Boston is home to some of the most famous museums in the country, like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Harvard Art Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
As the new season arrives, make sure to visit these captivating museum displays in Boston while they last! Whether it's a date night, family day or a gathering with friends, these museums provide access to exhibits of all disciplines for everyone to enjoy. From art to science to history and more, Boston features an exhibit that is sure to pique your interest!
- Peabody Essex Museum
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Encounter Ballroom , an installation that invites you to interact with and navigate your way through a field of geographic globes on the gallery floor. Each globe has been meticulously sanded to remove nations and human-made boundaries. Is the artist’s erasure a utopian gesture…
- Revolutionary Spaces
- Recurring daily
During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, while much of the nation's attention was turned toward the South, Northern states and cities also grappled with how to respond to Black Americans' calls for equal rights and treatment. This included Boston, which was…
- 1 Faneuil Hall Sq Ste 4
- Recurring weekly on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Located on the top floor of the historic Faneuil Hall, the Military Museum and Armory displays uniforms, medals, and weaponry from The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, among other, more modern military artifacts. Learn about the soldiers of the Ancient…
- Harvard Museum of Natural History
- Recurring daily
Arthropods: Creatures That Rule is a popular gallery in the Harvard Museum of Natural History that draws on Harvard research to explore arthropods’ extraordinary evolutionary success. It features a wide array of preserved creatures and live specimens, such as the rose tarantula…
- 855 Commonwealth Ave
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
The BU Art Galleries host a variety of ongoing exhibitions in three locations on the University campus focused on national and regional artistic endeavors. Tours Availability: Tuesday – Sunday (closed on holidays recognized by the school) Gallery Hours: 11 pm - 5 pm
- 43 Monument Ave
- Recurring daily
The Bunker Hill Museum’s exhibits and dioramas tell the stories of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the construction of the Monument, and the history of the Charlestown Neighborhood. The museum is housed in the old Charlestown branch of the Boston Public Library. Guests can request…
- Institute of Contemporary Art
- Recurring daily
Charles Atlas: About Time is the first U.S. museum survey of the pioneering interdisciplinary artist Charles Atlas (b. 1949 in St. Louis). Spanning 50 years of work, this retrospective is conceived as an immersive environment for the visitor, featuring several monumental…
- Peabody Essex Museum
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
The human desire to connect with the departed has given rise to a fascination with the supernatural and the magical. Explore the essential role art and objects played for mediums and magicians “communicating” with the dead during the 19th- and 20th-century Spiritualism movement…
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Recurring daily
The outlandish and iconoclastic artist Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) is famous for his bizarre imagery and distinctive Surrealist vision. He was, however, also deeply rooted in tradition. Dalí studied, emulated, and indeed revered his European predecessors from centuries past…
- MIT Museum
- Recurring daily
Who decides how and when transformative new biotechnologies will be used? What questions do we need to ask before making decisions leading to irrevocable results? Join the conversation as you explore dramatic breakthroughs in genetic technologies and engage with artworks—witty…
- Rose Kennedy Greenway
- Recurring daily
Artist LaRissa Rogers will participate in public events surrounding her work Going to Ground , which responds to the history of Zipporah Potter Atkins, the first Black woman to own land in Boston. The work is situated on Potter Atkins' homesite in what is now the North End area…
- Institute of Contemporary Art
- Recurring daily
The Gun Violence Memorial Project (2019–present) creates space to gather, remember, and act in light of the ongoing gun violence crisis. An ongoing collaboration between Boston-based MASS Design Group and Songha & Company, where artist Hank Willis Thomas is Creative…
- CambridgeSide
- Recurring daily
Celebrate some of your favorite moments, authentic props and costumes, characters, and locations from the extended Harry Potter universe. With iconic moments and magical creatures, you can explore the stories from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts™ film series and Harry…
- Old South Meeting House
- Recurring daily
On December 16, 1773, radical Bostonians threw 340 crates of tea into Boston Harbor to protest what they saw as unfair taxation by the British Parliament. Known today as the “Boston Tea Party,” the event known to contemporaries as “the destruction of the tea” was highly divisive…
