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Boston Museums

The Boston area includes over 40 different museums that suit every kind of interest. The Harvard Museums include an impressive quarter-million piece collection of artwork and historical artifacts alone. Explore some of the oldest American artifacts – including a warship and Paul Revere’s house.

Harvard Art Museums

Students of German art and culture will appreciate the Busch-Reisinger Art Museum at Harvard University. The 40,000-piece collection focuses on art from central Germanic Europe, spanning from the 7^th century the Medieval and Renaissance periods through to the modern-day experience. In the contemporary collection, you will see works by famous artists such as Gustav Klimt, Emil Nolde, Lyonel Feiniger, and Gerhard Richter.

The list of artists whose work can be seen at Harvard’s Fogg Museum is a veritable who’s-who of Western art masters, including Manet, Renoir, Degas, Whistler, Matisse, Picasso, van Gogh, Rodin. The permanent collection at Fogg is 4,000 pieces strong.

Harvard University’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum is a standalone piece of architectural art, designed by Pritzker Prize-winner James Stirling in 1985. Inside the building, over 7,000 years worth of art from the cradles of civilization await you. Feast your eyes upon ancient Chinese jades, bronzes, and ceremonial weaponry. See Japanese surinomo, ancient Iranian pottery, and a comprehensive collection of Byzantine pieces from the Mediterranean cultural hearth.

Boston’s Science Museums

The MIT Museum features exhibits on engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics, and maritime history. The museum also houses the largest collection of holography in the world and displays historical artifacts from the college.

The Harvard Museum of Natural Science showcases the evolution of life on earth. See a 42-foot long Kronosaurus skeleton, lifelike animal dioramas, zoological exhibits with fossils, and a geological and mineral collection that includes a 1,600-pound amethyst geode. The Harvard Museum of Natural Science also houses a stunning glass flower garden that catalogs hundreds of species examples that never wilt. To see an impressive display of live plant life, check out the 45-acre botanical garden, Garden in the Woods.

Kids can get in on the science action at the 3,500-square foot Science Discovery Center in the Boston Children’s Museum offering an educational, hands-on experience for kids of all ages. Explore an 8-foot tall water vortex, play with clouds, and learn how sound waves work by using toys.

Art Museums in Boston

See the latest in modern art at the Institute of Contemporary Art, which attracts both national and global exhibits to its spectacular space overhanging over the water. The museum’s permanent collection includes artists such as Thomas Hirschhorn, Shepard Fairey, and Gerard Byrne.

The deCordova Scultpure Park and Museum in nearby Lincoln is home to 70 outdoor sculptures on a 35-acre campus. The indoor museum space is dedicated to contemporary art and sculpture.

Museum of Fine Arts in Boston houses one of America’s largest and most comprehensive art collections with over 450,000 works. Some of the most famous works include a Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, Haystacks by Claude Monet, and Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley.

Historical Museums

Learn about US Naval history by boarding the USS Constitution, aka “Old Ironsides,” the oldest commissioned ship in US history. The interactive exhibit at Boston Navy Pier includes guided tours and exhibits designed with children in mind. The USS Constitution Museum is part of Boston’s Freedom Trail historic walking tour.

The Old State House is open as a museum. The house is the oldest public building in the city of Boston, built in 1713 and is the site of the Boston Massacre, the seat of the American Revolution, the place where the Declaration of Independence was first read, and also served as Boston’s City Hall. American history doesn’t get much richer than this.

The Nichols House Museum is a Federal period townhouse built in 1804 filled with well-preserved furniture, artwork, and fixtures. The lavish house offers a splendid example of how Boston’s Brahmin, otherwise known as the old Boston elite, fared and lived through the prosperous development of Boston.

The oldest building in Boston is also one the city’s biggest attractions – Paul Revere’s house. The house was built in the 1670s and displays furnishings from the Revere family.

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Boston Museums