Release Date: October 18, 2006

National Gallery of Art Expands Tour Options with New Audio Tour in Five Foreign Languages; Guided Tours in Foreign Languages Also Available

Visitor listening to commentary about Leonardo da Vinci’s Ginevra de' Benci, c. 1474/1478
National Gallery of Art
Photo by Doris Alston © National Gallery of Art 2006

Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art is now offering audio tours in five foreign languages. Director’s Tour: Highlights in Foreign Languages includes an introduction from Gallery director Earl A. Powell III and commentary on 26 masterpieces in the Gallery’s collection in Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese. With a back-lit screen and slender, lightweight design, Acoustiguide’s exSite Premium™ handset is easy to operate. Multiple languages coexist on one player, and visitors learn about works of art at their own pace and in any order they choose.

Director’s Tour: Highlights in Foreign Languages is available for rental at the audio tour desk located at the West Building Mall entrance for $5 per person.

Guided Tours in Foreign Languages

Guided tours of the Gallery’s permanent collection in foreign languages continue to be available in Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and German. Tours begin at the West Building Rotunda at 12 noon or at the East Building Art Information Desk at 2:00 p.m. Specific dates and locations are available at www.nga.gov, (202) 737-4215, or in the Gallery’s Calendar of Events located at all entrances to the Gallery and inside the Pavilion Café, which is located in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. All guided tours in foreign languages are free and open to the public.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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