The National Museum of the American Indian- Washington D.C.

So, our class went on a field trip today to visit the National Museum of the American Indian. It was a really impressive day, from start to finish. I really loved the museum, in the fact that there were so many things to look at. The first thing that I noticed that I really liked was the architecture of the building. It does not look like the rest of the buildings that are on that block, it completely stands out in that the building is made of some type of natural stone. It honestly looks like sandstone. Then, you walk around the building and there is a hugely impressive fountain that is just chilling there, with even ducks living there. Overall not only is the exterior of the museum esthetically pleasing it also makes perfect sense to me and was so beautiful.

We then went inside. The first thing that I noticed was the rotunda-like ceilings. There was so much natural light pouring forth, and there were prisms on the wall so that at each different point of the day there were rainbows scattered along the walls and floor of the main area.

Then, we went to go see the actual exhibits. It was so cool; honestly I have no idea where to begin. I really liked how the curators separated the different tribes but still made the area open up to the whole main part, showing unity of the whole space. I had no idea that Native beliefs differed so much until I saw the displays that explained what each tribe believed. I really loved all of the costumes, the part about how horses are a part of many Native cultures, the presentation about the Inuit people and their love of the whale and how they could not exist without each other. I also loved that we had the opportunity to sample some real Native food. The frybread was absolutely fantastic and I know that I will be going back to this museum one day and spend the whole day there again, because there was so much great stuff, that I don’t know that I got to see everything.