The Walsh McLean house at 2020 Massachusetts Avenue is said to be the most haunted embassy in Washington.
Tour enough old houses in Washington and you’ll find rumors of hauntings in nearly every one, and the stories of hauntings in embassies and diplomatic residences are as varied as the former inhabitants thought to be haunting them. The Latvian embassy is thought to be haunted by the ghost of its builder and original inhabitant, the artist Alice Pike Barney. The residence of the Ambassador of Monaco allegedly has a former president wandering around his old home. And with dozens of other grand estates still intact, albeit now the homes of foreign dignitaries, there’s more than a fair share of disenchanted ghosts wandering around.
But the story of the Embassy of Indonesia, and the ghost who resides there, can't quite be lumped into the same categories as all the others. After all, no other embassy has a tale that includes a Great Dane named Mike, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, and a diamond.
An absolute doozy of a diamond.Read This is What Brings on Revolutions.
Nearly a century before the building at 2306 Massachusetts Avenue NW became the Embassy of Latvia, it served as the place where culture and art exploded in Washington, dragged here nearly by force by a woman named Alice Pike Barney in 1903.Today, the building keeps many of the features that made the home the hub of social activity on Sheridan Circle at the turn of the last century, and, some say, her ghost.Read Washington's Wonder House.
Great Reads from Around the World is continuing to grow! Thank you to the Embassies of Kazakhstan and Spain who sent in excellent recommendations from their countries. See the full list at
.
If your country is not yet represented,
Curating Great Reads from Around the World was the perfect opportunity to update and revise the Diplomatica Library, a compilation of research and resources relied on when creating embassy profiles. Here, you'll find essential texts on diplomacy, architecture, government, foreign affairs, Washington, D.C. neighborhoods, Finnish sauna diplomacy, and more.Check it out at www.diplomaticaglobal.com/library.
What Else We're Reading:
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SF Gate
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Condé Naste Traveler
Diplomatica's Embassy Calendar is a curated list of events happening at, or organized by, embassies, cultural centers, ambassadors' residences, and other diplomatic properties in Washington, D.C., and online.
Saturday, November 2nd at 10:30am
The Spanish Cultural Center
(formerly the Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain) will be participating in the Kids EuroFestival by featuring the Spanish puppet theatre performance LOVO, which explores themes of conservation and biodiversity through the story of the last poisoned wolf in Sierra Morena, emphasizing the impact of human destruction on nature and the interconnectedness of all life.
. Ages 7+.
Wednesday, November 6th at 8:00 PM Join the
Embassy of Poland
for an exclusive screening of Simona Kossak, the latest in the CinePolska film series, at The Avalon.
Thursday, November 7 · 6:30 - 8:30pm EST The Japanese Information & Cultural Center of the Embassy of Japan will be screening
the coming-of-age tale Suzume as part of their Animezing! series.
for security purposes. These events fill quickly.
Wednesday, November 13 · 7:30 - 9:30pm EST At the Embassy of Austria, the opening of the exhibition
From Repression to Remembrance
on the work of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism in the national reckoning of Austria's role in the Holocaust.
Do you have an event you'd like to have considered for Embassy Calendar? Please get in touch. Note: embassies cannot pay to have their event featured.
