Location: The Museum District
Top Things to do in The Museum District
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10 Museums in The Museum District That You Shouldn't Miss
Houston hums with an energy and independent spirit all its own. A leading cultural and culinary destination in the South, the city is home to over 11,000 restaurants featuring cuisine from more than 70 countries. The thriving arts scene includes resident opera, ballet, symphony and theater companies. The Museum District houses 19 museums, all within walking distance. Be sure to visit Space Center Houston, where you can visit NASA’s Historic Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center.
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1. The Houston Museum of Natural Science
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 5,002 reviews
This outstanding science museum has a spectacular collection of mineral specimens, a dinosaur skeleton, space-station models, a planetarium, IMAX theater and a six-story butterfly center in which these beautiful creatures land delicately on outstretched arms.
Reviewed By Agarrino
Another mandatory visit while in Houston, is the Natural History Museum. You will need a complete day (or even more) to really check everything on display, since there are 4 floors full of interesting items: Full body dinosaurs skeletons, phosils of all sort, trilobites, scientist working in labs opened to visitors, an impressive collection of cristal minerals and jewels, sculptures and a great collection of ancient Egypt items, including three real mummys. Also great the butterfly interior garden.
2. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2,700 reviews
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is the largest cultural institution in the southwest region of the United States. The Museum’s encyclopedic collections of nearly 70,000 objects cover world cultures dating from antiquity to the present and include in-depth holdings of American art, European paintings, Pre-Columbian and African gold, decorative arts and design, photography, prints and drawings, 20th- and 21st-century painting and sculpture, and Latin American art.
Reviewed By bornthatway_traveler - Bloomington, United States
I extremely recommend the MOFAH to all visitors to Houston; you won’t be disappointed! The diversity and educational value of the hundreds and hundreds of works here is admirable and among the best in the US. Portraits and paintings fill dozens of gallery rooms on the second floor, many of them huge and immersive, like the art swallows you and invites you into their scene. Being a personal fan of Impressionism, I enjoyed the vast collection of this genre in the museum. Works of all types represent nearly all world regions and timelines in history (e.g. Egyptian carvings and tombs and Asian sculptures). Everyone of all interests is bound to discover something fascinating here. When you visit, be sure to pass through the underground light tunnel to access the museum’s second facility across the street, in which you’ll find intricate Italian glass carvings, Spanish and colonial-era art artifacts, and a substantial exhibition celebrating Black culture. I particularly enjoyed the Black culture exhibition, curated magnificently with several eye-opening portraits and culturally-rich lifestyle scenes. In the Spanish/colonial-era space, I loved viewing the ancient maps explorers used to navigate the oceans in the early history of “modern” America. I could go on and on praising the Museum of Fine Arts—I really loved my time here. I’ll devote the conclusion of my review to important informational pointers: - Admission is a reasonable $19 per adult, available on-site. I’m forgetting children’s admission prices and others. - In order to safely remain open in light of COVID-19, all visitors will have their temperature checked prior to entering the museum. Face masks and social distancing are required. The temperature screening process is very straightforward and quick, and I found myself within the gallery areas in no time. - Wheelchair accessibility is clearly up to ADA regulations, with elevators giving access to every part of the facility. - The on-site cafe remains closed due to COVID-19, as of June 2020. Just take note of this and make sure you satisfy your appetite before your visit! - I applaud the museum for providing many Spanish-language translations/subtitles alongside English captions of artworks. Very cool. I’ll be returning next visit to Houston! Thanks for the world-class experience!
3. Houston Museum District
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 698 reviews
Reviewed By ViewChaser - Houston, United States
The Houston Museum of Fine Arts and Museum of Natural Science are very close to one another. The Children's Museum, Holocaust Museum and Medical Museum are also located nearby so everything is quite convenient without traveling from one side of the city to the next.
4. Houston Museum of African American Culture
5. Holocaust Museum Houston
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 787 reviews
Holocaust Museum Houston is temporarily closed through March 31, 2020 in response to COVID-19. We will announce any other changes to Museum programs or operations through all of our regular channels, including social media and on our website.
Reviewed By FindMeHiking
The Houston Holocaust Museum is a beautiful, artful tribute to this significant part of our world history. This new Houston facility is spacious and very artfully designed--connecting guests, clearly and more intimately to the history, to the people lost. We were afriad it would be terribly sad and depressing, and somehow it wasn't. It was impactful, respectful, and, frankly inspiring--proof of such strength and depth of character of those persecuted. My family and I were able to hear one of the Holocaust Survivors speak in the auditorium--wow, just wow. Please visit this place, see and learn about the history, and remember.
6. Children's Museum of Houston
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,627 reviews
Hands-on interactive exhibits in the areas of science and technology, history and culture, health and human development, and the arts.
Reviewed By newbietraveler
This is a world class kids museum with something for every age between 1-100. We spent the entire day there and could have easily spent another full day. If you are a local, a membership is a must. My only complaint is that there needs to be more museum employee supervision to help those kids who don't understand the instructions for some activities or to keep in check those kids who outright just don't follow the rules. Some areas of the museum are just pure chaos when the museum is busy.
7. Cockrell Butterfly Center
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 704 reviews
Next to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the glass-enclosed butterfly habitat includes a simulated rainforest and thousands of colorful butterflies. A dramatic 50-foot waterfall and exotic plants transport visitors.
Reviewed By fueledbymoxy - Houston, United States
Lucky for me I am not scared of flying bugs/insects so I loved this. There are so many beautiful butterflies you will be in awe and will be able to get up close and see the stunning patterns on their wings. I spent easily an hour in here and look forward to visiting again.
8. Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 95 reviews
Reviewed By beachboywantabe - Corpus Christi, United States
Cloud Column (sculpture by Anish Kapoor of Chicago’s Cloud Gate fame) is not really part of the Cullen Sculpture Garden, but since it adjoins the Garden, for practical purposes it is. The Sculpture Garden has been a favorite Arts District stop of mine for years, and the only place other than France or The Rodin Museum In Philly where 3 Rodin Sculptures can be seen at one location! Cloud Column by itself is worthy of a visit. I love the MFAH description of the sculpture that mentions some people refer to it as “El Frijole”: “The play between the convex and concave surfaces establishes a dual reality, as the elongated core of the sculpture presents the world upside down, bringing the heavens down to earth.”
9. Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 32 reviews
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) is a nonprofit arts organization founded to advance education about the process, product and history of craft. HCCC serves as an important cultural and educational resource for Houston and the Southwest-one of the few venues in the country dedicated exclusively to craft at the highest level. The organization provides exhibition, sales and studio spaces to support the work of local and national artists and offers mission-related educational programs in schools and underserved communities. HCCC is funded in part by grants from The Brown Foundation; Houston Endowment, Inc.; the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; Texas Commission on the Arts; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Kinder Foundation; the Morgan Foundation; Windgate Charitable Foundation; and the Wortham Foundation.
Reviewed By rcs26 - Fair Lawn, United States
I loved this little museum and highly recommend it. Although it is quite small, it had fine examples of basketry, fiber art, pottery, metal work, jewelry, photography, and sculpture. There is even some Native American Indian Art. A few pieces make political statements, the best (in my opinion) being the one on the Boko Haram kidnappings, with photos of the missing girls on the inside, and news from that time on the outside of this large structure. After visiting the main exhibit rooms we walked around the hallways to see the art work of last year's resident artists. The pottery was my favorite, and it was gorgeous! Do not miss this gem of a museum if you love crafts!
10. Asia Society Texas Center
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