Museum sights in New York City
-
A
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
This museum puts the neighborhood’s heartbreaking but inspiring heritage on full display in three recreations of turn-of-the-20th-century tenements, including the late-19th-century home and garment shop of the Levine family from Poland, and two immigrant dwellings from the Great Depressions of 1873 and 1929. The visitor center shows a video detailing the difficult life endured by the people who once lived in the surrounding buildings, which more often than not had no running water or electricity. Museum visits are available only as part of scheduled tours (the price of which is included in the admission), which typically operate daily. But call ahead or check the website…
reviewed
-
B
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Though it’s the country’s biggest art museum after the Met, with 1.5 million pieces and the largest Egyptian collection in the Americas, it sees far fewer visitors. The five-floor Beaux Arts building – built by McKim, Mead and White to be the world’s biggest museum in 1897 – is big, yet only a fifth of its originally planned size. Highlights are many. For much of the year, visitors linger by the museum’s glass esplanade entry to watch the fountains. Inside, the African Arts display (near the ground-floor cafe) offers several short video loops about fascinating traditional masks and costumes; the huge Egyptian collection on the 2nd floor features 13th-century mummy boards.…
reviewed
-
C
American Museum of Natural History
Founded in 1869, this classic museum contains a veritable wonderland of more 30 million artifacts, including lots of menacing dinosaur skeletons, as well as the Rose Center for Earth & Space, with its cutting-edge planetarium. From October through May, the museum is home to the Butterfly Conservatory, a glass-house featuring 500-plus butterflies from all over the world.
On the natural history side, the museum is perhaps best known for its Fossil Halls, containing nearly 600 specimens on view, including the skeletons of a massive mammoth and a fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex.
There are also plentiful animal exhibits (the stuffed Alaskan brown bear is popular), galleries devoted…
reviewed
-
D
South Street Seaport Museum
Recently renovated, this museum offers a glimpse of the seaport’s history and a survey of the world’s great ocean liners, with permanent exhibits and various other sites dotted around the 11-block area. Spanning three floors, the museum's new galleries include a battalion of model ships, antique shipping tools, and left-of-center shows covering anything from New York fashion to contemporary photography. The museum's booty also extends to a group of tall-masted sailing ships just south of Pier 17, including the Ambrose and Pioneer. Off-limits for restoration during research, access to their windswept decks and intimate interiors are normally included in the admission…
reviewed
-
E
Neue Galerie
This restored Carrère and Hastings mansion from 1914 is a resplendent showcase for German and Austrian art, featuring works by Paul Klee, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Egon Schiele. In pride of place on the 2nd floor is Gustav Klimt’s golden 1907 portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer – which was acquired for the museum by cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder for a whopping $135 million.
This is a small but beautiful place with winding staircases and wrought-iron banisters. It also boasts the lovely, street-level eatery, Café Sabarsky. Avoid weekends if you don’t want to deal with gallery-clogging crowds.
reviewed
-
F
Guggenheim Museum
A sculpture in its own right, architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s building almost overshadows the collection of 20th century art it houses. Completed in 1959, the inverted ziggurat structure was derided by some critics, but it was hailed by others who welcomed it as a beloved architectural icon. Since it first opened, this unusual structure has appeared on countless postcards, TV programs and films. The Guggenheim came out of the collection of Solomon R Guggenheim, a New York mining magnate who began acquiring abstract art in his 60s at the behest of his art adviser, an eccentric German baroness named Hilla Rebay. The museum’s holdings include works by Kandinsky, Picasso and…
reviewed
-
G
Museum of the City of New York
Situated in a colonial Georgian-style mansion, this local museum focuses solely on New York City’s past, present and future. You’ll find internet-based historical resources, lots of vintage photographs and a scale model of New Amsterdam shortly after the Dutch arrival. The 2nd-floor gallery includes entire rooms from demolished homes of New York grandees.
One of the museum’s star attractions is the 12-room mansion dollhouse fabricated by Carrie Stettheimer over 25 years at the turn of the 20th century – replete with tiny art works (including miniatures of pieces by Marcel Duchamp and Gaston Lachaise).
reviewed
-
H
Museum of Art & Origins
Contrary to popular belief, the island of Manhattan does not end at 125th St (or 59th or 14th St, for that matter). Nope, it extends all the way to 215th St, and the treasures that lie in wait for you up in those nether regions are truly worth the journey north – especially if you take advantage of the recently completed bike path along Hudson River and pedal your way here. In addition to better-known destinations such as the amazing Cloisters and beautiful Inwood Hill Park, there are pockets of culture not on many people’s radar that you’ll be happy were on yours. Two in-home attractions include the Museum of Art & Origins, where George Preston has turned three…
reviewed
-
I
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
The USS Intrepid survived both a WWII bomb and kamikaze attacks. Thankfully, this hulking aircraft carrier is now less stressed, playing host to a multimillion dollar interactive military museum that tells its tale through videos, historical artifacts and frozen-in-time living quarters. The flight deck features fighter planes and military helicopters, which might inspire you try the museum's high-tech flight simulators.
