National Mall

Washington D.C. is known as the Capital of the Free World, and tourists come from across the country and around the globe to see the White House, Capitol and other symbols of freedom. But there's far more to Washington than marble edifices. We have a huge network of free museums, expansive outdoor spaces, some of the best restaurants in America and lively late-night clubs. There's a lot to see and do in our area -- it could take a lifetime to experience everything there is to offer. But if you give us three days, we can help you make the most of them.

WASHINGTON — A candlelight vigil will be held on the National Mall alongside an artistic instillation of bones calling for action to end genocide. Volunteers placed 1 million handmade replicas of human bones on the National Mall this weekend as a symbolic mass grave and a call to action to end genocide. The instillation is meant to honor those who died in genocides and those still fighting to survive. Organizers are focused on killings in Sudan, South Sudan, Congo, Myanmar and Somalia.

WASHINGTON — Barry Manilow will join stars from Broadway, "American Idol" and composer John Williams for this year's July Fourth celebration on the National Mall. Darren Criss from "Glee," Megan Hilty from "Smash" and the cast of Broadway's "Motown The Musical" will perform during "A Capitol Fourth. " Tom Bergeron from "Dancing With the Stars" will host the show. The newest "American Idol," Candice Glover, will perform, along with country singer Scotty McCreery, the Season 10...

WASHINGTON — Thousands of volunteers are laying out 1 million handmade replicas of human bones on the National Mall as a symbolic mass grave and a call to action to end genocide. The artistic installation is being created Saturday and will be on view through Monday. Artist Naomi Natale designed the large-scale installation and led students, artists and activists in creating the bones. She organized more than 100 installations nationwide, leading up to the Washington event. It's...

Anyone riding the Metro to work or to any of the area's many points of interest this spring no doubt has realized something recently: We have a lot of company. Metro officials confirmed that the system logged its fourth-heaviest day of trip volume (on April 11, a Wednesday) in its 37 years of operations, with more than 870,000 trips. In addition to the usual throng of commuters coming and going from work, the Nationals were in town hosting one of their early games of the season, along with a flood of...

With attention focused on the opening of the immense, $621 million Capitol Visitor Center on the east side of the U.S. Capitol Building, let's not forget the National Mall to the west. Shouldn't we also be investing to enhance America's most nationally significant public space? The 580,000-square-foot Capitol Visitor Center expresses the anxieties and the will of members of Congress. Its creation was motivated by desires for better security and management of visitors, as well as for additional interior spaces serving...

In New York City, some of the most sought-after high-rise apartments overlook Central Park. In Paris, outdoor cafés line the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. The Terreiro do Paço, in Lisbon, is not only bordered by a bustling downtown, but endless views of the Atlantic Ocean. A block away from Washington's central attraction, the National Mall, there is little of this. Steps from the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art, the Hirshorn Museum and the National Air and Space Museum is a complex of five government office...

WASHINGTON — Clergy from California to Connecticut created a makeshift graveyard symbolizing victims of gun violence on the National Mall on Thursday (April 11) as they exhorted Congress to pass legislation to limit access to firearms. Standing in front of 3,300 grave markers — representing the number of people who have died in gun violence since December's massacre in Newtown, Conn. — more than 25 ministers, rabbis and other religious leaders decried as "idolatrous" a society that...

WASHINGTON — Thousands of volunteers are laying out 1 million handmade replicas of human bones on the National Mall as a symbolic mass grave and a call to action to end genocide. The artistic installation is being created Saturday and will be on view through Monday. Artist Naomi Natale designed the large-scale installation and led students, artists and activists in creating the bones. She organized more than 100 installations nationwide,...

WASHINGTON — A candlelight vigil will be held on the National Mall alongside an artistic instillation of bones calling for action to end genocide. Volunteers placed 1 million handmade replicas of human bones on the National Mall this weekend as a symbolic mass grave and a call to action to end genocide. The instillation is meant to honor those who died in genocides and those still fighting to survive. Organizers are focused on killings in Sudan, South Sudan, Congo,...

