|
The National Museum of the American Indian is a welcoming place; a 23 foot wall just as one enters displays the word "welcome" in native languages from all of the Americas. The entrance to the museum is known as the Potomac, a Piscataway Indian word meaning "where the goods are brought in." This is where Washington's famous Potomac River derives its name. The museum's galleries and displays have both permanent and temporary exhibitions. The museum's permanent exhibitions, Our Universes, Our Peoples, and Our Lives, deal with Native American cosmology, beliefs, ancestry, history, contemporary life, and identity. Temporary exhibitions also present individual artists' works, explore specific themes in American Indian culture, or bring objects from other institutions to the museum. The museum's galleries also include collections for study.
| 
