8 Best Museums in Boston to Enjoy a Great Intellectual Time (2024)
This city is known all over the world for its museums, a person can spend days after a day touring all the best museums in Boston. First of all, there are many museums in Boston and every museum is unique on its own. From art museums to history museums to science exhibits there is something or the other for everyone in Boston.
8 Best Museums in Boston to Enjoy a Great Intellectual Time
Here is a list of the best museums in Boston that every tourist and local should visit at least once in their lifetime. They are: –
- John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum- if you are someone who admires Kennedy then you should visit this spot to know more about his political life and career. This museum cum library is completely dedicated to John F. Kennedy who has dreamt of making the country a prosperous nation through the art of politics. Here are 7 permanent exhibits within the museums like the Campaign Trail, the Oval Office, the Attorney Generals’ Office, the Briefing Room, the Space Race, and the Kennedy Family. Visitors who want to know more about American history and politics should include this museum in their itinerary while visiting Boston. Try to spend an entire day in this museum, there are many things you will get to see and not for a minute you will be bored. This building offers a spectacular view of the Harbour Islands and the Boston skyline.
- The Museum of Science (MoS)- was established in 1830 and has been the favorite place of all tourists and locals since then. This museum covers an area of 130000 sq feet connecting East Cambridge to Boston’s West End. There are several sections inside the museum that focus on different areas of science like dinosaurs, electricity, food, history, biology, and so on. MoS is an accredited member of AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums), hence it is a home of more than 100 animals, which are mostly rescued. This place arranges several exhibitions throughout the year, since this is one of the best museums in Boston there is a footfall of 1.5 million visitors every year. The MoS inspires all its visitors to use science for development and the global good.
- The Museum of Fine Arts- this was inaugurated in 1870 and it remains as one of the best museums in Boston that exhibits early American Art, Egyptian collections, and Asian paintings. Here there are paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, Degas Gaugin, and some by Picasso. Do not miss the ‘Day and Night’ realistic baby head that was created by the famous sculptor and painter Antonio Lopez Garcia. Apart from famous paintings, there are various contemporary pieces to see from Rome, Greece, Nubia, Oceania, Africa, and so on. It is said that a day is not possible to see the entire MFA minutely in detail as there are more than 500000 pieces and 100 galleries. MFA is divided into different sections so that visitors can explore properly. The sections are Egyptian, American, and European and there are more than 1 million footfall visitors throughout the year.
- Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum- In school during history classes every student is taught about the Boston tea party and seeing it in front of you is an experience that no one should miss. this is a floating museum situated on the Congress Street Bridge. The Sons of Liberty had named this after the protest that had happened on 16th December 1773. The Beaver and the Eleanor are the two replica ships of that period and it holds one tea chest from the event. Visitors from all over the world come here to experience something that they have not experienced before, nor is it available anywhere.
- Boston’s Children’s Museum- This 3 floors museum is entirely dedicated to the kids, making it one of the biggest children’s museums in the world. It displays more than 50000 items focusing on artwork, health, environmental issues, culture, science, history and fitness. There is a bubble room where kids can blow big bubbles, construct something and there are rooms dedicated solely towards history, culture and so on. The museum mainly focuses on hands-on activities of children, so that from a very young age they become curious to know about the world and at the same time develop their imagination power. Parents living in Boston or coming to visit this place should make a day trip to this museum with their children, your child will enjoy it to the fullest here.
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum- In 1901 this museum was constructed by Isabella Stewart Gardner and from 1903 it was open to the public. Since then, a lot of renovation work has taken place in this museum like recently there has been a glass atrium, landscaped gardens and greenhouses. Isabella was an American philanthropist, an art collector and patron of arts from the 15th century Venetian palace. This museum in Boston is located near the MFA and has more than 7500 paintings of American, European and Asian art that includes beautifully carved sculpture, textiles and ceramics. This museum generally depicts Isabella’s personal interest towards bohemian lifestyle. It also exhibits beautiful photographs and furniture and more than 1500 rare books from Europe and do not forget to take a stroll around the garden, it’s well maintained and immaculately done, making it one of the best museums in Boston.
- Harvard Museum of Natural History- This museum has a huge collection of dried creatures, minerals, fossils from around the world. It offers 11,000 specimens like different sea creatures that are kept in glass, whale skeletons, Blaschka Glass Flowers, different kinds of birds and mammals and so on. Visitors like to see the Great Mammal Hall that exhibits lemurs, sloths, zebras, giraffes and 6 whales that are hanging from the ceiling. This is one of the museums that is most visited by the tourists because it exhibits works of the engineers and scientists of the university. The mission of this museum is to give its visitors a better understanding of the natural world.
- Boston Fire Museum- This is a must-see museum in Boston if you want to know more about the fire service. It is situated in an old firehouse and has items that tell the visitor about the danger of this element. Here are various artifacts ranging from huge historic fire trucks to small coins. There are several fire engines that are no longer in use to different firehouse artifacts. The photographs that are present here show how local firefighters were, how they would dress and equipment they would use. Visitors can also see the firefighting coats, uniforms, boots, gloves, helmets, masks that men and women wore those days when they were on duty. The Boston fire museum is small in size so it will take hardly 30 to 40 minutes to see everything here. You will get to see a lot of retired firemen who come to this spot and chat with other people and if you are interested then they will share their victorious story.
From a very young age parents should introduce their children to the concept of museums, so that once they grow up, they will preach the importance of museums to everyone. Schools and colleges of Boston take their students for a day trip to the museums but it is also the responsibility of parents to inculcate the love for this place.