WASHINGTON — Barry Manilow will join stars from Broadway, "American Idol" and composer John Williams for this year's July Fourth celebration on the National Mall. Darren Criss from "Glee," Megan Hilty from "Smash" and the cast of Broadway's "Motown The Musical" will perform during "A Capitol Fourth. " Tom Bergeron from "Dancing With the Stars" will host the show. The newest "American Idol," Candice Glover, will perform, along with country singer Scotty McCreery, the Season 10...

Anyone riding the Metro to work or to any of the area's many points of interest this spring no doubt has realized something recently: We have a lot of company. Metro officials confirmed that the system logged its fourth-heaviest day of trip volume (on April 11, a Wednesday) in its 37 years of operations, with more than 870,000 trips. In addition to the usual throng of commuters coming and going from work, the Nationals were in town hosting one of their early games of the season,...

He started the pedometer on his sport watch, put one foot in front of the other and took off, the very act of running on this Tuesday morning providing some sort of catharsis for Michael Wardian, even though he does so virtually every day, often twice a day. This would be a short run for Wardian — only a few miles or so — since he had put in a long run the day before, and as he looped back around toward his Arlington home, he checked the distance on...

I've lived in and around Washington all my life and thought I'd just about seen it all. Then I took an elevator ride to the top of the Old Post Office Pavilion. Up in the clock tower you get a very different view of the city — one 270 feet above it all, something not often found in our low-slung urban core, where every building seems as tall as the one next to it. Looking east, I found myself following Pennsylvania Avenue right up to the Capitol. Magnificent. To the...

WASHINGTON — Clergy from California to Connecticut created a makeshift graveyard symbolizing victims of gun violence on the National Mall on Thursday (April 11) as they exhorted Congress to pass legislation to limit access to firearms. Standing in front of 3,300 grave markers — representing the number of people who have died in gun violence since December's massacre in Newtown, Conn. — more than 25 ministers, rabbis and other religious leaders decried as "idolatrous" a society that values guns...

D.C. Council candidate Paul Zukerberg is taking his campaign to decriminalize marijuana in the District to a higher level, sponsoring a pro-pot rally and concert on the National Mall on the weekend before the April 23 election. Zukerberg, an attorney who specializes in representing marijuana defendants, said he's obtained a permit from the National Park Service to hold a daylong "Vote 4-20 Concert" on April 20. Over the years, 4-20 has become the...

She came thousands of miles from across the Pacific, and now was standing at the foot of the Washington Monument. She wore a red robe, a blue hat and a smile. All around Nobuko Asano on Saturday were thousands upon thousands of Girl Scouts, young and old, gathered on the National Mall to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their organization. "It's amazing," said Asano, 58, who arrived from Japan the day before for the event. Dubbed "Girl Scouts Rock the Mall," the centennial party ...

Repair of the earthquake-damaged Washington Monument will be a complex project that could require some kind of external scaffolding as well as months of work that will probably keep the monument closed until 2013. National Park Service officials detailed some preliminary work plans Thursday as they announced a private donation of $7.5 million toward the project. The federal government is paying the rest of the estimated $15 million tab . The 555-foot-tall monument, which is entered by about...

The Trust for the National Mall said this week that the freshly restored turf on the Mall near the Capitol survived the inauguration, and Thursday the federal government issued a special order to try to keep it that way. The new turf, roughly between Third and Seventh streets NW, and related upgrades cost about $16 million and had to be protected with special plastic panels to shield it from the feet of thousands of inauguration goers....

After 15 months of work and $16 million in funding, three prime sections of the battered turf on the Mall have been restored to the exquisite green of a major league outfield. The area, roughly between Third and Seventh streets NW just west of the Capitol, still is fenced off while workers put on the finishing touches. But in 10 days, just as the fences come down, an army of an estimated half-million citizens is expected to descend on the Mall to celebrate...