City and capital of the United States of America, Washington DC is located on the banks of the Potomac River, a place chosen for its natural beauty and the likelihood that the river will become an important means of communication. Covering 177 km 2, Washington is surrounded by the states of Maryland and Virginia. The city also includes two islands: Theodore Roosevelt and Columbia. It has a population of approximately 606 900 people (2006), although its metropolitan area is home to about 4 million residents.
History and Monuments
The city was planned by Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant and officially named by President George Washington (the first in the USA) on September 9, 1791. The “DC” that appears after its name refers to “District of Columbia” “, the federal district that coexists with the city, and serves to distinguish it from the state with the same name. The White House (the president’s official residence) was the first public building to be built in the city. In 1814, Washington was set on fire by British forces. The city was relatively small until a significant expansion started in 1861 following the civil war. In 1968, as a result of the assassination of Martin Luther King, the city was looted and several buildings were burned, leaving these tumultuous indelible marks in the city. The National Mall is an open area in the center of the city where there are several monuments dedicated to American leaders (Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, etc.), which revolve around the central Washington Monument. This area also unites two of the most emblematic North American buildings: the White House and the Capitol. Among many other monuments, the Smithsonian Institute (which includes several museums) and the Library of Congress (which holds some of the most important documents in the country’s history) stand out. This area also unites two of the most emblematic North American buildings: the White House and the Capitol. Among many other monuments, the Smithsonian Institute (which includes several museums) and the Library of Congress (which holds some of the most important documents in the country’s history) stand out. This area also unites two of the most emblematic North American buildings: the White House and the Capitol. Among many other monuments, the Smithsonian Institute (which includes several museums) and the Library of Congress (which holds some of the most important documents in the country’s history) stand out.
Tourist Aspects and Curiosities
It is one of the main tourist destinations in the country, thanks to its monuments, particularly representative of the history of the USA. The atmosphere is very cosmopolitan, the result of its embassies and the hundreds of international organizations that are based there. Other points of interest are the Arena Stage, St. Matthew’s Cathedral and Washington National Cathedral. In addition to its political importance, Washington still has a high level of media and education.
Economy
An important part of the development of the city is naturally due to the federal bodies present there, job generators and numerous organizations and companies linked to the administration and the law. In terms of useful office space, the city ranks third at the national level, only surpassed by New York and Chicago. It is also a very active city in terms of social communication, with a strong presence of radio, television and newspapers, with the well-known Washington Post standing out at this level. It is also a popular place for the production of films and television series. It has a grid of roads around the Capitol, from where some avenues radiate. Public transport is good, including metro, buses and trains. It is also served by three main airports: one in Maryland and two in Virginia.
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The capital of the most powerful country in the world, Washington DC, attracts visitors primarily because of its impressive monuments, first-class museums and generous design with a European flair.
Washington DC’s elegant National Mall, a 4 km stretch of road that stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol, was once a swampy area. Today, their green spaces, wide avenues and surrounding residential areas form a very chic district. For many, the city is an exciting place to live thanks to its atmosphere of power and politics, and the truly excellent restaurant, club and cultural scene has more than adapted to this claim.
Washington DC loves the international spotlight, and the American President’s seat in the White House guarantees a high level of global attention. The city’s most tragic moment was September 11, 2001, when Islamic terrorists hijacked a plane and crashed over the Pentagon. Since then, stricter security measures have changed the face of the city significantly.
Important facts
Land area: 177 sq km.
Population: 705,749 (2019 estimate)
Population density: 3344 per sq. Km.
Geography
The capital, Washington DC, is not a separate state, but has a special status as the District of Columbia. In Washington DC, the national seat of government, there are numerous government buildings such as the White House, the Capitol and the Pentagon (located outside).
Attractions in Washington DC
DC means District of Columbia. Washington DC is therefore not a state, but an administrative district – one wanted to create a capital that was independent of the individual states. Washington DC is a city of green parks, avenues, and white marble buildings. The surprisingly few skyscrapers give it a rather European impression. Diplomats from all over the world give the city an international flair.
