The Washington Monument is slated to reopen on Oct. 1 after being closed for six months.
The monument, which stands 555-feet tall on the National Mall, has been closed since March.
Visitors can start touring the inside of the monument starting 9 a.m. Thursday, according to the National Park Service.
The monument will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a new set of safety and cleaning procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new procedures include limiting elevator trips to four to eight people at a time, requiring face coverings for people who tour the monument, and making people leave the 500-foot observation level after 10 minutes.
The monument will be closed from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. each day for a cleaning.
“The monument is a tribute to our greatest founding father and was constructed with great deliberation and fanfare,” Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in a statement.
Built to honor America’s first president, George Washington, the monument was erected in 1884 in a process that lasted nearly four decades.
The monument was built in the shape of an Egyptian obelisk.
When completed, it was the tallest building in the world.
Most of Washington shut down in March because of the pandemic but has been gradually reopening in recent weeks.
Two museums, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, reopened last week, with new protocols, including a similar pass system that requires people to reserve passes online.
Five other Smithsonian museums previously opened in Washington, in addition to the National Air and Space Museum’s center in Chantilly, Virginia.
People were told to stay home if they feel sick. If they visit the museums, they were asked to wear face coverings and wash their hands frequently.
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