Museum lovers eager to return to D.C.’s museums will have two options as of Monday morning: the International Spy Museum and the Museum of the Bible.
The private museums will open their doors to visitors for the first time more in than three months as D.C. enters Phase Two of reopening.
Under the city’s Phase Two guidelines, museums and galleries can reopen with limited capacity and physical distancing measures in place. Guided tours and large tour groups are not permitted, but small events of up to 50 people are allowed.
The Bible Museum published a list of ten “COVID Commandments” ahead of its reopening. “Thou shalt wear a face mask,” “Thou shalt consider washing your hands frequently or using the provided hand sanitizer,” and “Thou shalt enjoy thyself!” are all on the list.
Visitors will encounter a series of new safety measures when they enter the museum. They’ll receive a free stylus to use on exhibit touch screens, and they’ll encounter employees in PPE, plexiglass panels at ticket counters, gift shops and cafes, and a marked flow path on the floor to facilitate social distancing.

At the Spy Museum in L’Enfant Plaza, visitors will similarly be required to follow social distancing protocol, wear face masks and use a stylus on touch screens. The museum is also encouraging visitors to buy tickets online.
“Overall we are very much looking forward to opening our doors again and getting back to doing what we love!,” spokesperson Aliza Bran said in an email.
So far no other museums have announced a concrete reopening plan.
Linda St. Thomas, a spokesperson for the Smithsonian Institution, wrote in an email that the National Zoo and Udvar Hazy Center will open first, “probably sometime in July (not before the 4th) and others will follow.”
The National Children’s Museum, which opened just a few weeks before the pandemic hit D.C., plans to reopen in August.
One attraction along the National Mall will see visitors on Saturday when the Sculpture Garden reopens. The garden will operate daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a limited capacity of 271. All visitors will be required to wear face masks.
The National Gallery of Art, which manages the 6.1-acre garden, does not plan to reopen simultaneously. Earlier this week it announced it will begin a phased reopening of its buildings sometime during Phase 2, starting with the ground floor of its West Building.
“We need to open the Garden first and then we’ll decide about the Ground Floor but that should not be too far behind the Garden…” Anabeth Guthrie, a museum spokesperson, wrote in an email.
When the museum does reopen, visitors will be required to wear face masks and reserve free timed entry passes, similar to the free ticketing system already in place at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
This story has been updated with information about the National Children’s Museum.
Mikaela Lefrak