New York - Museum Guide

NEW YORK:  Museums and Galleries

No visit to New York City would be complete without visiting the museums, and New York has some of the finest museums in the world. All the public museums (notably including the Metropolitan Museum), which are run by the city, accept donations for an entrance fee, but private museums (especially the Museum of Modern Art) can be very expensive. In addition to the major museums, hundreds of small galleries are spread throughout the city, notably in neighborhoods like Chelsea and Williamsburg. Many galleries and museums in New York close on Mondays, so be sure to check hours before visiting. The following is just a list of highlights.  

    Arts and Culture

Brooklyn Museum of Art

Brooklyn Museum of Art on Eastern Parkway (Eastern Parkway stop on the 2 or 3 train) is a large museum which contains excellent collections of Egyptian art, Assyrian reliefs, 19th-century American art, and art from Africa and Oceania, among other things. Right past the museum are the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (separate admission charge), so you can easily visit both in one pleasant afternoon. 

Cloisters Located on four acres overlooking the Hudson River in northern Manhattan's Fort Tryon Park, the building incorporates elements from five medieval French cloisters—quadrangles enclosed by a roofed or vaulted passageway, or arcade—and from other monastic sites in southern France. Its gardens are a great way to spend a nice afternoon. Pay for the Cloisters or the Metropolitan Museum and see both for the price of one (although note that payment at both places is by donation, in any case). (Take the A to Inwood-207th Street for the M4 bus)

Guggenheim The architecture is more interesting than the collection it hosts, although the spiraling galleries are ideal for exhibiting art works. It was designed by the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and was built in 1959. TIP: Take the elevator to the top and view the exhibits by walking down hill.

International Center of Photography 1133 Sixth Avenue (at 43rd Street). Devoted solely to photography, this museum a block from Times Square always has interesting exhibits running. Take the B, D, F or V trains to Bryant Park-42nd Street.

Museum of Sex 233 Fifth Avenue (at 27th Street), A museum which relates to the evolution of sex. It features images, films, and sex devices being used. They also sell some adult collections. Take the N (weekends only), R, or W (weekdays only) to 28th Street.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), 11 West 53 St (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Subway: E or V to Fifth Ave/53 St; B, D, or F to 47–50 Streets/Rockefeller Center), This is the most comprehensive collection of modern art in the world, and is so large as to require multiple visits to see all of the works on display. If you are in a hurry and want to see only the crowd-pleasers, head to the fifth floor, where you'll find works like Van Gogh's Starry Night and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Also make sure to take time to visit the extensive (and sometimes whimsical) industrial design collection.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art Founded in 1870, the Metropolitan Museum is in New York City's Central Park along Fifth Avenue. The Museum's two-million-square-foot building has vast holdings that represent a series of collections, each of which ranks in its category among the finest in the world. The American Wing, for example, houses the world's most comprehensive collection of American paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts, presently including 24 period rooms that offer an unparalleled view of American history and domestic life. The Museum's approximately 2,500 European paintings form one of the greatest such collections in the world's Rembrandts and Vermeers alone are among the choicest, not to mention the collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist canvases. Virtually all of the 36,000 objects constituting the greatest collection of Egyptian art outside Cairo are on display, while the Islamic art collection is one of the world's finest. Other major collections belonging to the Museum include arms and armor, Asian art, costumes, European sculpture and decorative arts, medieval and Renaissance art, musical instruments, drawings, prints, antiquities from around the ancient world, photography, and modern art.

Madame Tussauds New York City's branch of the famous London wax museum. Features over 200 detailed life-like wax models of celebrities, politicians, athletes and historical icons in the heart of Times Square.

PS1 Contemporary Art Center, 22–25 Jackson Avenue (Queens). An affiliate of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Whitney Museum of American Art Contemporary American art, permanent collection and rotating exhibitions. The Whitney is associated with Fisher-Landau Center in Queens, and the Whitney Museum at Altria, a smaller exhibition space in midtown.

The New Museum of Contemporary Art Contemporary art exhibitions with no permanent collection.

Science and Technology

Hayden Planetarium

American Museum of Natural History in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Contains the Hayden Planetarium, immediately to its north on 81st St. Take the B (weekdays only) or C train to 81st Street-
Museum of Natural History or the 1 train to 79th Street (a few blocks further away than the B or C)

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Pier 86, 12th Ave & 46th St, Subway: A, B, C, D, E, F, N, Q, R, W, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 to 42nd Street (either Port Authority Bus terminal, Times Square, Bryant Park, or Grand Central, depending on the line you take) and then take a westbound M42 bus. (Times Square and Port Authority Bus Terminal are the closest stops to the museum, if you plan on walking directly from the train to avoid waiting for the bus.

Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (Museum at FIT), 7th Avenue at 27th St. Subway: 1 train to 28th Street.

New York Hall of Science 47-01 111th Street in Queens located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, On the grounds of the former World's Fair, and incorporates one of the buildings of the Fair, now known as the Great Hall. Subway: 7 train to 111th Street