3D print the National Museum of African American History and Culture
A free, printable model of the museum's three stacked tiers and their fine lattice pattern, with the plazas, lawns and roads around it, generated from real map data in your browser.
Free, in your browser. Exports a slicer-ready 3MF.
About the National Museum of African American History and Culture
The NMAAHC, or National Museum of African American History & Culture, is a Smithsonian Institution museum in Washington, D.C., on the National Mall. Established in 2003, it moved into its permanent home in 2016, at an opening ceremony led by President Barack Obama. It is described as the world's largest museum devoted to African-American history and culture. Its collection holds more than 40,000 objects, and critical praise has gone to the building and its exhibits.
Efforts to set up a federally owned museum on this subject go back to the National Memorial Association in 1915, although the modern push came in the 1970s. The museum was authorized in 2003, after a legislative push that began in 1988. In 2006 a site was selected, and in 2009 a design by Freelon Group, Adjaye Associates and Davis Brody Bond was chosen. Construction ran from 2012 to 2016. The building has ten stories, five above ground and five below, and measures 33,000 m2 (350,000 square feet).
In 1915 veterans of the Union Army who were African American gathered in Washington, D.C., at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church for a reunion and parade, where they set up a committee to create a memorial to African-American achievements. Mary McLeod Bethune and Mary Church Terrell were among those President Herbert Hoover appointed in 1929 to a commission for a "National Memorial Building" showcasing achievements in the arts and sciences. Congress did not back that project, and private fundraising also failed.
How it prints
Make this print opens the generator on a 600 m square around the landmark. Buildings print at close to true scale, so the landmark grows with the print size.
| Print size | Landmark height | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| 160 mm default | 12 mm | 1:3,750 |
| 200 mm | 15 mm | 1:3,000 |
| 256 mm | 20 mm | 1:2,344 |
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North
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East
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South
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West
- Fine lattice texture
- Each tier carries a fine lattice-like pattern. Print friendly adapts it to your print scale; Full detail keeps the pattern, best for a larger print or a fine nozzle.
- Tiers that lean outward
- The three tiers step outward as they rise, which gives long overhangs. Printing slowly with layers of 0.12 to 0.16 mm helps these edges.
- One piece with the ground
- The National Museum of African American History and Culture is joined to the ground in the exported file, and the four-side check found no floating parts, so nothing needs gluing.
- Pick the detail for your nozzle
- In the Buildings settings, set Landmark detail to Print friendly to adapt thin parts and small details to the print scale. Full detail keeps every modeled feature, for larger prints or a finer nozzle.
- Colors
- Buildings, roads, water and ground arrive as separate filament slots in the 3MF. The National Museum of African American History and Culture takes the building color.
- File format
- You get a 3MF for Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer or PrusaSlicer. Any of them can save it as STL if you need one.
About this model
The National Museum of African American History and Culture is one of more than 2,300 landmark models in Mini Skyline. They are made with AI, and each one is checked from four sides in its real surroundings before release. Everything around it is built from OpenStreetMap and Overture map data. If you would rather print the shape from map data, turn off Landmark models in the Buildings settings.
Common questions
Is there a National Museum of African American History and Culture STL I can download?
Mini Skyline builds the file for you in your browser and exports 3MF, which every major slicer opens. If you need an STL, open the 3MF in your slicer and export it from there.
How big can I print it?
Any print size from 40 mm across. The National Museum of African American History and Culture grows with the print: about 12 mm tall on the default 160 mm print. For a model larger than your printer bed, Project Mode splits the area into tiles.
Is it free?
Yes. Generation runs in your browser, with no account and nothing behind a paywall.
