Washington is preparing to honor former US president Ronald Reagan, who died on Saturday at the age of 93.
Many foreign officials at the G8 summit in Georgia are expected to attend a National Cathedral memorial service for Mr Reagan on Friday, where security is was expected to be extremely tight.
President George W Bush is scheduled to deliver a eulogy. Former president of the Soviet Union Mr Miceal Gorbachev and former British prime minister Ms Margaret Thatcher, will also attend. Irish tenor Ronan Tynan will take part in the ceremony.
Mr Bush proclaimed Friday a day of national mourning and closed the federal government for the day.
The business of the US government was expected to be subdued for the rest of the week as well. In the US Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said there would be no votes held except for those related to resolutions honoring Mr Reagan.
"This is a solemn week for the United States Senate as well as the entire country," Mr Frist said.
The last presidential memorial to be held in Washington was in 1973 for Lyndon Johnson. Mr Reagan's funeral is expected to follow some of the traditions used then, including having the former president's casket lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda.
If this observance follows Capitol Hill custom, the casket will be placed on a pine catafalque built for the coffin of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The Washington observances are part of weeklong remembrances that began on Monday with a ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, not far from Reagan's home.
The president's remains were to lie in repose at the library until this evening. Tomorrow, the remains will be flown to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, and then transferred to a cortege that will be driven to the center of the capital city.
Reagan's casket will be transferred then to a horse-drawn caisson - a two-wheeled military vehicle - that will be driven to Capitol Hill, where his remains will lie in state for 24 hours.
On Friday, a motorcade will transport Mr Reagan's body to the National Cathedral, where the national funeral service will be conducted. Afterward, a motorcade will take the casket back to Andrews Air Force Base, and it will be flown back to California for a private service and a private burial at the library.