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National Mall

The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and various memorials, sculptures, and statues. It is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) of the United States Department of the Interior as part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit of the National Park System. The park receives approximately 24 million visitors each year. Designed by Pierre L'Enfant, the "Grand Avenue" or Mall was to be a democratic and egalitarian space—the complete opposite of the gardens of Versailles where only royalty and nobility accessed similar spaces in size and scope.

The core area of the National Mall extends between the United States Capitol grounds to the east and the Washington Monument to the west and is lined to the north and south by several museums and federal office buildings. The term National Mall may also include areas that are also officially part of neighboring West Potomac Park to the south and west and Constitution Gardens to the north, extending to the Lincoln Memorial on the west and Jefferson Memorial to the south.

Landmarks, museums, and other features
2016 Map

Within the National Mall proper
2002 Satellite image The National Mall proper contains the following landmarks, museums and other features (including opening year):

 * 2. National Museum of American History (1964)
 * 3. National Museum of Natural History (1910)
 * 4. National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden (1999)
 * 5. West Building of the National Gallery of Art (1941)
 * 6. East Building of the National Gallery of Art (1978)
 * 10. National Museum of the American Indian (2004) (shown under construction)
 * 11. National Air and Space Museum (1976)
 * 12. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (1974)
 * 13. Arts and Industries Building (1881)
 * 14. Smithsonian Institution Building ("The Castle") (1849)
 * 15. Freer Gallery of Art (1923)
 * 16. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (1987)
 * 17. National Museum of African Art (1987)

Not marked on the above image:
 * Above the Smithsonian Institution Building
 * Joseph Henry statue (1883)
 * Below the Smithsonian Institution Building
 * Andrew Jackson Downing Urn (1856)
 * Above the Arts and Industries Building
 * Smithsonian Carousel (1967)

Multiple sources:
 * Coordinates of the Smithsonian Carousel: 38.88915°N, -77.02457°W
 * To the left of the National Museum of American History
 * Site of the present National Museum of African American History and Culture (2016)
 * Coordinates of the Smithsonian Carousel: 38.88915°N, -77.02457°W
 * To the left of the National Museum of American History
 * Site of the present National Museum of African American History and Culture (2016)
 * To the left of the National Museum of American History
 * Site of the present National Museum of African American History and Culture (2016)

 * To the left of the Freer Gallery of Art
 * Jamie L. Whitten Building: U.S. Department of Agriculture Administration Building (1930) Multiple sources:

With the exception of the National Gallery of Art, all of the museums on the National Mall proper are part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian Gardens maintains a number of gardens and landscapes near its museums. These include:

 * Common Ground: Our American Garden (2017)
 * Enid A. Haupt Garden (1987)
 * Freer Gallery of Art Courtyard Garden (1923)
 * Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (1974)
 * Kathrine Dulin Folger Rose Garden (1998)
 * Mary Livingston Ripley Garden (1978)
 * National Air and Space Museum landscape (1976)
 * Native landscape at the National Museum of the American Indian (2004)
 * Pollinator Garden (1995)
 * Urban Bird Habitat (2020)
 * Victory Garden (2020)

East of the National Mall proper
Features east of the National Mall proper include:

 * United States Capitol and its grounds (no. 7 on image)
 * Union Square, containing:
 * Capitol Reflecting Pool (1971) (no. 8 on image)
 * Ulysses S. Grant Memorial (1922) (east of no. 8 on image)

 * Peace Monument (1878) (in traffic circle northeast of no. 8 in image)
 * United States Botanic Garden (1933) (no. 9 on image)
 * James A. Garfield Monument (1887) (in traffic circle northeast of no. 9 in image)

West of the National Mall proper and in West Potomac Park
Interactive Map

Not included in the above map:
 * Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension (1837)
 * Constitution Gardens (1976)
 * Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence (1984)
 * District of Columbia War Memorial
 * Sylvan Theater
 * George Mason Memorial
 * John Paul Jones Memorial
 * John Ericsson Memorial
 * The Arts of War and The Arts of Peace sculptures
 * Jefferson Pier
 * Tidal Basin paddle-boat dock.

Dimensions

 * Between the Capitol steps and the Lincoln Memorial, the Mall spans 1.9 miles (3.0 km).
 * Between the Capitol steps and the Washington Monument, the Mall spans 1.2 miles (1.8 km).
 * Between the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, the Mall covers 309.2 acres (125.13 ha).
 * Between Constitution Avenue NW and Independence Avenue SW at 7th Street, the width of the Mall is 1586 ft.
 * Between Madison Drive NW and Jefferson Drive SW at 7th Street, the width of the Mall's open space is 656 ft.
 * Between the innermost rows of trees near 7th Street, the width of the Mall's vista is 300 ft.

Boundaries
In its 1981 National Register of Historic Places nomination form, the NPS defined the boundaries of the National Mall (proper) as Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues on the north, 1st Street NW on the east, Independence and Maryland Avenues on the south, and 14th Street NW on the west, with the exception of the section of land bordered by Jefferson Drive on the north, Independence Avenue on the south, and by 12th and 14th Streets respectively on the east and west, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture administers and which contains the Jamie L. Whitten Building (U.S. Department of Agriculture Administration Building). The 2012–2016 National Park Service index describes the National Mall as being a landscaped park that extends from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, defined as a principal axis in the L'Enfant Plan for the city of Washington.

However, a 2010 NPS plan for the Mall contains maps that show the Mall's general area to be larger. A document within the plan describes this area as "the grounds of the U.S. Capitol west to the Potomac River, and from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial north to Constitution Avenue". A map within the plan entitled "National Mall Areas" illustrates "The Mall" as being the green space bounded on the east by 3rd Street, on the west by 14th Street, on the north by Jefferson Drive, NW, and on the south by Madison Drive, SW. A Central Intelligence Agency map shows the Mall as occupying the space between the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol.

In 2011, the 112th United States Congress enacted the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2012, which transferred to the Architect of the Capitol the NPS "property which is bounded on the north by Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, on the east by First Street Northwest and First Street Southwest, on the south by Maryland Avenue Southwest, and on the west by Third Street Southwest and Third Street Northwest". This act removed Union Square (the area containing the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial and the Capitol Reflecting Pool) from NPS jurisdiction.

Purposes
The National Park Service states that the purposes of the National Mall are to:
 * "Provide a monumental, dignified, and symbolic setting for the governmental structures, museums, and national memorials as first delineated by the L'Enfant plan and further outlined in the McMillan plan.
 * "Maintain and provide for the use of the National Mall with its public promenades as a completed work of civic art, a designed historic landscape providing extraordinary vistas to symbols of the nation.
 * "Maintain National Mall commemorative works (memorials, monuments, statues, sites, gardens) that honor presidential legacies, distinguished public figures, ideas, events, and military and civilian sacrifices and contributions.
 * "Forever retain the West Potomac Park section of the National Mall as a public park for the recreation and enjoyment of the people.
 * "Maintain the National Mall in the heart of the nation's capital as a stage for national events and a preeminent national civic space for public gatherings because it is here that the constitutional rights of speech and peaceful assembly find their fullest expression.
 * "Maintain the National Mall as an area free of commercial advertising while retaining the ability to recognize sponsors."