- New England Aquarium
- Recurring daily
This exhibit showcases the vibrancy and richness of coral reef habitats and helps visitors understand a reef’s vital role in the lives of tropical fish, sea turtles, sharks, and thousands of marine animal species. The Aquarium has been actively involved in studying and protecting…
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Recurring daily
Jewish communities around the world have long believed that beauty has the power to enhance ritual practice. According to the principle of Hiddur Mitzvah (Hebrew for “beautification of the commandment”), aesthetics are essential to all aspects of religious life. Especially in…
- Harvard Art Museums
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Discover an array of artworks that transcend borders and spotlight the complexities of modern German identity. Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation takes an unprecedented look at German art since 1980. Featuring artists from different generations and diverse…
Every artist has their muses. For Édouard Manet (1832–1883), one of those muses was family. But the home life of the French painter was complicated, even by today’s standards. Manet: A Model Family, on view in the Hostetter Gallery from October 10, 2024 – January 20…
- Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University
- Recurring daily
A midcentury voting machine. A pair of baby dolls from a famed science experiment. A lock of hair from the most photographed American of his day: Frederick Douglass. All were selected and photographed in natural light by Wendel A. White, the 2021 recipient of the Peabody Museum’s…
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Mary Ellen Mark, one of the great American photojournalists, frequently turned her lens to those who had been pushed to the margins of society. This fall, the Gardner Museum brings the story of Mark and one of her long-time personal and artistic partnerships to the Fenway Gallery…
- Massachusetts Historical Society
- Recurring daily
Founded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society is the nation's oldest historical society. The collections bring alive the stories of America's past through a series of changing exhibitions and public programs that are free to the public. Availability: Monday…
- McMullen Museum of Art
- Recurring daily
If you’re in the mood for a different kind of art, this museum houses collections loaned from institutions and art collectors all over the globe. Due to their reliance on loans, their exhibitions change quite frequently. In the span of a year, you could see pieces from China…
- MIT List Visual Arts Center
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
The MIT List Visual Arts Center offers visitors a dynamic program of temporary exhibitions in the galleries, as well as renowned permanent and public art collections located across the Institute making it an excellent location to discover unique artistic visions. Availability…
- Dorchester Brewing Co.
- Recurring daily
MOBA is the world's only museum dedicated to the collection, exhibition, and celebration of art that would not be welcomed to any traditional art museum. Our collection includes sincere art in which something has gone wrong in a way that results in a compelling, interesting…
- Peabody Essex Museum
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Often called the unicorns of the sea, narwhals have fascinated people across cultures for centuries. These highly recognizable creatures spend their lives in the Arctic waters of Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia. Dive deeper into the world of these unique ocean dwellers and…
- Concord Museum
- Recurring daily
Portrait Mode offers an intimate look at over 40 historical portraits from the Concord Museum collection, highlighting poignant stories of representation and absence and inviting us to consider whose faces become a part of history. During the nineteenth century, new forms of…
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
- Recurring daily
On the Gardner Museum’s Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade, Mickalene Thomas uses photographic collage to immortalize her first muse: her mother. On view from October 1, 2024 – February 17, 2025, Sandra, She’s a Beauty, 2009 is an homage by a daughter, an aspirational mirror, and…
- Harvard Museum of Natural History
- Recurring daily
Embark on a daring voyage into the depths of human imagination at the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s new exhibition, Sea Monsters: Wonders of Nature and Imagination. Featuring ancient mariners' maps, literature, works of art, and natural history specimens, this exhibit…
- Institute of Contemporary Art
- Recurring daily
Tau Lewis (b. 1993, Toronto) transforms found materials into intricately detailed soft sculptures, quilts, masks, and other assemblages through intensive processes such as hand-sewing, carving, and plaster casting. A self-taught artist, Lewis’s practice is directed at healing…
