Dumbarton Oaks

Visit the Museum and Gardens

Learn more about how to make your visit safe and enjoyable as well as opportunities to visit Dumbarton Oaks virtually.

Lasting Impressions: People, Power, Piety

This exhibition explores individual stories and family histories, the concept of status, developments in popular piety, and the inner workings of the state as shown through the intricate impressions on lead seals.

Garden Centennial

The Garden Centennial recognizes a century of stewardship and preservation of the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens through celebrations and exhibits.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection supports research and learning internationally in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships and internships, meetings, and exhibitions. Located in residential Georgetown, Dumbarton Oaks welcomes researchers at all career stages who come to study its books, objects, images, and documents. It opens its doors to the public to visit its historic garden, designed by Beatrix Farrand; its museum, with world-class collections of art; and its Music Room, for lectures and concerts. The institute disseminates knowledge through its publications and online resources. Innovative programming has introduced students of all ages to the museum, garden, and collections.

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Visit the Museum and Gardens

As of September 1, 2022, timed tickets are no longer required for the Museum. As of September 12, 2022, visitors to the Museum no longer need to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. Masks are not required, but strongly encouraged. Tickets are required for visitors to the Gardens through October 31, 2022.

Reserve tickets to the Gardens

Reserve tickets and review information and guidelines for visitors in our Visit Safely portal.

Plan your visit Visit Safely

Upcoming Events

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Oct 07, 2022 - Oct 08, 2022

Beyond Representation: Ancient Indigenous Visual Culture

This two-day symposium explores non-iconographic approaches to the study of images from the Ancient Americas

Oct 13, 2022

The Sovereign's Image and its Site-Specificity in Kyivan Rus'

A lecture about how Kyivan sovereign's portraits concealed the questionable mechanisms of rising into power and legitimized the alleged usurpers in the eyes of the society, the Church, and Christ.

Oct 21, 2022 - Oct 22, 2022

Changing Climates, Changing Histories: Perspectives from the Humanities

This symposium brings together scholars to discuss human-induced climate change in the past from the perspective of the humanities.

Research

Dumbarton Oaks supports and publishes scholarship in the three areas of study supported by Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss: Byzantine Studies, including related aspects of late Roman, early Christian, western Medieval, Slavic, and Near Eastern Studies; Pre-Columbian Studies of Mexico, Central America, and Andean South America; and Garden and Landscape Studies, including garden history, landscape architecture, and related disciplines.