By far the city´s most significant cultural asset - and indeed, one of the top in all of Texas, it´s divided into four walkable zones, the Museum District is served by three METRORail stations and boasts no fewer than 19 museums, with standouts including::
Houston Museum of Natural Science - With more than 1.5 million items within its collection, the 114-year-old HMNS encompasses over 430,000 square feet, including a hall of gems and minerals with more than 750 specimens (one of which is among the world´s largest blue sapphires); more than 250 animals represented in the Farish Hall of Texas Wildlife; the world´s largest private collection of Fabergé (more than 600 items);. and a hall of ancient Egypt is an additional well-loved exhibit covering more than 4,000 years of this extraordinary civilization.
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston - This sleek institution, founded in 1948, specializes in cutting-edge painting, sculpture, multimedia works, installations, and performance art from around the U.S. and the world.
The Menil Collection - Perhaps Houston´s best known museum, it´s a world reknowned institution - based on a private collection, now public - with marquis names including Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Man Ray, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Yves Tanguy, Cy Twombly, and Andy Warhol. There are also important collections of antiquities as well as Byzantine, medieval, and tribal art.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Founded in 1917, the world´s 12th largest museum in terms of exhibition space houses some 70,000 works from across the globe, and is especially strong in art of the Italian Renaissance, French Impressionism, and postwar Europe and the U.S.; photography, art made in Texas; gold of Africa and pre-Columbian Latin America; and decorative arts of Europe and the U.S. There are also important collections of Asian and Islamic art as well as that of contemporary Latin America and Latino Texans. Names you´ll recognize include Canaletto, Cézanne, Cranach the Elder, Fra Angelico, Kandinsky, Modigliani, Mondrian, Monet, Rembrandt, Renoir, Singer Sargent, and Van Gogh.
Buffalo Soldiers National Museum - Named after the regiments of black soldiers who fought for the North in the U.S. Civil War, this remarkable institution founded in 2001 focuses not only on them but on all the African Americans who have served with distinctions in this country´s military conflicts.
Children's Museum Houston - About to mark its 40th anniversary, the CMH offers a wide variety of exhibitions to engage kids in explaining science, nature, art, music, and the world around us in general, as well as a ¨secret spy game,¨a ¨Kidtropolis¨ where they can try out different occupations; and myriad other fun/educational activities.
The Museum of Health and Medical Science - Known as the Health Museum for short, this fantastic institution covers a range of important topics from basic biology to epidemics and pollution and its effects on the body - very germane to the world we live in. One particularly exciting and innovative feature here is the DeBakey Cell Lab, where visitors don lab coats, masks, and goggles to explore in a hands-on way the wonders of cell biology; it´s also the USA´s only bilingual (English/Spanish) cell lab museum exhibit.
Holocaust Museum Houston - A wonderful - if sobering - examination of the Shoah, including World-War-II-era artifacts; art and photography exbibitions; a gallery showcasing other genocides in world history as well as prominent human-rights leaders; testimonials from Houston-area Holocaust survivors; and other aspects of Jewish history and culture. Particularly important in this day and age of resurging anti-semitism in the United States.
Houston Museum of African American Culture - Here you´ll find two stories´ worth of art and historical exhibitions about the black experience, particularly in Houston, which saw a significant influx of freed slaves after emancipation in 1865. And it´s free of charge!
Czech Center Museum Houston - Texas is home to a large Czech- as well as Slovak-American population, and this institution celebrates their accomplishments here as well as the history and culture of their mother countries, including exhibitions of crystal, glass, porcelain, potter, antique furniture, folk costumes, and fine art from the 18th century to the present day.
Hours and admission fees vary (some have free days or hours and several are completely free of charge).
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