The rides include the G Force Encounter, which allows you to experience the virtual thrill of flying a supersonic jet plane, and the Transporter FX, a flight simulator that promises six full minutes of a ‘complete sensory overload.’ The museum is also…
reviewed
-
J
Cloisters Museum & Gardens
On a hilltop overlooking the Hudson River, the Cloisters is a mesmerizing mish-mash of various European monasteries. Built in the 1930s to house the Metropolitan Museum’s medieval treasures, it also contains the beguiling 16th century tapestry The Hunt of the Unicorn. Summer is the best time to visit, when the garden's flowers and herbs are in bloom.
The frescoes, tapestries and paintings are set in galleries that sit around an airy courtyard, connected by grand archways and topped with Moorish terra-cotta roofs. Among the many rare treasures you’ll get to gaze at are a 9th-century gold plaque of St John the Evangelist and an English-made ivory sculpture of the Virgin…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
K
Skyscraper Museum
Fans of phallic architecture will love this compact, high-gloss gallery, examining skyscrapers as objects of design, engineering and urban renewal. Temporary exhibitions dominate the space, with one recent offering showcasing the world's next generation of 'Supertalls.' The permanent collection includes information on the design and construction of the Empire State Building, as well as of the World Trade Center.
The museum is also home to the cutting-edge technology known as VIVA – the Visual Index to the Virtual Archive. This visual-based interface uses a 3-D computer model of Manhattan as a clickable map, allowing users to see the city’s past and present, and to explore…
reviewed
-
L
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
Part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, this house of culture is the only museum in the country that’s dedicated to both historic and contemporary design. The collection is housed in the 64-room mansion built by billionaire Andrew Carnegie in 1901. The museum closed in 2011 for a two-year renovation and expansion. Check the website for updates.
reviewed
-
M
Museum of Jewish Heritage
This waterfront memorial museum explores all aspects of modern Jewish identity, with often poignant personal artifacts, photographs and documentary films. Its outdoor Garden of Stones – created by artist Andy Goldsworthy (and his first permanent exhibition in NYC) – in which 18 boulders form a narrow pathway for contemplating the fragility of life, is dedicated to those who lost loved ones in the Holocaust.
The building itself features a six-sided shape and three tiers to symbolize the Star of David and the six million Jews who perished in WWII. Exhibitions aside, the museum also hosts films, music concerts, ongoing lecture series and special holiday performances.…
reviewed
-
N
Queens Museum of Art
Undergoing a massive expansion at the time of research, the QMA's most famous drawcard is the Panorama of New York City, a gob-smacking 9335-sq-ft miniature New York City, with all buildings accounted for and a 15-minute dusk-to-dawn light simulation of a New York day. The museum also hosts top-notch exhibitions of modern art, from contemporary photography to site-specific installations.
The QMA is housed in a historic building made for the ’39 World’s Fair (and once home to the UN), and you'll find a retro-fabulous collection of memorabilia from both the ’39 and ’64 fairs on display (with reproductions in the gift shop).
reviewed
-
O
American Folk Art Museum
The main museum, housed in a beautiful, eight-story building designed by the noted Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, as well as the smaller location at Lincoln Square, focus on traditional arts tied to moments in history or personal milestones. The expansive collection features objects such as flags, liberty figures, textiles, weather vanes and decorative arts, and recent visiting exhibits have ranged from ‘Up Close: Henry Darger and the Coloring Book, ’ which examined the artist’s big influence, and ‘Thomas Chambers (1808–1869) : American Marine and Landscape Painter, ’ about the artist, who was obscure in his own lifetime. The museum also runs several worthy programs,…
reviewed
-
P
Museum of the Moving Image
Fresh from a $65-million upgrade, this super-cool complex is now one of the world's top film, television and video museums. State-of-the-art galleries show off the museum's collection of 130,000-plus TV and movie artifacts, including Robert De Niro's wig from Taxi Driver, Robin Williams' space suit from Mork & Mindy and the creepy stunt doll used in The Exorcist.
