National Museum of Natural History

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a <a href="/facts/Natural_history_museum/PzopxUgP">natural history museum</a> administered by the <a href="/facts/Smithsonian_Institution/pqC74ta9">Smithsonian Institution</a>, located on the <a href="/facts/National_Mall/z8VAJyTN">National Mall</a> in <a href="/facts/Washington%2c_D.C./enXPK156">Washington, D.C.</a>, United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 million visitors in 2023, it was the <a href="/facts/List_of_most-visited_museums_in_the_United_States/KHneSPXN">third most-visited museum in the United States</a>. 
Opened in 1910, the museum on the National Mall was one of the first Smithsonian buildings constructed exclusively to hold the national collections and research facilities. The main building has an overall area of 1.5 million square feet (140,000 m2) with 325,000 square feet (30,200 m2) of exhibition and public space and houses over 1,000 employees.
The museum's collections contain over 146 million specimens of <a href="/facts/Plant/X5BMDMvS">plants</a>, <a href="/facts/Animal/4b8J33nd">animals</a>, <a href="/facts/Fossil/by7NzIA1">fossils</a>, <a href="/facts/Mineral/LkUFbNmv">minerals</a>, <a href="/facts/Rock_(geology)/FXCJkmop">rocks</a>, <a href="/facts/Meteorite/NsmHlBlX">meteorites</a>, human remains, and human <a href="/facts/Cultural_artifact/B5wDYWQH">cultural artifacts</a>, the largest natural history collection in the world. It is also home to about 185 professional natural history <a href="/facts/Scientist/JDvthEFM">scientists</a>—the largest group of scientists dedicated to the study of natural and cultural history in the world.

National Museum of Natural History open-in-new

National Museum of Natural History