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Recurring daily
The Tender Loving Care: Contemporary Art from the Collection exhibit invites visitors to explore how contemporary artists trace and address concepts of care through their materials, subjects, ideas, and processes. At their core, creating and looking at works of art are acts of…
- Museum of African American History
- Recurring daily
The MAAH exhibit space offers a new showcase exhibit, The Emancipation Proclamation: A Pragmatic Compromise. This exhibit shares the factual story of the rationale and impact of this celebrated American document that changed the course of the Civil War, freed enslaved people in…
- Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation at Massachusetts General Hospital
- Recurring weekly on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
The Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation tells the rich story of Massachusetts General Hospital's two centuries of history. Visit us to learn about the hospital's important contributions to the medical field and see how these discoveries and advancements…
- Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum
- Recurring daily
Experience life at sea aboard an 18th-century sailing vessel as you join a Son of Liberty and take part in the “Destruction of the Tea”! Throw tea into the very same body of water where the Boston Tea Party took place over 240 years ago. Take part in a multi-sensory experience…
- Titanic:The Artifact Exhibition
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Your Ticket Aboard Titanic Awaits. Experience the wonder and tragedy of the world’s most famous ocean-liner, RMS Titanic. Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition anchors in Boston this fall for a limited time at The Castle at Park Plaza. Viewed by more than 35 million people worldwide…
- Boch Center Wang Theatre
- Recurring daily
Get an exclusive look at the Wang Theatre & the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame exhibits by booking a tour! Reserve your tour today! Public tours are offered on select days and times (subject to change). Explore current exhibits in the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame…
- USS Constitution Museum
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Old Ironsides is one of the most famous ships in the history of the United States. Learn about the legacy of the USS Constitution ship, the world's oldest commissioned warship, at the USS Constitution Museum. The museum of this historic vessel is open to the public for free…
- Waterworks Museum
- Recurring daily
The Waterworks Museum interprets unique stories of the country's first metropolitan water system through exhibitions and educational programs on engineering, architecture, social history, and public health. Located along the Chestnut Hill reservoir, the Waterworks Museum…
- Downtown Crossing
- Recurring daily
WNDR Museum is an interactive experience: a multi-sensory showcase of art and technology. The message is simple: We are all artists. And as artists, visitors are more than passive onlookers. Whatever they do in the museum, IS art. Tickets are now on sale for visits beginning…
- Institute of Contemporary Art
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Highlighting the rich interplay between imagery and text and the related practices of looking and reading, Wordplay draws primarily from the ICA’s permanent collection to showcase how contemporary artists have played with words to animate and expand their art practices. Text has…
- Rose Kennedy Greenway
- Recurring daily
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy today announced the commission and upcoming installation of the next Dewey Square mural from artist Jeffrey Gibson next month. Gibson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, is celebrated globally for his…
- 344 Congress St
- Recurring weekly on Saturday
The Boston Fire Museum houses some of the oldest devices used to fight fires in Boston. In addition to buckets, trumpets, and fire grenades, you will also see some of the earliest examples of fire engines – some dating back to 1793. Tour Availability: Saturday Saturday…
- Institute of Contemporary Art
- Recurring weekly on Sunday, Saturday
Join us for an immersive hands-on art-making experience and create physical artifacts that hold memories, manifestations, and movements of and toward collective care. Boston artist Sabrina Dorsainvil transforms the ICA Bank of America Art Lab into a space for visitors to make art…
- 685 Commonwealth Ave
- Recurring weekly on Wednesday
This astronomical observatory owned and operated by Boston University. It's located on the roof of the College of Arts & Sciences and offers free public hours on Wednesday nights. • Although it won’t cost you a dime, you do need to obtain tickets ahead of time because there…
The legacy of Isabella Stewart Gardner continues to inspire the work of the Museum. She built the institution that bears her name as an act of civic leadership, believing that everyone deserves access to beauty and the power of art, and that engaging in cultural experiences can…