Museum sights in Santa Fe
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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
The renowned painter first visited New Mexico in 1917 and lived in Abiquiú, a village 45 minutes northwest of Santa Fe, from 1949 until her death in 1986. Possessing the world's largest collection of her work, this museum showcases the thick brushwork and luminous colors that don't always come through on ubiquitous posters; take your time to relish them here firsthand. The museum is housed in a former Spanish Baptist church with adobe walls that has been renovated to form 10 skylighted galleries. Tours of O'Keeffe's house an hour away in Abiquiú require advance reservations.
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Bataan Memorial Military Museum & Library
A labor of both love and war, the Bataan Memorial Military Museum & Library exhibits an unusual collection of military mementoes. It began in 1947 as a display in the state capitol honoring the 'Battling Bastards of Bataan.' Today the museum occupies the former home base of the NM 200th Coast Artillery, captured when the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1942, and the very last unit to surrender.
Some 70,000 POWs, most Filipino, were forced to walk the brutal, 75-mile Bataan Death March. Of 1800 mostly Hispanic New Mexicans stationed in Bataan, only 900 returned. In addition to exhibits that tell their story, interesting examples of psychological-warfare leaflets from…
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Rancho de las Golondrinas
The 'Ranch of the Swallows' has been around nearly as long as the city of Santa Fe. It was built as a stop along the Camino Real; now it's a 200-acre living museum, carefully reconstructed and populated with historical re-enactors. You can watch bread being baked in an horno (traditional adobe oven), visit the blacksmith, the molasses mill or traditional crafts workshops. There are orchards, vineyards and livestock. Festivals are held throughout the summer. This is one of the best places to learn something about the history of the area while the kids are having a blast. To get there, take I-25 south to exit 276, then follow the signs.
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Historic Line Camp Gallery & Huichol Indian Museum
About 15 miles north of Santa Fe, the one-of-a-kind Historic Line Camp Gallery & Huichol Indian Museum is a gift shop and museum that claims the largest collection of Huichol Indian art in North America: Nearika, unbroken strands of colorful yarn coiled into tales of life and death, and chaquira, sculptures of animals covered in tiny, obsessively patterned beads, are said to depict the understandably wild dreams of the 'People of Peyote.'
Westerners didn't encounter the tribe, which lives in a remote region of the Sierra Madre, until the 1930s. The small museum has a video as well as artifacts, including clothing, musical instruments, old photos and art, but the most…
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Museum of Fine Arts
Part of a collection of four very different museums. The Museum of Fine Arts features works by regional artists and sponsors regular gallery talks and slide lectures. It was built in 1918, and the architecture is an excellent example of the original Santa Fe–style adobe. With more than 20,000 pieces – including collections of the Taos Society of Artists, Santa Fe Society of Artists and other legendary collectives – it’s a who’s who of the geniuses who put this dusty town on par with Paris and New York.
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Museums of New Mexico
This is a collection of four very different museums – two of them on Museum Hill and two on the Plaza – which also offers seminars, musical events and a variety of guided tours with historic or artistic focuses, many designed for children. Both the Palace of the Governors and the New Mexico Museum of Art, the two located on the Plaza, are free on Friday from 5pm to 8pm. All the museums have fabulous gift shops.
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SITE Santa Fe
An enormous, whitewashed space, the 8000-sq-ft SITE Santa Fe is a nonprofit art museum dedicated to presenting world-class contemporary art to the community. From radical installation pieces to cutting-edge multimedia exhibitions, this hybrid museum-gallery takes art to the next level. It also hosts wine-splashed openings, artist talks, movie screenings and performances of all kinds. Admission is free on Fridays.
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Institute of American Indian Arts Museum
Primarily showing work by students and faculty of the esteemed four-year Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, this place also features the finest offerings of Native American artists from tribes across the US. It’s an excellent place to see beautiful art and understand its role in Native American culture.
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St Francis Auditorium
The Museum of Fine Arts hosts free concerts by the Santa Fe Community Orchestra (%466-2516; www.sfco.org) and others from July through August in St Francis Auditorium , an elegant venue designed to look like the interior of a Spanish mission, where you can enjoy classical music and new works by New Mexico composers.
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Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
In 1937 Mary Cabot established this museum, part of Museum Hill, to showcase Navajo ceremonial art. While its strength continues to be Navajo exhibits, it now includes contemporary Native American art and historical artifacts, too. The gift store has an extensive selection of books and crafts.
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State Capitol
Locally referred to as the Roundhouse, the State Capitol is the center of New Mexico's government and was designed after the state symbol, the Zia sign. It also has one of the best (free) art collections in New Mexico. You can walk through by yourself, or call the number above or email Christal Branch (christal.branch@nmlegis.gov) to set up a guided tour.
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Spanish Market
In late July, traditional Spanish colonial arts, from retablos (paintings on wooden panels) and bultos (wooden carvings of religious figures), to handcrafted furniture and metalwork, make this juried show an artistic extravaganza.
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Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
Primarily showing work by the students and faculty of the esteemed Institute of American Indian Arts, this place also has the finest contemporary offerings of Native American artists from tribes across the US. It's an excellent place to see cutting-edge art and understand its role in modern Native American culture.
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