L'Enfant City Plan
In his 1791 plan for the future city of Washington, D.C., Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant envisioned a garden-lined "grand avenue" approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) in length and 400 ft wide, in an area that would lie between the Congress House (now the United States Capitol) and an equestrian statue of George Washington. The statue would be placed directly south of the President's House (now the White House) and directly west of the Congress House (see L'Enfant Plan) on the site of the Washington Monument. The grand avenue was to be flanked by gardens and spacious accommodations for foreign ministers. Multiple sources:
 * L'Enfant identified himself as "Peter Charles L'Enfant" during most of his life, while residing in the United States. He wrote this name on his "Plan of the city intended for the permanent seat of the government of t(he) United States ...." (Washington, D.C.) and on other legal documents. However, during the early 1900s, a French ambassador to the United States, Jean Jules Jusserand, popularized the use of L'Enfant's birth name, "Pierre Charles L'Enfant". (See: Bowling, Kenneth R (2002). Peter Charles L'Enfant: vision, honor, and male friendship in the early American Republic. George Washington University, Washington, D.C.) The National Park Service identifies L'Enfant as ' and as ' on its website. The United States Code states in : "(a) In General.—The purposes of this chapter shall be carried out in the District of Columbia as nearly as may be practicable in harmony with the plan of Peter Charles L'Enfant."
 * L'Enfant identified himself as "Peter Charles L'Enfant" during most of his life, while residing in the United States. He wrote this name on his "Plan of the city intended for the permanent seat of the government of t(he) United States ...." (Washington, D.C.) and on other legal documents. However, during the early 1900s, a French ambassador to the United States, Jean Jules Jusserand, popularized the use of L'Enfant's birth name, "Pierre Charles L'Enfant". (See: Bowling, Kenneth R (2002). Peter Charles L'Enfant: vision, honor, and male friendship in the early American Republic. George Washington University, Washington, D.C.) The National Park Service identifies L'Enfant as ' and as ' on its website. The United States Code states in : "(a) In General.—The purposes of this chapter shall be carried out in the District of Columbia as nearly as may be practicable in harmony with the plan of Peter Charles L'Enfant."

Mathew Carey's 1802 map is reported to be the first to name the area west of the United States Capitol as the "Mall". Multiple sources:
 * Portion of Mathew Carey's 1802 map of Washington City showing the Mall In.
 * In.
 * The name is derived from that of The Mall in London, which during the 1700s was a fashionable promenade near Buckingham Palace upon which the city's elite strolled.
 * The name is derived from that of The Mall in London, which during the 1700s was a fashionable promenade near Buckingham Palace upon which the city's elite strolled.

The Washington City Canal, completed in 1815 in accordance with the L'Enfant Plan, travelled along the former course of Tiber Creek to the Potomac River along B Street Northwest (NW) (now Constitution Avenue NW) and south along the base of a hill containing the Congress House, thus defining the northern and eastern boundaries of the Mall. Being shallow and often obstructed by silt, the canal served only a limited role and became an open sewer that poured sediment and waste into the Potomac River's flats and shipping channel. The portion of the canal that traveled near the Mall was covered over in 1871 for sanitary reasons.

Some consider a lockkeeper's house constructed in 1837 near the western end of the Washington City Canal for an eastward extension of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal to be the oldest building still standing on the National Mall. The structure, which is located near the southwestern corner of 17th Street NW and Constitution Avenue NW, is west of the National Mall (proper).

The Smithsonian Institution Building ("The Castle"), constructed from 1847 to 1855, is the oldest building now present on the National Mall (proper). The Washington Monument, whose construction began in 1848 and reached completion in 1888, stands near the planned site of its namesake's equestrian statue. The Jefferson Pier marks the planned site of the statue itself.

Downing Plan: Mid-19th century
During the early 1850s, architect and horticulturist Andrew Jackson Downing designed a landscape plan for the Mall. Multiple sources:
 * . Over the next half century, federal agencies developed several naturalistic parks within the Mall in accordance with Downing's plan. Two such areas were Henry Park and Seaton Park.
 * . Over the next half century, federal agencies developed several naturalistic parks within the Mall in accordance with Downing's plan. Two such areas were Henry Park and Seaton Park.
 * . Over the next half century, federal agencies developed several naturalistic parks within the Mall in accordance with Downing's plan. Two such areas were Henry Park and Seaton Park.
 * . Over the next half century, federal agencies developed several naturalistic parks within the Mall in accordance with Downing's plan. Two such areas were Henry Park and Seaton Park.

During that period, the Mall was subdivided into several areas between B Street Northwest (NW) (now Constitution Avenue NW) and B Street Southwest (SW) (now Independence Avenue SW):
 * The Public Grounds between 2nd and 6th Streets NW and SW
 * The Armory Grounds between 6th and 7th Streets NW and SW
 * The Smithsonian Grounds between 7th and 12th Streets NW and SW
 * The Agricultural Grounds between 12th and 14th Streets NW and SW
 * The Monument Grounds between 14th and 17th Streets NW and SW

In 1856, the Armory (No. 27 on the 1893 map of the Mall) was built at the intersection of B Street SW and 6th Street SW on the Armory Grounds. In 1862, during the American Civil War, the building was converted to a military hospital known as Armory Square Hospital to house Union Army casualties. After the war ended, the Armory building became the home of the United States Fish Commission.

The United States Congress established the United States Department of Agriculture in 1862 during the Civil War. Designed by Adolf Cluss and Joseph von Kammerhueber, the United States Department of Agriculture Building (No. 25 on the map), was constructed in 1867–1868 north of B Street SW within a 35-acre site on the Mall.

After the Civil War ended, the Department of Agriculture started growing experimental crops and demonstration gardens on the Mall. These gardens extended from the department's building near the south side of the Mall to B Street NW (the northern boundary of the Mall). The building was razed in 1930. In addition, greenhouses belonging to the U.S. Botanical Garden (No. 16 on the map) appeared near the east end of the Mall between the Washington City Canal and the Capitol (later between 1st and 3rd Streets NW and SW).

Originating during the early 1800s as a collection of market stalls immediately north of the Washington City Canal and the Mall, the Center Market (No. 19 on the map), which Adolf Cluss also designed, opened in 1872 soon after the canal closed. Located on the north side of Constitution Avenue NW, the National Archives now occupies the Market's site.

During that period, railroad tracks crossed the Mall on 6th Street, west of the Capitol. Near the tracks, several structures were built over the years. The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station (B on the map) rose in 1873 on the north side of the Mall at the southwest corner of 6th Street and B Street NW (now the site of the west building of the National Gallery of Art).

In 1881, the Arts and Industries Building (No. 34 on the map), known originally as the National Museum Building, opened on the north side of B Street SW to the east of "The Castle". Designed in 1876 by Adolf Cluss and his associates, the building is the second oldest still standing on the National Mall (proper).

In 1887, the Army Medical Museum and Library, which Adolf Cluss designed in 1885, opened on the Mall at northwest corner of B Street SW and 7th Street SW. The Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum now occupies the site of the building, which was demolished in 1968.

Meanwhile, in order to clean up the Potomac Flats and to make the Potomac River more navigable, in 1882 Congress authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the river. The Corps used the sediment removed from the shipping channel to fill in the flats. The work started in 1882 and continued until 1911, creating the Tidal Basin and 628 new acres of land. Part of the new land, which became West Potomac Park, expanded the Mall southward and westward (see 1893 map above).

McMillan Plan: Early 20th century
In 1902, the McMillan Commission's plan, which was partially inspired by the City Beautiful Movement and which purportedly extended Pierre L'Enfant's plan, called for a radical redesign of the Mall that would replace its greenhouses, gardens, trees, and commercial/industrial facilities with an open space. The plan differed from L'Enfant's by replacing the 400 ft wide "grand avenue" with a 300 ft wide vista containing a long and broad expanse of grass.

Four rows of American elm trees (Ulmus americana) planted fifty feet apart between two paths or streets would line each side of the vista. Buildings housing cultural and educational institutions constructed in the Beaux-Arts style would line each outer path or street, on the opposite side of the path or street from the elms.

In subsequent years, the vision of the McMillan plan was generally followed with the planting of American elms and the layout of four boulevards down the Mall, two on either side of a wide lawn. In accordance with a plan that it completed in 1976, the NPS converted the two innermost boulevards (Washington Drive NW and Adams Drive SW) into gravel walking paths. The two outermost boulevards (Madison Drive NW and Jefferson Drive SW)) remain paved and open to vehicular traffic.

Temporary war buildings
During World Wars I and II, the federal government constructed a number of temporary buildings (tempos) on the Mall, disrupting the area's planned layout. Most of these buildings were in two clusters: one near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the other on the National Mall (proper) in the vicinity of 4th through 7th Streets NW and SW.

World War I
The United States entered World War I in April 1917. By 1918, a row of tempos designated from north to south as Buildings A, B, and C had stretched across the Mall along the east side of the former railroad route on 6th Street. The smokestacks of the buildings' centrally-located power plant were set apart to preserve the view of the Washington Monument from the Capitol building. Soon afterwards, the government constructed Buildings D, E and F to the east and west of the row.

