National Mall

The National Mall is the roughly three-kilometre green axis at the heart of Washington, linking the US Capitol on the east to the Lincoln Memorial on the Potomac. Pierre Charles L'Enfant designed the vista in 1791 as the young republic's central ceremonial space; its current form follows the 1901-02 McMillan Plan, which straightened the Mall and placed the Washington Monument on its present axis. The lawn is flanked by the main Smithsonian museums, the National Archives with the Declaration of Independence, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the WWII Memorial and the Tidal Basin with its Japanese cherry trees. The National Park Service manages it as part of National Mall and Memorial Parks. The Mall has hosted defining gatherings since 1963, from Martin Luther King's speech to presidential inaugurations. Walkers, joggers and families share the open ground; at night the monuments throw the axis into sharp relief.