Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world, located in the center of New York’s borough of Brooklyn. The museum was founded in 1895 and is now listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Brooklyn Museum or, as New Yorkers call it, “BM”, is very popular among the city’s residents and tourists. More than 500,000 people visit its halls each year.
General information
Nowadays, the Brooklyn Museum’s rich collections include more than 1.5 million exhibits – from Ancient Egypt to works of modern authors. Egyptian mummies and figurines, works of art from Japan, Africa and Oceania, Impressionist paintings, antique furniture and other rarities are exhibited on an area of 52 thousand square meters. All of them are housed in a spacious building erected in the style of boz-art in the Crown Heights neighborhood.
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Of particular interest to tourists is the “Sculpture Garden”, the works for which were collected from all over the city. These days, the space near the building’s east entrance has become a repository of statues and stone ornaments of old New York. The permanent exhibition “Family Album” displays works from private collections.
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The Brooklyn Museum has many unusual works of art. There is a portrait of American President John Adams by telegraph inventor Samuel Morse and an earthenware figurine of a hippopotamus made during the Middle Kingdom. The Brooklyn Museum does a lot of work with school and college students. In addition, the museum building regularly hosts concerts, festivals, and screenings of the year’s best films..
The museum’s doors are open to the public on Wednesday and Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.. Monday and Tuesday are weekends. Adult tickets are $16, and $10 for students and seniors. Visitors under the age of 19 can visit the Brooklyn Museum for free.
.History of the Brooklyn Museum
The museum was founded in 1895 on the basis of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and had the status of a division of this institute until the 1970s. The museum building was built by the famous architectural firm McKim Mead and White. The decor of the facade was carried out by sculptor Daniel Chester French. He was also the author of the allegorical statues of “Brooklyn” and “Manhattan” that now adorn the entrance to the museum, and the expressive sculptures installed on the gable and along the cornice.
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The organizers wanted the Brooklyn Museum to exist not only for people sophisticated in art, but also to appeal to the broadest cross-section of Americans, so they called it a “museum for everyone and by everyone”. Initially, works by American artists were acquired for the collections. Now the Brooklyn Museum has one of the world’s largest collections of American paintings, drawings, and sculpture, as well as antique furniture, tableware, and bronzes made by American craftsmen.
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Museum collections grew especially rapidly in the early part of the last century. However, the process of adding to the holdings had its costs. In 1932, the Brooklyn Museum received a large collection from renowned philanthropist Michael Friedsam, but unfortunately, of the 926 works, about a quarter were deemed fake by experts.
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How to get there
The museum is located in downtown Brooklyn at 200 Eastern Parkway. Next to the building is the Eastern Parkway – Brooklyn Museum subway station, accessible by lines 2 and 3 during the day, 2 and 4 at night. Buses #B41, B48, B69, and B71 stop near the Brooklyn Museum.
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