The road network is laid out at right angles. Wide diagonal streets leading to attractions such as the Capitol and the White House have been named after various states in the United States. The National Mall, a huge elongated park, stretches from Capitol Hill to Potomac Park on the river of the same name. North of it extends a second right-angled park to the White House, which has been the seat of every President of the United States since 1800 and is visited by over a million visitors annually.
In the southwest is the Tidal Basin, a beautiful lake surrounded by countless Japanese cherry trees. In the park The National Mall are the most important monuments and museums of the city: the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Capitol, the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Institution belonging to museums such as including the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Air and Space Museum and National Museum of American History. You can also take boat trips on the Potomac; the pier is south of the Lincoln Memorial. The Arlington National Cemetery on the opposite bank has buried 175,000 American soldiers since the Revolutionary War.
Washington DC also has a Chinatown with excellent oriental shops and restaurants. The 20-acre Constitution Gardens and the FBI’s headquarters at 9th Street / Pennsylvania Avenue, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, are also worth seeing, as is the Pentagon Building and the U.S. Supreme Court, the country’s highest court.
Lincoln Memorial
The famous Lincoln Memorial is located at the west end of the long, square Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. It consists of a pillared hall made of white marble. The Potomac flows behind it. In the main room of the portico, the impressive, almost 6 m high, white marble statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America, is enthroned. The statue shows Abraham Lincoln sitting lost in thought. The 16th President seems to be looking at the United States Capitol, which is at the far end of the National Mall. Whoever stands in front of the statue cannot avoid the sublime charisma emanating from Abraham Lincoln. Martin Luther King Jr. chose this location for his speech “I have a dream” in 1963 because Abraham Lincoln declared the abolition of slavery in 1862 with the proclamation of emancipation.
National Mall
Park National Mall is an elongated rectangle like a green ribbon on the eastern bank of the Potomac in the southern part of downtown Washington DC. It is home to a number of famous landmarks, such as the US Capitol, located on the eastern edge of the National Mall, and the Lincoln Memorial at the western end of the park. In between, visitors will find the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian Castle as well as monuments, gardens, galleries and countless museums, some of which belong to the Smithsonian Institution. If you want to visit all of these highly interesting world-class public institutions and museums in and along the National Mall, you should bring several weeks with you. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Gallery of Art and the Newseum.
Newseum
Anyone with an eye for a good headline will become the Newseum find very interesting. On a turbulent tour of the museum, visitors learn about the scandals and big news that have shaped the world of the media. In more than a dozen exhibition rooms, the museum traces the history of news reporting and shows how, whether right or bad, important events of world importance have been reported in the past. The museum’s exhibition includes a broadcasting studio, a news center and the largest section of the Berlin Wall outside of Germany (complete with an East German watchtower). These exhibits alone are worth going straight to the Newseum. Some of the most dramatic events in the history of journalism are shown in an adventure time travel as a 4D film.
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
The popular Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall is an experience where visitors learn about the history of space and aviation in various exhibitions such as “America by Air”, “Apollo to the Moon”, “Explore the Universe” and Experience “Golden Age of Flight”. The museum has an IMAX and a planetarium. The museum’s collection includes the Wright brothers’ 1903 aircraft, Charles Lindbergh’s “Spirit of St. Louis” aircraft, the Bell X-1 (the aircraft that broke the sound barrier in 1947) and the Apollo 11 lunar module, as well as countless memorabilia from the aerospace industry.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
The sprawling and impressive National Museum of Natural History, north of the National Mall, is a museum of natural history that has been part of the Smithsonian Institution, has been in existence for over a hundred years, and, with its millions of visitors annually, occupies one of the top spots in the world’s most popular museums of natural history. The main attractions of the National Museum of Natural History include the last American dinosaurs, the 45.5-carat Hope diamond, the Sant Ocean Hall with replicas of a giant whale and a rare squid, the O. Orkin insect zoo, daily feedings of the Tarantulas, a giant African elephant in the rotunda, the butterfly pavilion and the Neanderthal exhibition. Admission is still free.
