Pentagon

The Pentagon’s Shape Was Determined by a Road

The original site for the United States Department of Defense headquarters in 1941 was bounded by five roads at angles that suggested a pentagonal footprint. The site changed before construction began, but the five-sided shape was retained because the design was already advanced. The result is the largest office building in the world by floor space – approximately 600,000 square metres – housing around 23,000 civilian and military employees across five concentric rings connected by ten radial corridors. The walk from any outermost office to any other takes no more than seven minutes, regardless of where you start, which was the design brief.

Construction began in September 1941 and was completed in January 1943: 16 months for a building that would take most construction projects a decade. The wartime urgency explains the speed. The purpose was to consolidate a military bureaucracy then scattered across seventeen buildings in Washington DC.

Getting In

The Pentagon is not a museum. It is a working military headquarters. Free public tours are available Monday through Friday (excluding federal holidays), 9am to 3pm, but require advance arrangement through the office of a US Senator or Member of Congress – not through the Pentagon directly. The Pentagon Tour Office website (pentagontours.osd.mil) has the current process. Processing typically takes two to four weeks. Foreign nationals may obtain tours through their embassy or specific defence exchange programmes, but access is not guaranteed.

A standard guided tour covers the exterior corridors, the memorial corridor for the September 11 attack, exhibits on US military history, and the Hall of Heroes honouring Medal of Honor recipients. You will not see operational areas. The tour lasts 60-90 minutes. Photography is permitted in public areas; follow guide instructions in restricted sections.

The September 11 Pentagon Memorial

The outdoor memorial at the northwest corner of the building, where American Airlines Flight 77 struck on September 11, 2001, is accessible without any tour arrangement. Open daily 9am to 7pm, free. The 184 cantilevered memorial benches face different directions depending on whether each victim was on the aircraft or in the building – a design detail that is specific and deliberate and worth knowing before you arrive. Reading the explanatory panel at the entrance contextualises the layout.

The Pentagon Metro station (Blue and Yellow lines) is directly connected to the building complex.

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery is a 10-minute walk from the Pentagon Metro station and is the most significant US military burial ground. Over 400,000 graves, including those of President John F. Kennedy (with an eternal flame), Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier guard change is one of the most precisely performed ceremonial routines in the American military tradition – the guards are from the 3rd US Infantry Regiment, selected for physical uniformity as well as conduct, and the ceremony runs every 30 minutes from April through September and on the hour from October through March. It is free to attend.

The National Mall

The major Washington DC memorials are across the Potomac River, accessible from the Pentagon Metro by one stop to Pentagon City and then Blue Line to Smithsonian or Federal Triangle. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (reflective black granite walls inscribed with 58,318 names), Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, and Washington Monument are collectively one of the most concentrated memorial landscapes in the world and can be walked end-to-end in an afternoon.

All 17 Smithsonian Institution museums on the Mall are free. Budget two full days for the Mall and memorials; the Pentagon with the September 11 memorial is a half-day addition, or a quick stop for the memorial if you do not have a tour arranged.