National Museum of Natural History

National Museum of Natural History, American museum of natural history, part of the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian Institution began gathering specimens of natural history in 1838 and continued collecting by gift, purchase, or expedition throughout the 19th century. In 1910 the collection was moved to its current location, a 1.5 million-square-foot (139,000-square-metre) building featuring a Roman-style portico entrance and a green domed rotunda. It was designed by...