Around 1921 (when the United States and Germany signed the U.S.–German Peace Treaty, thus formally ending the war between the two nations), the government demolished Buildings A and B. The remaining tempos held offices of several agencies belonging to the Agriculture, Commerce, Treasury and War Departments for a number of years after the war ended.

The government then slowly dismantled most of the tempos that had remained within the Mall (proper), removing the power plant and nearby buildings by 1936. Among those removed was Building C, which the government demolished between 1933 and 1936.

By 1937, the government had removed all of the World War I tempos that had been within the National Mall (proper) except for Building E, thus largely restoring the Mall's central vista. However, another World War I tempo, which the government constructed south of the Mall in 1919 between 14th Street SW and the Tidal Basin as the Liberty Loan Building, remained standing in 2019 while housing the Treasury Department's Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

In 1918, contractors for the United States Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks constructed the Main Navy and Munitions Buildings along nearly a third of a mile of the south side of Constitution Avenue (then known as B Street), from 17th Street NW to 21st Street NW. Although the Navy intended the buildings to provide temporary quarters for the United States military during World War I, the reinforced concrete structures remained in place until 1970. After their demolition, much of their former sites became Constitution Gardens, which was dedicated in 1976.

World War II
During World War II, the government constructed a larger set of temporary buildings on the Mall in the area of the former World War I tempos, along the south side of Constitution Avenue between 12th and 14th Streets NW, on the west side of the Washington Monument grounds, along the entire length of the south side of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and between the Reflecting Pool and the Main Navy and Munition buildings on the Pool's north side. Numbers identified new buildings built on the Monument grounds, while letters identified the remainder. The government also built dormitories, residence halls and facilities for dining and recreation south of the eastern half of the Mall and within the part of West Potomac Park that lay south of the Mall's western half.

The government progressively demolished all of the World War II tempos beginning in 1964. After the government removed the Main Navy and Munitions buildings in 1970, much of their former sites became Constitution Gardens, which was dedicated in 1976.

Later history

The planting of American elm trees (Ulmus americana) on the National Mall following the McMillan Plan started in the 1930s between 3rd and 14th Streets at the same time that Dutch Elm Disease (DED) began to appear in the United States. Concern was expressed about the impact that DED could have on these trees.

DED first appeared on the Mall during the 1950s and reached a peak in the 1970s. The NPS has used a number of methods to control this fungal epidemic, including sanitation, pruning, injecting trees with fungicide and replanting with DED-resistant American elm cultivars (see Ulmus americana cultivars). The NPS cloned one such cultivar ('Jefferson') from a DED-resistant tree growing near a path on the Mall in front of the Freer Gallery of Art, near the Smithsonian Institution Building ("The Castle"). Multiple sources:

The NPS has combated the disease's local insect vector, the smaller European elm bark beetle (Scolytus multistriatus), by trapping and by spraying with insecticides. Soil compaction and root damage by crowds and construction projects also adversely affect the elms.

On October 15, 1966, the NPS listed the National Mall on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1981, the NPS prepared a National Register nomination form that documented the Mall's boundaries, features and historical significance.

From the 1970s to 1994, a fiberglass model of a triceratops named Uncle Beazley stood on the Mall in front of the National Museum of Natural History. The life-size statue, which is now located at the National Zoological Park (the National Zoo) in Northwest Washington, D.C., was donated to the Smithsonian Institution by the Sinclair Oil Corporation. The statue, which Louis Paul Jonas created for Sinclair's DinoLand pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair, was named after a dinosaur in Oliver Butterworth's 1956 children's book, The Enormous Egg, and the 1968 televised movie adaptation in which the statue appeared. Multiple sources:

In 2003, the 108th United States Congress enacted the Commemorative Works Clarification and Revision Act. This Act prohibits the siting of new commemorative works and visitor centers in a designated reserve area within the cross-axis of the Mall.

In October 2013, a two-week federal government shutdown closed the National Mall and its museums and monuments. However, when a group of elderly veterans tried to enter the National World War II Memorial during the shutdown's first day, the memorial's barricades were removed. The NPS subsequently announced that the veterans had a legal right to be in the memorial and would not be barred in the future. During the shutdown's second week, the NPS permitted an immigration rally and concert to take place on the Mall.

On December 8, 2016, the NPS listed on the National Register of Historic Places an increase in the National Mall Historic District's boundary to encompass an area bounded by 3rd Street, NW/SW, Independence Avenue, SW, Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW, the CSX Railroad, the Potomac River, Constitution Avenue, NW, 17th Street, NW, the White House Grounds, and 15th Street, NW. The listing's registration form, which contained 232 pages, described and illustrated the history and features of the historic district's proposed expanded area.

Demolished or moved structures

 * Washington City Canal, covered over by Constitution Avenue NW, 3rd Street NW, and SW and Canal Street SW (now Washington Street SW)
 * Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station, closed in 1907 when Washington Union Station opened
 * United States Department of Agriculture Building, demolished in 1930
 * Center Market, replaced in 1931 by the National Archives Building
 * Armory Square Hospital/Armory, replaced in 1976 by the National Air and Space Museum
 * Army Medical Museum and Library, demolished in 1968; replaced by the Hirshhorn Museum
 * Temporary Main Navy and Munitions Buildings, built in 1918, demolished in 1970; replaced by Constitution Gardens
 * Uncle Beazley, moved in 1994 to the National Zoo

Usage
In combination with the other attractions in the Washington Metropolitan Area, the National Mall makes the nation's capital city one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. It has several other uses in addition to serving as a tourist focal point.

Protests and rallies

The National Mall's status as a vast, open expanse at the heart of the capital makes it an attractive site for protests and rallies of all types. One notable example was the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a political rally during the Civil Rights Movement, at which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech "I Have a Dream".

The largest officially recorded rally was the Vietnam War Moratorium Rally on October 15, 1969. However, in 1995, the NPS issued a crowd estimate for the Million Man March with which an organizer of the event, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, disagreed. The next year, a committee of the 104th United States Congress provided no funds for NPS crowd-counting activities in Washington, D.C., when it prepared legislation making 1997 appropriations for the U.S. Department of the Interior.

As a result, the NPS has not provided any official crowd size estimates for Mall events since 1995. The absence of such an official estimate fueled a political controversy following the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017 (see: Inauguration of Donald Trump crowd size).

On April 25, 2004, the March for Women's Lives filled the Mall. On January 27, 2007, tens of thousands of protesters opposed to the Iraq War converged on the Mall (see: January 27, 2007 anti-war protest), drawing comparisons by participants to the Vietnam War protest.

On June 12, 2018, the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals staged a rally on the Mall after parading through the city to celebrate the franchise's first Stanley Cup championship victory. Tens of thousands of fans reportedly joined the beer-soaked event.

Presidential inaugurations

The American presidential inauguration is a momentous occasion that symbolizes the peaceful transfer of power and the beginning of a new chapter in the nation's leadership. Held at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., the inauguration draws people from across the country and the world to witness this historic event. The Capitol, with its majestic dome and iconic architecture, serves as the backdrop for the ceremony. The Mall, stretching from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, becomes the gathering place for thousands of spectators who come to witness the swearing-in of the President and Vice President of the United States.

Days leading up to the inauguration are filled with anticipation and preparation. Security measures are heightened to ensure the safety of attendees and dignitaries. The National Mall, usually bustling with tourists and locals, transforms into a sea of spectators, eagerly awaiting the moment when the President-elect takes the oath of office. During presidential inaugurations, people without official tickets gather at the National Mall. Normally, the Mall between 7th and 14th Streets NW is used as a staging ground for the parade.

On December 4, 2008, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (see: United States presidential inauguration organizers) announced, "for the first time, the entire length of the National Mall will be opened to the public so that more people than ever before will be able to witness the swearing-in of the president from a vantage point in sight of the Capitol." The committee made this arrangement because of the massive attendance – projected to be as many as 2 million people – that it expected for the first inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.

