Museum of the American Indian

The Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, at the top of the National Mall, is a very unusual shaped building, as can be seen from these photos of the inside, taken from the top floor.. 

Firstly looking down..

Then across the atrium..

Then up to the roof..

There are a number of different exhibition galleries on each floor.  The one that we spent most time in detailed the history of the original Indian nations and their interactions, both peaceful -through treaties - and not so peaceful - through conflict and resettlement marches - with the white settlers and colonists over the last three hundred years.

One wall of the exhibition (picture above and at start of blog) showed the relatively modern visits by Indian elders to meet with presidents and senior politicians in Washington DC, making for some interesting images such as this one..

Although the museum is primarily dedicated to the American Indian there are also exhibits about other Native Americans such as those living in Hawaii when it was a separate kingdom, as well as the Inkas in South and Central America.

There was much to see and ponder about at the museum and I will share some other images on a future blog.