Sculpture, Garden, Sculpture museum
Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden
Sunk below street level on the National Mall in front of the Hirshhorn's cylindrical museum, this terraced Smithsonian garden sets works by Rodin and other 20th-century sculptors among trees.
The story
The garden is the outdoor half of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Smithsonian's home for modern and contemporary art, whose museum opened in 1974. It sits just off the walk between the Capitol and the Washington Monument, stepping down across several terraced levels below the street, which keeps it calm despite the crowds on the Mall. Recently renovated and reopened, the garden holds several Rodin pieces alongside a varied mix of other artists, including the sculpture "Subcommittee" and Abigail DeVille's Light of Freedom, a torch whose flames are reaching blue hands with a bell encased inside. Trees shade the paths, a couple of tables offer somewhere to sit with a coffee, and conservators can sometimes be seen at work on the pieces. A slow loop takes about ten minutes, making it an easy pause between museum visits.
Good to know
TAGGG AI- ✦Entry is free, and a slow walk around all the garden's levels takes roughly ten minutes.
- ✦The garden is entirely open-air with no covered areas, so plan around rainy weather.
- ✦It stays fairly uncrowded even on weekends, and a couple of tables offer a spot for coffee.
