The Freer Gallery is one of the smaller Smithsonian Museums, attracting a smaller crowd than the big shot Mall Museums. Even though also located on the Mall, it´s a second row museum, not protruding prominently into view like the others. What makes it less attractive to most Mall visitors is the fact that it´s not a "theme museum", as for instance the Air and Space Museum or the American History Museum. It´s not so much a family museum, it displays things and objects that kids tend to consider as being boring stuff. And that´s the good news for those who enjoy what the Freer Gallery, or the Sackler Gallery next door, have to offer. The halls and gallery rooms are serene and calm places where one can roam in a slow motion pace, without feeling the breath of the pushy crowds down your neck. Another thing that stands out is the low noise level. Public places in the United States, like museums or restaurants, are extremely noisy. Here you can not only enjoy exhibitions away from the crowds, you can actually enjoy and relax in relative quiet. The mueum-goers that come here are often aficionados of some sort, mostly sincerely interested in what is exhibited. 

The museum specializes in Asian Art and themes like this early chinese buddhist sculpture.

Here one can sense the serene atmosphere of the rooms.

From the South Asian and Himalayan section.

Charles Lang Freer was a Detroit industrialist and the founder of the Freer Gallery of Art.

The Freer collection includes American Art, mostly by James McNeill Whistler.

More pics of Washington Museums