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Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA

Photo: ajay_suresh, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

MuseumsRainy-Day PickFreeLocal Gem

Harvard Art Museums

32 Quincy St · Cambridge, MA

Why you should go…

The Harvard Art Museums bring together the Fogg, the Busch-Reisinger and the Arthur M. Sackler museums under one roof, a building renovated by Renzo Piano and reopened in 2014. You enter through the Calderwood Courtyard and explore more than 50 galleries across three floors. The collection holds about 250,000 objects, including a major Bauhaus collection at the Busch-Reisinger and archaic Chinese jades from the Sackler. A cafe and museum shop sit off the courtyard.

  • #art museum
  • #harvard square
  • #bauhaus
  • #asian art
  • #free museum

Good to know

General museums guidance

Habits that pay off across this whole category, not rules for this one venue. Always check the official site for the specifics.

  • Check the special exhibition separately

    Touring shows usually carry their own ticket and their own opening hours, listed apart from general admission.

  • Look for the free window

    Many museums run community days, member evenings, or discounted late openings. It is worth a look before you pay full price.

  • Travel light through the door

    Large bags and backpacks often have to go to a coat check, and lines for it move slowly at opening.

  • Weekday mornings beat weekend afternoons

    School groups clear out by early afternoon midweek, while weekends stay busy from late morning on.

What's around here?

The closest stops to Harvard Art Museums, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Sightseeing
    Iconic

    Harvard Yard

    Free

    Stroll the oldest part of Harvard's campus, past the John Harvard statue, Widener Library and Memorial Church.

    Steps awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Sightseeing
    Iconic

    Harvard Square

    Free

    Explore bookstores, cafes, street life and historic Harvard Yard around the busy plaza at the center of Cambridge.

    0.2 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Tours
    Local Gem

    Trademark Tours

    $25–$50

    Student-led walking tours of Harvard and MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    0.2 mi awaySwitch it up: Tours

  • Museums
    Local Gem

    Harvard Museum of Natural History

    Under $25

    Home of the famous Glass Flowers, plus whale skeletons, a 42-foot Kronosaurus, and Harvard's great hall of mammals, steps from Harvard Yard.

    0.3 mi awayMore like this

  • Museums
    Family Favorite

    Museum of Science

    $25–$50

    Live lightning shows, dinosaurs, a planetarium and hundreds of hands-on exhibits spanning the Charles River.

    2.3 mi awayMore like this

  • Museums
    Local Gem

    Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

    Under $25

    A Venetian palace of art wrapped around a flowering courtyard, and home to the world's most famous art heist.

    2.6 mi awayMore like this