FLAG

Soon you can see the authentic Star-Spangled Banner by dawn’s early light—sort of. After a 10-year absence, the nation’s most famous flag will return to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., in November. The facility reopens this fall after a two-year renovation that updated the building’s infrastructure and added architectural elements like a skylight that lets natural light into the museum.

As you approach the flag exhibition on the second floor, you will first catch sight of a 40-foot-long wall hanging made of reflective polycarbonate material that resembles an abstract version of the flag. Displays educate you about the 15-star-and-15-stripe flag’s significance during the War of 1812. Then walk into the viewing chamber: Low-light levels simulate the feeling of dawn’s early light that Francis Scott Key immortalized in his 1814 poem—now our national anthem—after witnessing the British bombardment of Baltimore. You can see the flag displayed on a table at a 10-degree angle, allowing you a better view of its threadwork. Conservators removed the linen backing that flag restorer Amelia Fowler and her team sewed on for support in 1914, during the flag’s first treatment after its acquisition in 1907. You’ll notice that one of the stars is missing—likely cut out as a souvenir in the late 1800s.

As you leave the viewing chamber, you can learn more about the flag’s important role in American culture and the decade-long conservation process that restored it to its, well, old glory.

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Check out the museum’s accompanying online exhibition, where you’ll find quizzes, detailed information about the restoration, trip-planning tips, and more.

Read Francis Scott Key’s famous poem in full here, then take a gander at the monument erected in his honor in Maryland. Take that, Wordsworth!

So, how does Old Glory measure against other national flags? Compare and contrast with help from the World Flag Database. Turns out, horizontal stripes are all the rage. Concentric triangles, not so much (sorry, Saint Lucia). For our part, we prefer Seychelles’ angular look.

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