This day with The Smithsonian Associates offers a chance to get a close look at all aspects of Hillwood, as the museum director and curators offer private lectures covering Post’s fascinating life, the Russian and French collections, and the estate’s gardens. 

Enjoy a glamorous start to the New Year.

Tickets in the Theater are sold out. Additional seating is available in a simulcast location. Simulcast tickets are $5, and may be purchased by phone. Please call 202.686.5807. For centuries, boxes, caskets, and chests have played an important role in everyday life. The form and decoration of these objects not only reflected changes in social customs and manners but also closely followed the stylistic developments in Europe.

We are closed today for Thanksgiving. 

This lavishly-illustrated lecture on the legendary Paris design firm of Maison Jansen will present the firm's most alluring commissions, including rooms for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Shah and Shahbanou of Iran, and President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy for whom Jansen renovated and redecorated the White House. 

Be among the first to see the newly designed Russian Sacred Arts Gallery, which highlights the distinctive visual culture and spiritual tradition practiced in Russia’s majestic churches as well as the intimacy of its homes.

In conjunction with the publication of Going for Gold: Craftsmanship and Collecting of Gold Boxes, explore intricate, highly decorated boxes manufactured for snuff. This beautifully illustrated lecture includes highlights of the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the VandA.

Go behind the pages of Eva Stachniak's new novel, Empress of the Night, as the author discusses her fascination with the formidable Empress of All the Russias and reveals what went into her writing process to cast “light on Catherine’s life with unflinching honesty and intimacy.” (Virtuoso Life Magazine)