Washington, D.C.

A. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia, is the capital of the United States of America. It is a planned city, designed specifically to house the federal government, and is not the part of any state. Its history, beautiful architecture, and excellent cultural centers attract millions of visitors each year.

Washington, D.C. was established in 1790 by the United States Congress, as a federal city exclusively under the control of the federal government. The city was subsequently named for George Washington, who selected the city's exact location on the Potomac River. Designed by the architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Washington was built to have wide avenues radiating from traffic circles, providing for maximum open space and landscaping. Laws to building heights provide Washington with a low skyline devoid of skyscrapers present in other cities.

B. The population of Washington is more than 600,000 people. It increases almost twice at the height of the tourist’s season.

C. If you do sightseeing, you surely start with The Mall. The National Mall is a unique National Park, filled with an intense concentration of monuments, memorials, museums, and monumental government buildings instantly recognizable to people all over the world. The White House, the US Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the National Gallery of Art, the Air and Space Museum, the National Natural History Museum, the Holocaust Museum, the International Spy Museum, the National Portrait Gallery – just a few of the top national attractions here, all within walking distance of each other.

D. The city's skyline is dominated by the Capitol and the Washington Monument. The United States Capitol serves as the seat of government for

the United States Congress.

E. The Washington Monument is a large, tall, sand-colored obelisk near the west end of the National Mall. It is a United States Presidential Memorial constructed to commemorate the first U.S. president, George Washington. The monument, made of marble, granite, and sandstone, is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing 555 feet 5.5 inches (169.3 m) in height erected in 1888. Americans call it «the Pencil».

F. There are also monuments to many other outstanding public figures. The most impressive of them is, no doubt, the Lincoln Memorial. The murdered President is represented seated in a big armchair in the center, deep in thought. The sculptor, Daniel French, has managed to convey the mental and physical strength of this great American, his confidence in the people he had safely brought through the bloody conflict.

G. The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. In 1812 during the Anglo-American War the British soldiers captured Washington and burned many public buildings, among these the Capitol, the Library of Congress and the Executive Mansion. The latter was subsequently painted white to conceal the marks of the fire and soon became known as the «White House», though this did not come into official use until the early 1900.

H. The National Gallery of Art is a national art museum. It was established in 1938 by the United States Congress. The National Gallery today houses one of the finest collections of Western painting and sculpture in the world.

Also you can visit the National Museum of Natural History. Admission is free and the museum is open 364 days a year. The museum's collections total over 125 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, and human cultural artifacts.

I. The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) is the most popular of the Smithsonian museums. It maintains the largest collection of aircraft and spacecraft in the world. It is also a vital center for research into the history, science, and technology of aviation and spaceflight, as well as planetary science and terrestrial geology and geophysics. Almost all space and aircraft on display are originals or backup crafts to the originals. The National Air and Space Museum is widely considered one of Washington's most significant works of modern architecture which was finished in 1976.