Denver Art Museum

Lonely Planet review

The around US$110 -million Frederic C Hamilton wing at the Denver Art Museum , designed by Daniel Libeskind (best known for his humiliating disgrace when it came to the future World Trade Center memorial design) is at once a failure and a triumph. We won't lie: the shape of the new wing is rather torturous on the eyes. Yet at the same time this angular, fanlike edifice (which resembles the Sydney Opera House on speed) is mesmerizing.

If you think the place looks weird from the outside, it gets downright eerie when you step inside. Here shapes shift with every direction you turn thanks to a combination of design and uncanny natural light tricks. The museum houses a great collection of Asian, European and Western American departments, as well as one of the largest Native American art collections in the USA.American Western artists are also featured, as well as works from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Pacific. The museum is on the southern fringe of the downtown grid, just south of the Civic Center.