24, 2014 – January 3, 2016

EV1 Electric Car

The EV1 was the first modern electric car designed for a mass market. Beginning in 1996, General Motors built 1,117 of the cars and leased most of them to consumers in California, Arizona, and Georgia. The EV1 became the focal point of a national discussion about innovation and the promise of reducing air pollution and dependence on oil with electric cars.

June 10, 2015 – December 31, 2015

Lego American Flag

As part of our Innovation wing opening day celebration, visitors to the museum (with the help of Lego Master Builders) built an American flag out of Lego. And not just any flag: it's constructed with 156,000 bricks and is the largest Lego American flag ever built!

July 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015