Despite the arrangement, a throng of people seeking access to the event climbed and then removed temporary protective fences around the Smithsonian's Mary Livingston Ripley Garden, six blocks from the site at which Obama took his inaugural oath. Hordes then trampled the garden's vegetation and elevated plant beds when entering and leaving the event. Others could not find a way to enter the Mall in time to view the ceremony. More than a thousand people with purple tickets missed the event while being stranded in the I-395 Third Street Tunnel beneath the Mall after police directed them there (see Purple Tunnel of Doom). Terrance W. Gainer, the Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate, stated that it appeared that the stranding had occurred because there were more bulky people in coats than the event's purple section could accommodate. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies subsequently announced that ticket holders that were not admitted would receive copies of the swearing-in invitation and program, photos of Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, and a color print of the ceremony.

Other events and recreational activities
The National Mall has long served as a spot for jogging, picnics, and light recreation for the Washington population. The Smithsonian Carousel, located on the Mall in front of the Arts and Industry Building, is a popular attraction. The Allan Herschell Company built the carousel, which arrived at Gwynn Oak Park near Baltimore, Maryland, in 1947. The carousel was moved to the Mall in 1981 and now operates seasonally.

Annual events
A number of large free events recur annually on the Mall. A kite festival, formerly named the "Smithsonian Kite Festival" and now named the "Blossom Kite Festival", usually takes place each year on the Washington Monument grounds during the last weekend of March as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The event's organizers cancelled the 2020 kite festival, which they had earlier scheduled to take place on the Washington Monument grounds on Saturday, March 28, because of concerns related the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

An Earth Day celebration often takes place on the Mall around April 22. Multiple sources:
 * . A week-long series of rallies, exhibits, observances and performances occurred on the Mall from April 17 to April 25, 2010, to commemorate Earth Day's 40th anniversary. The final day's events featured performances by Sting, Mavis Staples, the Roots, John Legend and others.
 * . A week-long series of rallies, exhibits, observances and performances occurred on the Mall from April 17 to April 25, 2010, to commemorate Earth Day's 40th anniversary. The final day's events featured performances by Sting, Mavis Staples, the Roots, John Legend and others.
 * . A week-long series of rallies, exhibits, observances and performances occurred on the Mall from April 17 to April 25, 2010, to commemorate Earth Day's 40th anniversary. The final day's events featured performances by Sting, Mavis Staples, the Roots, John Legend and others.
 * . A week-long series of rallies, exhibits, observances and performances occurred on the Mall from April 17 to April 25, 2010, to commemorate Earth Day's 40th anniversary. The final day's events featured performances by Sting, Mavis Staples, the Roots, John Legend and others.
 * . A week-long series of rallies, exhibits, observances and performances occurred on the Mall from April 17 to April 25, 2010, to commemorate Earth Day's 40th anniversary. The final day's events featured performances by Sting, Mavis Staples, the Roots, John Legend and others.

The 2012 Earth Day rally, which featured music, entertainment, celebrity speakers and environmental activities, took place on the Mall during a rainy day on Sunday, April 22. Cheap Trick, Dave Mason, Kicking Daisies, Sting, John Legend, Joss Stone, the Roots, Mavis Staples, Jimmy Cliff, Bob Weir and the Explorers Club performed and Congressmen John Dingell and Edward Markey spoke.

In 2013, an "Earth Month" at Washington Union Station replaced the Mall's Earth Day event. On April 19, 2015, a "Global Citizen" Earth Day concert featured performances on the Washington Monument grounds by Usher, My Morning Jacket, Mary J. Blige, Train and No Doubt.

The National Symphony Orchestra presents each year its National Memorial Day Concert on the west lawn of the United States Capitol during the evening of the Sunday before Memorial Day (the last Monday of May). The National Gallery of Art hosts a Jazz in the Garden series each year in the museum's Sculpture Garden on Friday evenings from late May through August.

Components of the United States Navy Band, the United States Air Force Band, the United States Marine Band and the United States Army Band perform on the west steps of the United States Capitol on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, respectively, during June, July and August. Multiple sources:
 * The Marine Band repeats each Wednesday Capitol performance on the following evening (Thursday) at the Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument. Components of U.S. military bands also provide evening concerts at the World War II Memorial from May through August.
 * The Marine Band repeats each Wednesday Capitol performance on the following evening (Thursday) at the Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument. Components of U.S. military bands also provide evening concerts at the World War II Memorial from May through August.
 * The Marine Band repeats each Wednesday Capitol performance on the following evening (Thursday) at the Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument. Components of U.S. military bands also provide evening concerts at the World War II Memorial from May through August.
 * The Marine Band repeats each Wednesday Capitol performance on the following evening (Thursday) at the Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument. Components of U.S. military bands also provide evening concerts at the World War II Memorial from May through August.
 * The Marine Band repeats each Wednesday Capitol performance on the following evening (Thursday) at the Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument. Components of U.S. military bands also provide evening concerts at the World War II Memorial from May through August.
 * The Marine Band repeats each Wednesday Capitol performance on the following evening (Thursday) at the Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument. Components of U.S. military bands also provide evening concerts at the World War II Memorial from May through August.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival takes place on the Mall each year for two weeks around Independence Day (July 4). On that holiday, the A Capitol Fourth concert takes place in the late afternoon and early evening on the west lawn of the Capitol. This and other Independence Day celebrations on and near the Mall end after sunset with a fireworks display between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

The National Symphony Orchestra presents each year its Labor Day Capitol Concert on the west lawn of the United States Capitol during the evening of the Sunday before Labor Day (the first Monday of September).

Other events
On April 9, 1939, singer Marian Anderson gave an Easter Sunday concert at the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) denied a request by Howard University for her to give an Easter performance at the DAR's nearby racially segregated Constitution Hall (see: Marian Anderson's 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert). The event, which 75,000 people attended, occurred after President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his assent for the performance.

The 1976 United States Bicentennial celebration provided the motivation for planning to accommodate large numbers of expected visitors to the National Mall. A number of major memorials were added to the Mall throughout that period. On May 21, 1976, Constitution Gardens was dedicated. On July 1, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum opened. On July 4, the Bicentennial fireworks display on the Mall attracted one million viewers, making it second only to the 1965 presidential inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson as the largest event in the Mall's history up to that time.

On Sunday, October 9, 1979, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass on the National Mall during a visit to Washington. The celebration took place after an appellate court denied a motion for an injunction that atheists Madalyn Murray O'Hair and Jon Garth Murray had filed to prevent the event from occurring.

From 1980 through 1982, the Beach Boys and the Grass Roots performed Independence Day concerts on the Mall, attracting large crowds. However, in April 1983, Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt, banned Independence Day concerts on the Mall by such groups.

Watt said that "rock bands" that had performed on the Mall on Independence Day in 1981 and 1982 had encouraged drug use and alcoholism and had attracted "the wrong element", who would mug individuals and families attending any similar events in the future. Watt then announced that Las Vegas crooner Wayne Newton, a friend and supporter of President Ronald Reagan and a contributor to Republican Party political campaigns, would perform at the Mall's 1983 Independence Day celebration.

During the ensuing uproar, Rob Grill, lead singer of the Grass Roots, stated that he felt "highly insulted" by Watt's remarks, which he called "nothing but un-American". The Beach Boys stated that the Soviet Union, which had invited them to perform in Leningrad in 1978, "obviously .... did not feel that the group attracted the wrong element". Vice President George H. W. Bush said of the Beach Boys, "They're my friends and I like their music".

On July 3, 1983, thousands attended a heavily policed "Rock Against Reagan" concert that the hardcore punk rock band, Dead Kennedys, performed on the Mall in response to Watt's action. Multiple sources:
 * When Newton entered an Independence Day stage on the Mall on July 4, members of his audience booed. Watt apologized to the Beach Boys, First Lady Nancy Reagan apologized for Watt, and in 1984 the Beach Boys gave an Independence Day concert on the Mall to an audience of 750,000 people.
 * When Newton entered an Independence Day stage on the Mall on July 4, members of his audience booed. Watt apologized to the Beach Boys, First Lady Nancy Reagan apologized for Watt, and in 1984 the Beach Boys gave an Independence Day concert on the Mall to an audience of 750,000 people.
 * When Newton entered an Independence Day stage on the Mall on July 4, members of his audience booed. Watt apologized to the Beach Boys, First Lady Nancy Reagan apologized for Watt, and in 1984 the Beach Boys gave an Independence Day concert on the Mall to an audience of 750,000 people.

