The Smithsonian Institution on Thursday closed seven buildings on the National Mall, citing a failure of the temperature-control system.
Visitors were turned away today from a swath of Smithsonian museums and facilities on the south side of the National Mall between Jefferson Drive and Independence Avenue SW, including the Smithsonian Castle, the Arts and Industries Building, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Museum of Asian Art, the National Museum of African Art, and the S. Dillon Ripley Center.
A Smithsonian spokesperson confirmed to The Washington Post that the facilities were closed after chilled water used to regulate temperature and humidity stopped reaching the buildings. The U.S. General Services Administration said in a statement that a 90-year-old power plant had experienced an “operational interruption” and that its teams were working to resolve the issue “as swiftly as possible.”
Some social media users, meanwhile, expressed skepticism about the closures, with several jokingly attributing the disruption to the Trump administration. “Maybe they used up all the water flushing the reflecting pool. Whatever the reason, Trump’s restoration and maintenance is on par with all of his other missteps,” one commenter wrote beneath The Washington Post‘s story.
