The seat of American government Washington District of Columbia

The seat of American government is also a beautiful city, a celebration in marble and stone of the ideals on which democracy was founded. Though laid out roughly according to the original 1791 plan by French military engineer Pierre-Charles L’Enfant, the city has changed considerably over the years. Even its centrepiece National Mall—a majestic two-mile greensward running west from the Capitol Building, lined with some of the nation’s most important monuments and civic and cultural institutions—didn’t assume its current form until the early 20th century