The AIDS Memorial Quilt. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The 47,000 hand-sewn panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will go on display in D.C. this summer, the first time that the quilt has been in D.C. since 2004 and first time it will be on display in its entirety since 1996.

The quilt, which was started in San Francisco in 1987 as a means to commemorate those that died from HIV/AIDS, will be on display during the Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival (June 27-July 1, July 4-8) and then during the International AIDS Conference (July 21-24), when it will blanket all available sections of the National Mall from Eighth to 14th Streets and be on display at 40 different locations throughout the city. Additionally, the Washington Nationals will include some of the panels in the outfield during a July 7 game.

It was in October 1987 that the quilt—which at the time included 1,920 three-by-three panels—first visited the National Mall during the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. It returned in 1988 with 8,288 panels, came again in 1989 and was on full display in 1992. In 1996 it came back for its most dramatic visit, when it covered virtually the entirety of the National Mall. A portion of the quilt returned in 2004 for National HIV Testing Day.

The quilt’s return and the AIDS conference—the first time it’s been held in the U.S. in decades—are important milestones and have particular relevance in D.C., a city that has been ravaged by HIV/AIDS and still has one of the highest infections rates in the country.