Semi-Private Skip-The-Line DC National Archives + National Portrait Gallery

What your day looks like

This 5.5-hour Semi-Private guided combo tour welcomes guests to skip the line and experience two essential museums in Washington DC. The best way to understand the who and the what of the United States! Your guide will show you the documents and the people that have defined this country. This tour has the heroes and villains of the history, culture, progress, and art of the USA. The best way to understand the who and the what of the United States of America! Skip the line at the National Archives and start with the original handwritten “Charters of Freedom” housed in their spectacular Rotunda. Your guide will narrate the extraordinary circumstances that brought this nation into existence. Surrounded by documents and paintings giving depth and nuance to the founding period, no trip to the US Capital city is complete without a visit to the National Archives. But at we take it a step further. In the Rubenstein Gallery, go even further to the philosophical foundations by viewing a 1297 copy of the Magna Carta. You will be guided around the room as the concept of citizenship, what it means, and who is included evolves from the declaration that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”. After a break to ponder the complexity of history (and grab a bite) your guide will lead you to the dual exhibition space of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Inside the local Washingtonian's favorite Smithsonian space, you’ll wander hallways that seamlessly flow between the two collections surrounding one of the most relaxing spaces in downtown Washington DC, the Kogard Courtyard. Your guide will take you to see the famous Presidential Portrait Gallery and you’ll hear stories of other famous Americans as you view their portraits in painting, sculpture, and video form. Make your way over to the Luce Center of the American Art portion and get a chance to peek inside the labs of the Lunder Conservation Center! Some of the most iconic figures in Art and History pop up in the most unexpected places in this criminally overlooked Smithsonian!