Try your hand at film editing (including re-dubbing the ‘We’re not in Kansas anymore’ scene from The Wizard of Oz), and get nostalgic over an impressive booty of vintage TVs, cameras and retro arcade games. The museum's temporary exhibitions are usually fantastic, as are the regular film screenings – check…
reviewed
-
Q
Museum of Arts & Design
MAD offers four floors of superlative design and handicrafts, from blown glass and carved wood to elaborate metal jewelry. Its temporary exhibitions are nothing short of innovative, with past shows exploring anything from American modernism to art made from dust, ash, dirt and sand. Stock up on contemporary jewelry and design objects in the gift shop or sip cocktails at the 9th-floor restaurant/bar.
Formerly housed around the corner on 53rd St, the museum made a big splash when it moved into this Columbus Circle building after much controversy from folks who wanted to landmark and protect the long-empty building, originally the Gallery of Modern Art in 1964, with a…
reviewed
-
R
Jewish Museum
This New York City gem is tucked into a French-Gothic mansion from 1908, which houses 30,000 items of Judaica, as well as sculpture, painting and decorative arts. It is well regarded for its thoughtful temporary exhibits, featuring retrospectives on influential figures such as Chaim Soutine and sprawling examinations of socially conscious photography in New York.
There are frequent lectures and events, as well as an array of activities for children. Every January, the museum collaborates with the Film Society of Lincoln Center to present the New York Jewish Film Festival.
reviewed
-
S
New-York Historical Society
As the antiquated hyphenated name implies, the Historical Society is the city’s oldest museum, founded in 1804 to preserve the city’s historical and cultural artifacts. Its collection of more than 60,000 objects is quirky and fascinating and includes everything from George Washington’s inauguration chair to a 19th century Tiffany ice cream dish (gilded, of course).
Other treasures include a leg brace worn by President Franklin D Roosevelt, a 19th century mechanical bank in which a political figure slips coins into his pocket and photographer Jack Stewart’s graffiti-covered door from the 1970s (featuring tags by known graffiti writers such as Tracy 168). In the…
reviewed
-
T
Hispanic Society of America Museum & Library
This underrated museum is housed in the ornate beaux arts structure where naturalist John James Audubon once lived. Open since 1908, it contains the largest collection of 19th-century Spanish art and manuscripts outside of Spain – including a substantial selection of works by El Greco, Goya and Velázquez, as well as a library featuring 600,000 rare books and manuscripts.
Greeting visitors at the entrance is Goya’s alluring 1797 masterpiece ‘The Duchess of Alba,’ while a majestic sculpture of El Cid by Anna Hyatt Huntington dominates the exterior courtyard.
At the time of research, the Society was considering a name change to honor its founder, Archer Milton…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
U
National Academy Museum
Co-founded by painter/inventor Samuel Morse in 1825, the National Academy Museum comprises an incredible permanent collection of paintings by figures such as Wil Barnet, Thomas Hart Benton and George Bellows. (This includes some highly compelling self-portraits.) It is housed in a beaux arts structure designed by Ogden Codman and featuring a marble foyer and spiral staircase.
reviewed
-
V
New York City Police Museum
Get the brief on ‘New York’s Finest,’ with cool old police vehicles, as well as the mug shots and weapons of notorious New York criminals like Willie Sutton and Al Capone. There’s a collection of NYPD uniforms throughout the decades, insight into anti-terrorism tactics, and a 'Hall of Heroes' memorial to officers killed in the line of duty since 1845. The museum itself is housed in a neo-Renaissance palazzo on a landfilled inlet.
reviewed
-
W
Museum of American Finance
Money makes this museum go round, its exhibits focusing on historic moments in American financial history. Permanent collections include rare, 18th-century documents, stock and bond certificates from the Gilded Age, the oldest known photograph of Wall St and a stock ticker from c 1875. The museum also runs themed walking tours of the area, advertised on the museum's website.
Once the headquarters for the Bank of New York, the building itself is a lavish spectacle, with 30ft ceilings, high arched windows, a majestic staircase to the mezzanine, glass chandeliers, and murals depicting historic scenes of banking and commerce.
reviewed
-
X
New York City Fire Museum
Occupying a grand old firehouse dating from 1904, this museum houses a collection of gold, horse-drawn firefighting carriages and modern-day red firetrucks. Exhibits show the development of the NYC firefighting system, which began with the ‘bucket brigades.’ The museum’s friendly staff (and the heavy equipment) make this a great place to bring children. The New York Fire Department (FDNY) lost half of its members in the collapse of the World Trade Center, and memorials and exhibits have become a permanent part of the collection. An excellent gift shop sells books about firefighting history and official FDNY clothing and patches.
reviewed
-
Y
Asia Society & Museum
Founded in 1956 by John D Rockefeller, this cultural center is meant to strengthen Western understanding of Asia and the relationships between that region and the US. There are events and lectures, but the biggest draw is the museum, which shows rotating contemporary exhibits, as well as treasures – such as Jain sculptures and Nepalese Buddhist paintings.
reviewed