On September 4, 2003, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, Aretha Franklin, Aerosmith and others performed in a nationally televised "NFL Kickoff Live from the National Mall Presented by Pepsi Vanilla" (see: Pre-game concerts for National Football League kickoff game). Preceded by a three-day National Football League "interactive Super Bowl theme park", the event had primarily commercial purposes, unlike earlier major activities on the Mall. Three weeks later, the United States Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation that, when enacted into law, limited displays of commercial sponsorship on the Mall. Multiple sources:

On July 7, 2007, one leg of Live Earth was held outdoors at the National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall. Former Vice President Al Gore presented, and artists such as Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood performed.

Occurring once every two to three years on the Mall in the early fall from 2002 to 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon displayed solar-powered houses that competitive collegiate teams designed, constructed and operated. Igniting a controversy, the Department of Energy (DOE) decided to move the 2011 Decathlon off the Mall, claiming that this would support an effort to protect, improve and restore the park. Federal officials stated that heavy equipment that had placed two-story houses on the Mall during earlier Decathlons had cracked walkways and killed grass to a greater extent than had most other Mall events.

On February 4, 2011, a Washington Post editorial criticized attempts to have President Obama restore the Decathlon to the Mall. Nevertheless, by February 12, 2011, at least thirteen U.S. senators had signed a letter asking the DOE to reconsider its decision. On February 23, 2011, the DOE and the Department of the Interior announced that the 2011 Solar Decathlon would take place along Ohio Drive southeast of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in West Potomac Park. The event took place in the Park from September 23 through October 2, 2011. The 2013 Decathlon took place in Irvine, California, instead of Washington.

From 2003 to 2013, the National Book Festival took place on the Mall each year in late September or early October. However, the event moved to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in 2014 because the NPS became concerned about the damage that pedestrians had inflicted on the Mall's lawn during previous Festivals.

A four-day exhibition took place each year on the Mall during Public Service Recognition Week (the first full week of May) until 2010. Government agencies participating in the event sponsored exhibits that displayed the works of public employees and that enabled visitors to learn about government programs and initiatives, discuss employee benefits, and interact with agency representatives. However, the 2011 United States federal budget (Public Law 112-10), which was belatedly enacted on April 15, 2011, contained no funding for that year's event, forcing the event's cancellation. The event did not take place in 2012.

On June 12, 2010, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, a couple under investigation for allegedly crashing a White House state dinner for the prime minister of India in November 2009 (see: 2009 U.S. state dinner security breaches), hosted an America's Polo Cup match between the United States and India on the Mall, charging $95 per person for admission. A spokesman for the Embassy of India stated that neither the Embassy nor the government of India had any association with the event. Reports of the event stated that the players who represented India were actually of Pakistani origin and were from Florida.

The inaugural USA Science and Engineering Festival Expo took place on the National Mall and surrounding areas on October 23 and 24, 2010. More than 1,500 free interactive exhibits reportedly drew about 500,000 people to the event, which had over 75 performances. The second Expo took place on April 28–29, 2012, in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

On Veterans Day, November 11, 2014, Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Rihanna, Metallica, Carrie Underwood, Dave Grohl, the Zac Brown Band and other pop entertainers performed on the Mall during a free evening Concert for Valor honoring veterans and their families. Attendance was in the hundreds of thousands, making it one of the biggest events on the Mall for the year. Multiple sources:

The annual Screen on the Green movie festival took place on the Mall on Monday nights during July and August for 17 years until 2015. Free classic movies were projected on large portable screens and typically drew crowds of thousands of people. Organizers cancelled the event in 2016 when the event's sponsors (HBO and Comcast) terminated their support, stating that they needed their resources for other projects.

During October 2020, artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg installed 267,080 white flags within a 4 acre site at the D.C. Armory Parade Grounds near Washington's Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium to temporarily memorialize the lives lost in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. She recreated her memorial on the Washington Monument grounds during September 2021 when covering for three weeks a 20 acre area with 700,000 white flags. Multiple sources:

From September 29, 2023, until October 1, 2023, the National Mall hosted the third global World Culture Festival, featuring performances from around the world and speeches from global leaders.

National Mall Plan
From 2006 through 2010, the NPS conducted a public process that created a plan for the future of the National Mall. On July 13, 2010, the NPS issued in the Federal Register a notice of availability of a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the National Mall Plan. The two-volume final EIS responded to comments and incorporated changes to a draft EIS for the Plan.

On November 9, 2010, the NPS and the Department of the Interior issued a Record of Decision (ROD) that completed the planning process. The ROD contains a summary of the selected alternative, which is the basis for the Plan, together with mitigation measures developed to minimize environmental harm; other alternatives considered; the basis for the decision in terms of planning objectives and the criteria used to develop the preferred alternative; a finding of no impairment of park resources and values; the environmentally preferable alternative; and the public and agency involvement.

The Plan proposed several changes to the Mall. The NPS would construct a vast expanse of paved surface in Union Square at the east end of the Mall to accommodate demonstrations and other events by reducing the size of the Capitol Reflecting Pool or by replacing the pool with a fountain or other minor water feature. Additional proposed changes included the replacement of the Sylvan Theater on the Washington Monument grounds with a facility containing offices, restaurants, and restrooms, as well as the replacement of an open space near the east end of Constitution Gardens with a multipurpose visitor facility containing food service, retail, and restrooms.

On December 2, 2010, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) unanimously approved the final National Mall Plan at a public hearing. The NCPC's approval allowed the NPS to move forward with implementation of the Plan's recommendations.

On March 1, 2012, the NCPC discussed a proposal that, when implemented, reduced the Mall's green space by widening and paving most of the north–south walkways that cross the Mall between Seventh and Fourteenth Streets. The project also replaced with gravel large areas of grass that were located near the Smithsonian Metro Station and the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden.

On September 8, 2011, the Trust for the National Mall and the NPS announced an open competition for a redesign of the spaces on the National Mall that Union Square, the Sylvan Theater grounds and the Constitution Gardens lake now occupy. Former First Lady of the United States Laura Bush agreed to be the honorary co-chair of a drive to raise funds for the three projects.

On April 9, 2012, the Trust for the National Mall announced the ideas for the redesign of Union Square, the Sylvan Theater grounds and Constitution Gardens lake area that finalists in the competition had submitted. The Trust asked the public to submit online comments that the competition jury would consider when evaluating each design. The Trust announced the winners of the competition on May 2, 2012. Groundbreaking for the first project was expected to take place by 2014, with the first ribbon-cutting ceremony by 2016. The competition winners were as follows:

 * Union Square: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol + Davis Brody Bond
 * Sylvan Theater on the Washington Monument Grounds: OLIN + Weiss/Manfredi
 * Constitution Gardens: Rogers Marvel Architects + Peter Walker and Partners

On October 1, 2015, the NCPC approved the preliminary and final site and building plans that the NPS had submitted for the first phase rehabilitation of Constitution Gardens. Plans included the relocation and rehabilitation of the Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension, a new entry plaza at the corner of Constitution Avenue and 17th Street, NW, landscaping, a meadow and pollinator habitat and a new perimeter garden wall. A temporary path would connect to an existing plaza located at the eastern end of Constitution Garden's lake.

The NPS began to implement the first phase rehabilitation of Constitution Gardens in 2017. A Park Service contractor moved the Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension, southward and westward away from Constitution Avenue, NW and 17th Street, NW while retaining the structure's east–west orientation. The NPS restored the building's exterior to the conditions that had existed before the building was modified during 1915 and earlier years. The NPS also replaced the structure's brick chimneys, thus restoring the building to its original 1800s appearance. The building reopened temporarily in late August 2018 and permanently on September 13 of that year. The structure now serves in its new location as an NPS education center.

