The original Declaration of Independence is displayed in Washington, D.C.
The parchment is housed at the National Archives Building, where it is exhibited in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom. The display places the Declaration alongside the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Philadelphia is the city where the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration and where the document’s founding debate occurred. Washington, D.C., became the later permanent home of the nation’s federal institutions, including the National Archives.
The displayed parchment is often called the engrossed Declaration. It is different from the many printed broadsides produced in 1776 for distribution. The parchment contains the famous signatures, including John Hancock’s prominent name, and is preserved under carefully controlled conditions.