Seven Smithsonian museums and sites along the National Mall in D.C. are reopening Friday after shutting down for a day due to cooling issues, the Smithsonian Institution said.
These sites were closed Thursday, Aug. 6, but are expected to operate normally on Friday:
- National Museum of the American Indian
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- National Museum of Asian Art
- National Museum of African Art
- Smithsonian Castle
- Arts and Industries Building
- S. Dillon Ripley Center
“We look forward to seeing you,” the Smithsonian said in a social media post. Visitors can find more info at www.si.edu/visit.
Officials told NBC News the buildings were closed due to cooling and humidity problems after an outage at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)’s Heating Operations and Transmission Division (HOTD) plant. That outage disrupted the supply of chilled water needed for the cooling and humidity control systems in the museums on the south of the National Mall.
“GSA is responding to the HOTD outage affecting air‑conditioning service for multiple federal facilities in Washington, DC.,” the GSA said in a statement Thursday morning. “We are working closely with impacted buildings and deploying all available resources to restore operations as swiftly as possible.”
The Smithsonian had said they would reopen once the GSA resolved the problem.
All other Smithsonian museums were open Thursday and operating on their regular schedules, according to a press release.
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