Reconstruction and restoration
From 2010 to 2012, NPS contractors rebuilt the aging Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which had first been constructed in the early 1920s and whose water had come from the pipes that supply Washington, D.C., with its drinking water. As a result of the project, the pool now receives filtered water from the Tidal Basin through a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipeline.

The NPS then began a four-year restoration of the portion of the central axis of the Mall that lies between 3rd Street and 14th Street. By 2016, the restoration project had completely replaced the deteriorated and weedy turf that had previously covered much of that part of the Mall with a new cover containing soil, fescue (Festuca) and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis).

Public transportation
The National Mall is accessible via the Washington Metro, with the Smithsonian station located on the south side of the Mall, near the Smithsonian Institution Building between the Washington Monument and the United States Capitol. The Federal Triangle, Archives, Judiciary Square and Union Station Metro stations are also located near the Mall, to the north. The L'Enfant Plaza, Federal Center Southwest and Capitol South Metro stations are located several blocks south of the Mall. Metrobus and the DC Circulator make scheduled stops near the Mall.

Bicycles
The NPS provides parking facilities for bicycles near each of the major memorials as well as along the National Mall. From March to October, an NPS concessionaire rents out bicycles at the Thompson Boat Center, located near the intersection of Virginia Avenue NW and Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, 1 mi north of the Lincoln Memorial along the Potomac River-Rock Creek Trail. The first two of five approved Capital Bikeshare stations opened on the National Mall on March 16, 2012, shortly before the start of the 2012 National Cherry Blossom Festival.

The National Mall is the official midpoint of the East Coast Greenway, a 2,900 mile–long system of shared-use bicycle trails linking Calais, Maine, with Key West, Florida.

Electric scooters and Segways
The use of an electric scooter or a Segway falls under the NPS definition of recreational use of a self-propelled vehicle. People without identified disabilities can only use such vehicles on park roadways. NPS rules, therefore, prohibit people without disabilities from using electric scooters and Segways on sidewalks and paths within the National Mall and its memorials. Multiple sources:

Several companies rent out electric scooters within the District of Columbia. However, the National Mall is outside of those companies' service areas. Some such companies, therefore, charge fines for people who end their rides on the Mall. Others do not allow people to end their trips until they have left the area.

Pedicabs
The NPS licenses pedicab drivers to provide transportation and tours of the National Mall through its Commercial Use Authorization program.

Motor vehicle parking
General visitor parking is available along Ohio Drive SW, between the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson Memorials. Bus parking is available primarily along Ohio Drive, SW, near the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson Memorials, and along Ohio Drive SW, in East Potomac Park. There is limited handicapped parking at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt and World War II Memorials and near the Washington Monument and the Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln, Korean War Veterans, and Vietnam Veterans Memorials; otherwise, parking is extremely scarce in and near the Mall.

In April 2017, the NPS awarded a contract for the installation of parking meters on streets and in parking areas on the Mall. On June 12, 2017, the NPS and the District of Columbia Department of Public Works began to enforce metered parking on approximately 1,100 parking spaces in which motorists could previously park without charge. Multiple sources:
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Weather and climate
On July 16, 2016, speakers and musicians participated in a gathering of thousands of evangelicals during a Together 2016 rally on the Mall. Although the event was originally scheduled to conclude at 9 p.m., it ended at 4 p.m. due to excessive heat. Officers reportedly responded to 350 medical calls for heat-related injuries. The large number of people who lost consciousness because of heat syncope overwhelmed emergency medical technicians.

On July 1, 2021, an EF1 tornado formed in Arlington County, Virginia at 8:59 p.m., crossed the Potomac River near the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, and traveled eastward along the National Mall before dissipating near 16th Street NW and Constitution Avenue south of the White House and The Ellipse, 4.4 mi from where it had started. Its maximum winds were 90 mph, and it was as wide as 125 yd. The National Weather Service reported that wind damage to trees on the Mall "was prominent from 23rd St NW east for 0.75 mi to near 16th Street NW south of The Ellipse". The weather service stated that the tornado lifted up and twisted temporary fencing installed on the Mall for the upcoming July 4 Independence Day celebration. The fencing landed in a "mangled and haphazard manner" before the twister dissipated at 9:05 p.m. Multiple sources:

In popular culture
The National Mall is a common backdrop and setting for films, television shows, and other forms of media. The Mall is the setting for a famous scene in Forrest Gump, in which Forrest gives a speech during the 1963 March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial. The film National Treasure is set on and around the National Mall. The Mall is also a common setting in several superhero movies. Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Wonder Woman 1984 all have prominent scenes on the Mall. The comedic film Wedding Crashers is set in Washington, D.C., and has scenes on the Mall. Additionally, the mall is a common feature of the Netflix series House of Cards. The Mall is also a setting of season three, episode three of the show Family Guy, as well as season 17, episode 11 of the show, nicknamed "Trump Guy".

News organisations that present live coverage or recorded programs from Washington often use the Mall as a backdrop.

Other attractions nearby

Other attractions within walking distance of the National Mall (proper) include:

East of the Capitol

 * Folger Shakespeare Library
 * Library of Congress
 * United States Supreme Court Building

Northeast of the National Mall (proper)

 * Holodomor Genocide Memorial
 * Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II
 * National Postal Museum
 * Robert A. Taft Memorial
 * Washington Union Station

North of the National Mall (proper)

 * Ford's Theatre
 * George Gordon Meade Memorial
 * Inlay of L'Enfant's plan for the federal capital city in Freedom Plaza
 * National Archives
 * National Building Museum
 * National Law Enforcement Museum
 * National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
 * National Museum of Women in the Arts
 * National Portrait Gallery
 * National Theatre
 * Old Post Office Building and Clock Tower
 * Pershing Park and National World War I Memorial
 * Smithsonian American Art Museum
 * United States Navy Memorial

Northwest of the National Mall (proper)

 * Albert Einstein Memorial
 * Boy Scout Memorial
 * Butt–Millet Memorial Fountain
 * Enid Haupt Fountains
 * First Division Monument
 * German-American Friendship Garden
 * Interior Museum
 * John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
 * National Christmas Tree
 * Second Division Memorial
 * Settlers of the District of Columbia Memorial Multiple sources:
 * Coordinates of the Settlers of the District of Columbia Memorial: 38.89375°N, -77.03386°W
 * Statues of the Liberators
 * The Ellipse
 * Theodore Roosevelt Island
 * U.S. Capitol Gatehouses and Gateposts
 * White House (on a line directly north of the Washington Monument)
 * Zero Milestone
 * Theodore Roosevelt Island
 * U.S. Capitol Gatehouses and Gateposts
 * White House (on a line directly north of the Washington Monument)
 * Zero Milestone

West of the National Mall (proper)

 * Arlington Memorial Bridge
 * The Arts of War and The Arts of Peace statues at the eastern approach to the Arlington Memorial Bridge
 * Marine Corps War Memorial
 * Netherlands Carillon

Southwest of the National Mall (proper)

 * Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
 * Arlington National Cemetery
 * Bureau of Engraving and Printing
 * Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
 * George Mason Memorial
 * Jefferson Memorial
 * Lady Bird Johnson Park
 * Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac
 * Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
 * Tidal Basin
 * United States Forest Service Museum
 * United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
 * Women in Military Service for America Memorial

South of the National Mall (proper)

 * American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial
 * Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial
 * International Spy Museum
 * L'Enfant Promenade and Plaza
 * Museum of the Bible
 * Overlook in Benjamin Banneker Park

title: National Mall


text:
George Reid (disambiguation)

George Reid (1845–1918) was Prime Minister of Australia from 1904–1905.

