The Corona - A Crown of Bronze-Colored Lace

A stop on Washington DC National Mall Walking Tour, a free self-guided tour.

Before you go in, step back and look at the skin of the building. The three tiers, which the architects call the corona, are wrapped in about 3,600 cast-aluminum panels with a bronze finish, and each tier leans outward at roughly 17 degrees, the same angle as the sides of the Washington Monument's capstone next door.

The pierced pattern in the panels is not just decoration. David Adjaye based it on the ornamental ironwork of Charleston and New Orleans, much of it forged by enslaved Black craftsmen, so the building carries their work on its face. By day the screen filters light into the galleries; after dark the light glows out through it.

Walk around to the south side, too, where a deep porch faces the Mall, a nod to the porches of Southern homes. Then head inside and take the elevator down to start the History Galleries.

More on Wikipedia: National Museum of African American History and Culture · David Adjaye · Washington Monument

The Corona - A Crown of Bronze-Colored Lace

Stops on this tour