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI)
The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) pays homage to Native Americans and is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The impressive construction of the building is round and faces east according to the traditions of the American Indians. The building is said to reflect the indigenous aesthetic taste in earthen tones. The museum’s collection includes 825,000 artifacts from a period that stretches back up to 12,000 years into the history of the Indians throughout the western hemisphere. The artifacts can be assigned to the art, religion and everyday life of 1200 indigenous cultures. Some have historical relevance.
U.S. Capitol
The United States Capitol at the eastern end of the National Mall is a grand neo-classical Greek-style building with a dome, colonnades, side wings, and a grand staircase that leads to the main entrance. The Capitol is on Capitol Hill. The south wing houses the House of Representatives and the north wing houses the Senate. The entire building contains 100 statues of famous American figures who shaped American history, including Ronald Reagan, John Winthrop, Roger Williams, Samuel Adams, Helen Keller and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Guided tours start at the US Capitol Visitor Center.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museumis located on the southern edge of the National Mall and east of the Tidal Basin. The permanent exhibition of the museum is devoted to a phase of the Holocaust on three floors and is arranged chronologically: on the fourth floor, the exhibition “Nazi Assault” (1933-39) traces life in the 1930s and the Nazi regime, the “Final” exhibition Solution “(1940-1945) on the third floor deals with the Nazis’ dealings with the Jews and the mass extermination of the Jews. The exhibition” Last Chapter “shows the liberation of the Jews by the Allies on the second floor of the museum. The recommended minimum age for visiting the permanent exhibition is 11 years. The exhibition “Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story”
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is simple and clearly designed and is still probably the most moving attraction in Washington DC The memorial, which was completed in 1982, consists of 70 individual, black granite slabs, which are set up over a length of 150 m and form a V-shaped wall. The names of more than 58,000 Americans who were killed or reported missing during the Vietnam War are engraved on the granite slabs. The memorial also includes the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, which commemorates soldiers who died in the Vietnam War, and the bronze statue “Three Soldiers”. The memorial stands in the middle of the beautiful Constitution Gardens in a spectacular setting, from which one has a wonderful view of the Washington Monument. Out of respect for the dead,
Washington Monument
In honor of George Washington, the 1st President of the United States, the Washington Monument, a 169 m tall obelisk, was erected at the National Mall in 1885. Visitors must first pass through a security gate before they can take the elevator to the top of the obelisk. A great photo opportunity is the reflection of the Washington Monument in the reflecting pool along with the full height of the obelisk. Visitor lines often form in front of the Washington Monument at six in the morning. Tickets can be booked online in advance.
White House
The White House is the home and residence of the President of the United States. It is the most famous building in Washington DC, and was built between 1792 and 1800 by the Irish-born architect James Hoban. Although the building was commissioned by President George Washington during his lifetime, the first residents of the White House were President John Adams and his wife Abigail, who moved into the house in 1800. The building has a turbulent past. It burned down in the 1812-1814 war between America and Britain (often referred to as the Second American War of Independence) and was rebuilt in 1815. In 1929, under the presidency of Harry S. Truman, it survived another fire in the west wing. During toursyou can visit the Vermeil Room (vermilion room) and the library as well as various reception rooms. Foreign visitors can only take tours of the White House upon application to their local embassy in Washington DC. However, not all messages are helpful. Fortunately, international visitors can also request visitor cards from any Member of Congress. There is always a limited contingent of tickets available for the tours, which are issued on a first-come, first-served basis. The responsible embassy can be contacted at the earliest 3 months and at the latest 21 days before the planned visit.
Tourist offices
Washington DC Convention & Tourism Corporation
Address: 901 7th Street NW, 4th Floor, 20001-3719 Washington, DC
Phone: +1 202 789 70 00.
Website: Website: http://washington.org/de/homepage
