Boston’s best museums

Whether you’re an art, history, or science buff, Boston’s museums are sure to capture your imagination

Institute of Contemporary Art 100 Northern Avenue 617-478-3100 www.icaboston.org

The glass-and-steel Institute of Contemporary Art building was designed by award-winning architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro who conceived the building as both a contemplative space for experiencing contemporary art and a dynamic area for public enjoyment. Interior and exterior spaces are woven together producing shifting perspectives of the waterfront throughout the museum’s galleries and public spaces. Visitors can enjoy a broad collection of contemporary works that include anything from photography to painting to video to installation art.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 280 The Fenway 617-566-1401 www.gardnermuseum.org

Isabella Stewart Gardner was an American philanthropist and a collector and patron of art. Gardner carefully collected more than 2,500 paintings, sculptures, furniture, textiles, drawings, silver, ceramics, illuminated manuscripts, rare books, photographs and letters. They came from ancient Rome, medieval Europe, Italy, Asia, and 19th-century France and America. On New Year’s Day in 1903, Mrs. Gardner welcomed the first visitors to her museum, which was built to evoke a 15th-century Venetian palace. Three floors of galleries surround a garden courtyard that blooms in all seasons.  

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Columbia Point 866-535-1960 www.jfklibrary.org

Dedicated to the memory of the 35th U.S. president, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum was designed by renowned architect I.M Pei. It is located on a ten-acre park overlooking the sea that Kennedy loved. Visitors will not only find information about his political career, but also about his life. Fans of the president will like the replica of The Oval Office with the original furniture and stationery Kennedy used during his presidency. International gifts like china, vases, glassware, and pottery from world leaders and famous people are on display here. There’s even a picture of President Bill Clinton as a child, shaking hands with Kennedy.

Museum of Science 1 Science Park 617-723-2500 www.mos.org

The Museum of Science is the one place where you don’t have to run for cover when you see lightning. It houses the world’s largest Van de Graff generator at the Theatre of Electricity, which allows visitors to watch lightning strike up-close. The Boston landmark building boasts hundreds of interactive exhibits that also include a chick-hatching station, a full-motion simulator that whisks you through space, and a butterfly garden. Travel to exotic Arabia or wild Antartica in the Mugar Omni Theatre and meet larger-than-life bugs face-to-face in the 3-D cinema.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 465 Huntington Ave.
617-267-9300 www.mfa.org

One of the most comprehensive art museums in the world, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts is home to almost 450,000 works of art. The collection includes works of the masters of American painting, exquisite Asian scrolls, and Egyptian mummies. In addition to the permanent installations, “The Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC” is one of several temporary exhibitions not to be missed.

Warren Anatomical Museum

10 Shattuck St.
617-432-6196

Dr. John Collins Warren began collecting interesting and unusual anatomical and pathological specimens as early as 1799 to aid his practice and study. After resigning from his Harvard University professorship in 1847, most of the collection was presented to the school with an endowment of $5,000 to support its preservation. The fascinating museum has all kinds of medical oddities, such as mummified deformed limbs and skeletons with rickets. A kidney stone collection, civil war surgical tools, old medical photographs from the late 1800s, and the first ether mask are also on display.