Harvard Art Museums - Three Museums Under Glass
Photo: ajay_suresh, CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
A stop on Harvard Yard and Cambridge, a free self-guided tour.
Across Quincy Street, three museums share one roof. The Fogg, founded in 1895, collects Western art from the Middle Ages to today. The Busch-Reisinger, dating to 1903, focuses on art from German-speaking Europe, and the Arthur M. Sackler, opened in 1985, covers Asian, ancient and Islamic art.
In 2014 a renovation by Renzo Piano brought all three together under a glass roof that pours daylight into the central courtyard and the conservation labs at the top of the building. From the sidewalk you can see the glass rising above the old brick front.
These are teaching museums, built so students can study art up close, and since 2023 admission has been free for everyone. Check the website for current hours before you go in.
Just next door, the curving concrete Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts is the only building in North America designed by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier.
Getting here: Walk past Sever Hall through the gate onto Quincy Street; the museums are the large building across the street at number 32.
Did you know?: The Fogg owns a self-portrait that Vincent van Gogh dedicated to his friend Paul Gauguin in 1888.
Photo op: From the Yard side of Quincy Street, frame the brick facade with Renzo Piano's glass roof peeking above it.
More on Wikipedia: Harvard Art Museums · Renzo Piano · Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts · Le Corbusier
Stops on this tour
- Harvard Square - Crossroads of Cambridge
- Johnston Gate - Harvard's Front Door
- Massachusetts Hall - Harvard's Oldest Building
- John Harvard Statue - The Statue of Three Lies
- Widener Library - A Memorial in Books
- Memorial Church - A Steeple for the Fallen
- Sever Hall - Whispers in the Brick
- Harvard Art Museums - Three Museums Under Glass
- Memorial Hall - Gothic Tribute to the Union
- Cambridge Common - Where Washington Took Command
- Christ Church and Old Burying Ground - Colonial Corner