George Reid may also refer to:

Art

 * George Reid (Scottish artist) (1841–1913)
 * George Ogilvy Reid (1851–1928), Scottish landscape and portrait artist
 * George Agnew Reid (1860–1947), Canadian artist
 * George Macdonald Reid (1907–1969), Canadian sculptor

Military

 * George Reid (soldier) (1733–1815), American Revolutionary War general
 * George Croghan Reid (1876–1961), American Medal of Honor recipient
 * George Reid (RAF officer) (1893–1991), World War I flying ace

Politics

 * George Alexander Reid (died 1852), British member of parliament for Windsor
 * George Reid (Victorian politician) (1903–1993), Attorney-General of Victoria
 * George Reid (Scottish politician) (born 1939), presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament

Other

 * G. Archdall Reid or George Archdall Reid (1860–1929), Scottish physician and writer
 * Geordie Reid (George T. Reid, 1882–1960), Scottish footballer
 * George Reid (footballer) (1896–?), Northern Irish footballer
 * George Reid (born 1989), British electronic musician and member of AlunaGeorge
 * George Reid (moderator) (1692–1763), moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1755
 * George T. H. Reid, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1973
 * George Watson MacGregor Reid, Scottish modern Druid

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: George Reid (disambiguation)


text:
Talk:Film (film)

Note entirely sure
I'm still not entirely sure about this:

 * A possible reading of this is that self-perception is inescapable. Thus, it is not surprising that the original script begins with George Berkeley's dictum, "esse est percipi," meaning, "to be is to be perceived."

It seems to me that the point of the film is that avoidance of all perception is impossible, because one cannot avoid self-perception, which is slightly different to what the article says. And because avoidance of perception is impossible, one cannot cease to be. This perhaps makes sense of the scene (not described in the article) where he tears up some old photos of himself, and would seem to make more sense of the Berkeley quote (to me, anyway). There's perhaps some Cartesian influence in all that. But anyway, I'm not going to change anything about interpretation until I've got to some sources that tell me what critics have made of it all - then I can attribute these interpreatations to people instead of waffling on myself. --Camembert

An anon editor has changed the reference to a print of God on the wall to a print of a Phoenician statue. Now, I've not seen the film itself in ages, but the script as published says it is a print of "God the Father"; was this changed when it was shot? If so, I think it's an important enough change that it's worth us noting it in the article. Can anybody confirm what is actually in the film? --Camembert 18:51, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

Seems like it is Sumerian. I've added details and souces. See an image of it here. --FaWaka (talk) 03:26, 25 July 2021 (UTC)

1979 remake Not monochrome
I removed 'in monochrome and' from the intro. "Colour is in fact used by Clark with great restraint." Richard Cave’s review of the 1979 version of the film Great explanation - I was really confused by Film itself ! --195.137.93.171 (talk) 22:59, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Film cover.jpg
Image:Film cover.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 12:46, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 4 external links on Film (film). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070726060333/http://www.english.fsu.edu/jobs/num07/Num7Cave.htm to http://www.english.fsu.edu/jobs/num07/Num7Cave.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070726060835/http://www.english.fsu.edu/jobs/num07/Num7Henning.htm to http://www.english.fsu.edu/jobs/num07/Num7Henning.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070726060333/http://www.english.fsu.edu/jobs/num07/Num7Cave.htm to http://www.english.fsu.edu/jobs/num07/Num7Cave.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070726060835/http://www.english.fsu.edu/jobs/num07/Num7Henning.htm to http://www.english.fsu.edu/jobs/num07/Num7Henning.htm

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Confusing title
This page has a confusing title. Can someone change it? Buster Reynolds (talk) 12:54, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

History of the film
I added the "essay" tag because this is written very much like an essay. Lines like "If Beckett were Shakespeare he might well have written: “To be seen or not to be seen, that is the question."", rhetorical questions such as "But what happens when you are alone?", and phrases such "it comes as no surprise that..." seem especially out of place in an encyclopedia. This is a very interesting analysis of a film I personally love, but not exactly suited to here. Also, this lacks much information about the history of the film, its production and release and all that. This is a rather good essay, but a rather poor Wikipedia page. StrexcorpEmployee (talk) 12:54, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Film (film)


text:
Irish Famine (1740–1741)

The Irish Famine of 1740–1741 (Bliain an Áir, meaning the Year of Slaughter) in the Kingdom of Ireland, is estimated to have killed between 13% and 20% of the 1740 population of 2.4 million people, which was a proportionately greater loss than during the Great Famine of 1845–1852.

The famine of 1740–1741 was due to extremely cold and then dry weather in successive years, resulting in food losses in three categories: a series of poor grain harvests, a shortage of milk, and frost damage to potatoes. At this time, grains, particularly oats, were more important than potatoes as staples in the diet of most workers.

Deaths from mass starvation in 1740–1741 were compounded by an outbreak of fatal diseases. The cold and its effects extended across Europe, but mortality was higher in Ireland because both grain and potatoes failed. This is now considered by scholars to be the last serious cold period at the end of the Little Ice Age of about 1400–1800.

The famine of 1740–1741 is different from the Great Famine of the 19th century. By the mid-19th century, potatoes made up a greater portion of Irish diets, with adverse consequences when the crop failed, causing famine from 1845 to 1852. The Great Famine differed by "cause, scale and timing" from the Irish Famine of 1740–1741. It was caused by an oomycete infection which destroyed much of the potato crop for several years running, a crisis exacerbated by the laissez-faire policies of the ruling British government, continued exportation of food, insufficient relief, rigid government regulations and state sponsored evictions.

Background
In 1740, Ireland had a population of 2.4 million people, most of whom depended on grains (oats, wheat, barley and rye) and potatoes as their staple foods. Half their expenses for food went for grain, 35% for animal products and the remainder for potatoes. Some survived only on oatmeal, buttermilk and potatoes. Over a year, daily consumption of potatoes was estimated at 6 to 7 lb per person. Diets varied according to village locations and individual income, with many people supplementing these staples with river, lake or sea fish, especially herring, and small game such as wild duck. At the time social welfare was an entirely private initiative undertaken on a local level by the village or parish, with the government not being oriented to large-scale relief efforts.

Cause
An extraordinary climatic shock struck Ireland and the rest of Europe between December 1739 and September 1741 following a decade of relatively mild winters. Its cause remains unknown. Charting its course sharply illuminates how climate events can result in famine and epidemic disease, and affect economies, energy sources, and politics.

In the winter of 1739–1740, Ireland suffered seven weeks of very cold weather known as the "Great Frost". Although no barometric or temperature readings for Ireland survive from the Great Frost, a scattered few records survive from Englishmen who made personal readings. The mercury thermometer was invented 25 years earlier by German pioneer Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit. Indoor values during January 1740 were as low as 10 °F. The one outdoor reading that has survived was stated as "thirty-two degrees of frost," equivalent to 0 °F. This did not include the effects of the wind chill factor, which would have been severe. This kind of weather was "quite outside the Irish experience," notes David Dickson, author of Arctic Ireland: The Extraordinary Story of the Great Frost and Forgotten Famine of 1740–41.

In the period before the crisis in January 1740, the winds and terrible cold intensified, yet barely any snow fell. Ireland was locked into a stable and vast high-pressure system which affected most of Europe in a broadly similar way, from Scandinavia and Russia to northern Italy. Rivers, lakes, and waterfalls froze and fish died in these first weeks of the Great Frost. People tried to avoid hypothermia without using up winter fuel reserves in a matter of days. People living in the country were probably better off than city-dwellers because in Ireland country people had cabins sheltered by turf stacks, while the latter, especially the poor, dwelt in freezing basements and garrets.

Coal dealers and shippers during normal times ferried coal from Cumbria and South Wales to east and south-coast ports in Ireland, but the ice-bound quays and frozen coal yards temporarily stopped such trade. When in late January 1740 the traffic across the Irish Sea resumed, retail prices for coal soared. Desperate people stripped bare hedges, ornamental trees, and nurseries around Dublin to obtain substitute fuel. Also affected by the Frost were the pre-industrial town mill-wheels, which froze. The machinery was stilled that customarily ground wheat for the bakers, tucked cloth for the weavers, and pulped rags for the printers. The abrupt weather change disrupted craft employment and food processing.

Protestants and alms-giving

The municipal leaders (mostly Protestant merchants and members of the landed gentry) paid closer attention to the state of urban and rural artisans and tradespeople because of their contributions to the commercial economy on which the landowners depended. These leaders knew from experience that "an unemployed or hungry town often became a sickly town and such sickness might be no respecter of class or wealth". This is what happened as the Frost continued.

