One of the best cities in New England to visit if you want to learn while you travel and visit museums is Boston, Massachusetts. Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of the top museums in Boston in this article to assist you in making plans for your upcoming trip, You can also check the Top 10 Things To Do In Boston Massachusetts.
Boston has a wide variety of museums, from those that are entirely dedicated to science to unusual, eccentric ones that are centered on plumbing. This list includes museums in Boston that you can visit on your next trip, regardless of your interests.
1- Museum of Fine Arts Boston
The MFA Boston welcomes over 1 million visitors annually and offers more than 50,000 square feet of gallery space with close to 500,000 works of art. This museum has housed greats like Picasso, Da Vinci, and others, making it one of the most extensive art museums in the world.
The museum has the largest collection of Monet’s artwork outside of France, and rolling exhibits like The Obama Portraits Tour are among the most talked-about right now. Other gallery highlights include everything from mummies to Monet. While you’re there, browse the two gift shops at the museum or stop by the Pop-Up at 465 Bar and Restaurant, New American Cafe, Taste, or Garden Cafeteria for a bite to eat.
2- Boston Children’s Museum
One of the first children’s museums in America was the Boston Children’s Museum, which opened its doors in 1913. The enormous outside milk bottle structure is what makes the property famous. The museum’s interior focuses on interactive experiences, starting with a 3-story climbing sculpture in the lobby. Exhibits and programs centered on the arts, culture, environmental awareness, health, fitness, and science are available for families to enjoy. The museum has a collection of over 50,000 items, including rare dolls, Japanese artifacts, and specimens from natural history.
3- Museum of Science
The Museum of Science (MoS) is an indoor zoo and science museum in Science Park, a piece of land that spans the Charles River, in Boston, Massachusetts. The museum offers numerous live presentations every day in addition to its more than 700 interactive exhibits. These include performances at the Charles Hayden Planetarium and the Mugar Omni Theater, the only domed IMAX screen in New England. Over 100 animals call the museum home, many of which have been saved and given new lives. It is also a recognized member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
4- The Institute of Contemporary Art and its collection
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is a gallery and art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. The institution was established in 1936 as the Boston Museum of Modern Art. Since then, it has undergone numerous name changes and relocated its support spaces and galleries over 13 times. The South Boston Seaport District saw the construction of its current home in 2006, which was created by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
5- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Isabella Stewart Gardner built this Boston museum in 1901, and it opened to the public in 1903.
In close proximity to the Museum of Fine Arts is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. More than 7500 paintings, including sculptures, ceramics, and textiles, of European, American, and Asian art are housed in this impressive building. Isabella’s private papers showcase her love of travel, bohemian lifestyle, and the finer things in ancient cultures.
This museum in Boston, Massachusetts, features beautiful gardens as well as works by Italian masters like Raphael and Titian. It also displays a collection of stunning furniture, images, and 1500 rare books that were brought directly from Europe.
In addition to travel diaries, dealer receipts, and guest books, the archives contain a lovely collection of nearly 7,000 letters from 1,000 correspondents, including Henry Adams, T.S. Eliot, Sarah Bernhardt, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. A glass atrium, greenhouses, and landscaped gardens are some of the most recent additions to the art gallery of this Boston museum. Most visitors come here primarily for the gardens because they give off the impression that they are in an older part of Europe. Nothing else in Boston compares to this museum!
This museum is very lovely and eclectic. If you visit in good weather, the indoor courtyard is wonderful. The tour of this museum lasts about two hours, so make sure to reserve your tickets in advance. It’s one of our favorite Boston museums, so if you’re fortunate enough to be there, you should definitely check it out!
6- John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
This is a fantastic museum, particularly for anyone who admires Kennedy and is interested in learning more about his political career. Because there is so much information inside, it’s also fantastic for people who are interested in politics and history in general.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum honors the memory of our country’s 35th president as well as all those who have imagined more prosperous and better-governed countries through the practice of politics. Jimmy Carter, who was president at the time, gave the Kennedy Library and Museum their names in 1979. The library and museum are now a part of the Office of Presidential Libraries’ system of presidential libraries.
Collections of video monitors, personal photos, and political memories can be seen in the library of this Boston museum.
You will be greeted as you enter the museum in one of the two theaters by a brief orientation film. There are seven permanent exhibits in the museum, including the Kennedy Family, the Attorney General’s Office, the Space Race, the Briefing Room, and the Campaign Trail.
The library’s masterpieces include a watercolor drawing of John F. Kennedy by Jamie Wyeth, a 1962 painting of Robert F. Kennedy by Lajos Markos, and Kennedy’s 25-foot Wianno Senior sailboat Victora. Its eye-catching floor to ceiling windows offer views of the Harbor Islands and the Boston skyline, and the building itself is situated in an exceptionally lovely environment.
If you’re a fan of the Kennedys or even just the president, this is one of the top museums in Boston to check out. It goes into great depth about history and politics. You could certainly spend the entire day here!
7- Warren Anatomical Museum
John Collins Warren, a professor at Harvard University, founded the Warren Anatomical Museum in 1847. His personal collection of 160 unusual and educational anatomical and pathological specimens now forms the foundation of the museum’s 15,000-item collection. The Warren also houses historical medical artifacts like Phineas Gage’s skull, who survived having a large iron bar driven through his brain, and the inhaler used during the first public demonstration of ether-assisted surgery in 1846 (on loan to the Massachusetts General Hospital since 1948). J.B.S. Jackson served as the first curator of the museum.