The propertied classes began to respond to fuel and food shortages when the Frost was about two weeks old. The Church of Ireland parish clergy solicited donations, which they converted into free rations in the city parishes, distributing nearly 80 tons of coal and ten tons of meal four weeks into the Frost. The Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Devonshire, in an unprecedented move on 19 January 1740, prohibited the export of grain out of Ireland to any destination except Britain. This action was in response to Cork Corporation (City of Cork), which remembered vividly the city events of eleven years earlier when serious food riots erupted and four people died.

In Celbridge, County Kildare, Katherine, the widow of William Conolly, commissioned the construction of the Conolly Folly in 1740 to give employment to local workers. In 1743, she had The Wonderful Barn built nearby as a food store in case of further famines.

Potatoes deteriorate
The Great Frost affected the potato, which was one of the two main staples (the other was oatmeal) in rural Ireland. Potatoes typically were left in storage in gardens and in special storage in fields. The crops from the autumn of 1739 were frozen, destroyed and inedible. They could not serve as seeds for the next growing season. "Richard Purcell, one of the best rural witnesses of the unfolding crisis, reported in late February [1740] that had the Frost not occurred, there would have been enough potatoes in his district to have kept the country [Ireland] fed until August [1740], indicating a rare local abundance of the crop. 'But both root and branch…is destroyed every where', except for 'a few which happen'd to be housed', and 'in a very few deep…and turfy moulded gardens where some, perhaps enough for seed for the same ground, are sound.'"

At that time, potatoes were typically stored in the fields where they were grown, in earthen banks known as potato clamps. They were put among layers of soil and straw that normally prevented frost from penetrating deeply enough to destroy the contents of the clamp. This disruption of the agricultural cycle created problems in Ireland in the winter of 1740–1741.

Spring drought, 1740
In spring 1740, the expected rains did not arrive. Although the Frost dissipated, the temperatures remained low and the northerly winds fierce. The drought killed off animals in the field, particularly sheep in Connacht and black cattle in the south.

By the end of April, it destroyed much of the tillage crops (wheat and barley) sown the previous autumn, and grains were more important in the diet than were potatoes. The important corn crop also failed, which resulted in greater mortality in Ireland than in Britain or the Continent.

Grains were so scarce that the Irish hierarchy of the Catholic Church allowed Catholics to eat meat four days each week during Lent, but not everyone could afford meat. The potato crisis caused an increase in grain prices, resulting in smaller and smaller loaves of bread for the old price. Dickson explains that the "wholesale rise in the price of wheat, oats and barley reflected not just the current supply position, but the dealers' assessment as to the state of things later in the year."

By summer 1740, the Frost had decimated the potatoes, and the drought had decimated the grain harvest and herds of cattle and sheep. Starving rural dwellers started a "mass vagrancy" towards the better-supplied towns, such as Cork in southern Ireland. By mid-June 1740, beggars lined the streets.

Food riots
With the soaring cost of food, hungry townspeople "vented their frustration on grain dealers, meal-mongers and bakers, and when they turned to direct action the most likely flashpoints were markets or warehouses" where food owners stored bulk food. The first "flareup" occurred at Drogheda, north of Dublin on the east coast of Ireland, in mid-April. A band of citizens boarded a vessel laden with oatmeal, which was preparing to depart for Scotland. They removed the rudder and sails. The officials made sure that Scotland would receive no more food from their port. They, like the Cork Corporation officials, wanted no trouble from the Irish citizens.

A riot broke out in Dublin on Saturday and Sunday near the end of May 1740 when the populace believed that bakers were holding off baking bread. They broke into the bakers' shops and sold some of the loaves, giving the money to the bakers. Other people simply took the bread and left. On Monday, rioters raided to take the meal from mills near the city and resold it at discounted prices. Trying to restore order, troops from the Royal Barracks killed several rioters. City officials tried to "smoke out hoarders of grain and to police food markets, but prices remained stubbornly high throughout the summer".

Similar skirmishes over food continued in different Irish cities throughout the summer of 1740. The War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) began, interrupting trade as Spanish privateers captured ships bound for Ireland, including those carrying grain. Linen, salted beef and pickled butter were Ireland's chief export earners, and the war endangered this trade as well.

The cold returns
In autumn 1740, a meagre harvest commenced and prices in the towns started to fall. Cattle began to recover. But in the dairying districts, cows had been so weak after the Frost that at least a third of them had failed to "take bull," or become impregnated at breeding. This resulted in fewer calves, a shortage of milk, which was widely consumed, and a decline in butter production.

To make conditions worse, blizzards swept along the east coast in late October 1740 depositing snow and returned several times in November. A massive rain downpour on 9 December 1740 caused widespread flooding. A day after the floods, the temperature plummeted, snow fell, and rivers and other bodies of water froze. Warm temperatures followed the cold snap, which lasted about ten days. Great chunks of ice careened down the Liffey River through the heart of Dublin, overturning light vessels and causing larger vessels to break anchor.

The strange autumn of 1740 pushed food prices up. Dublin wheat prices on 20 December were at an all-time high. The widening wars in mid-December 1740 encouraged people with stored food to hoard it. The populace needed food, and riots erupted again in various cities throughout the country. By December 1740, signs were growing that full-blown famine and epidemic were upon the citizens of Ireland.

Relief schemes
The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Samuel Cooke, consulted with the Lords Justices – Archbishop Boulter; Henry Boyle, Speaker of the Commons; and Lord Jocelyn, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland – on 15 December 1740 to figure out a way to bring down the price of corn. Boulter launched an emergency feeding programme for the poor of Dublin at his own expense. The Privy Council instructed the High Sheriff in each county to count all stocks of grain in the possession of farmers and merchants and to report total cereal stocks in their county.

The reports indicated a number of privately held stocks, for instance County Louth held over 85,000 barrels of grain, mainly oats, owned by some 1,655 farmers. Some major landowners, such as the widow of Speaker William Conolly, builder of Castletown House, distributed food and cash during the "black spring" of 1741 on their own initiative. The widow Conolly and other philanthropists hired workers to develop infrastructure or do work associated with local improvements: such as building an obelisk, paving, fencing, draining, making roads or canals, and cleaning harbours. In Drogheda, the Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, Henry Singleton, a citizen of the town, donated much of his private fortune for famine relief.

Return of normal weather
Five vessels loaded with grain, presumably from British America, reached Galway on the west coast in June 1741. In the first week of July 1741, grain prices at last decreased and old-hoarded wheat suddenly flooded the market. The quality of the Autumn harvest of 1741 was mixed. The food crisis was over, and seasons of rare plenty followed for the next two years.

Death toll
Documentation of deaths was poor during the Great Frost. Cemeteries provide fragmentary information, e.g., during February and March 1740, 47 children were buried in St. Catherine's parish. The normal death rate tripled in January and February 1740, and burials averaged out about 50% higher during the twenty-one-month crisis than for the years 1737–1739, according to Dickson. Summing up all his sources, Dickson suggests that the famine resulted in the deaths of between 13 and 20% of the population.

Based on contemporary accounts and burial parish records, famine-related deaths may have totalled 300,000–480,000 in Ireland, with rates highest in the south and east of the country. This was a proportionately greater toll than during the Great Famine (1845–49). That famine, however, was unique in "cause, scale and timing", persisting over several years.

Summary
The Irish Great Frost of 1740–1741 demonstrated human social behaviour under crisis conditions and the far-reaching effects of a major climate crisis. As conditions eased, "the population entered into a period of unprecedented growth", although additional famines occurred during the eighteenth century. Dickson notes that an upsurge in migration out of Ireland in the years after the 1740–1741 crisis did not take place, perhaps in part because conditions improved relatively quickly although the most likely primary reason was that a transoceanic voyage was far beyond the means of most of the population at this time. Irish dendrochronologist Mike Baillie has confirmed tree ring patterns in 1740 that were consistent with severe cold.

The year 1741, during which the famine was at its worst and mortality was greatest, was known in folk memory as the "year of the slaughter" (or bliain an áir in Irish).

title: Irish Famine (1740–1741)