Best Museums in New York City

This content was last updated on 24.01.2024 22:20

New York City has almost 100 museums, from world-renowned ones like MoMA, Guggenheim or The Met to smaller exhibitions that are definitely worth visiting. But which museums in New York should definitely not be missed? In this article, I will introduce you to the best museums in New York, which we consider to be among the absolute highlights in the city.

The 12 Most Important Museums in New York City

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

As the name suggests, the MoMa deals exclusively with modern art. From painting to sculpture, photography, media and architecture, you will find unbeatable creativity here and the mecca for art lovers in one of the most famous museums in New York. There are true modern classics such as Monet's famous work "Water Lilies". For a long time, "The Scream" (Edvard Munch from 1895) was the highlight at MoMa, until it sold for a staggering $120 million. The Museums Store is well-known throughout the city and highly recommended. Children have their own audio tour.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met)

The so-called Met is also clearly in our top 10 best museums in New York. The history of art is presented from the beginning of mankind to the present day. A visit to the Met is a trip back in time: with over two million works of art spanning over 5,000 years on 40 acres of exhibition space, the Metropolitan Museum is New York City's most-visited attraction. The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents the best of art history from around the world and thus attracts almost 6 million visitors of all ages to its exhibitions every year. Special highlight: The Temple of Dendur - an Egyptian temple that has been completely preserved in the Met. It is advisable to draw up a plan in advance of which departments of the museum you want to visit, as the museum can hardly be completed in one day due to its size.

Guggenheim Museum

It's an architectural masterpiece: the Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue. The bizarre construction by American master architect Frank Lloyd Wright is often referred to by its critics as a "concrete cup". It's one of the most iconic buildings in the city and one of Manhattan's most popular modern art museums for a reason.

9/11 Memorial and Museum

It is probably the most moving museum in the city. The 9/11 Memorial Museum takes visitors back to the events of 9/11 - the day that changed New York, and arguably the whole world. A place of remembrance, mourning and commemoration of the more than 3,000 victims of 9/11 was created on the Ground Zero site, right next to the world-famous water basin.

The completion of the underground premises, which cover more than 10,000 square meters on seven floors, was delayed by three years. The construction was significantly more expensive than planned and, according to some US media reports, cost around one billion dollars (729 million euros). Past the remains of the former World Trade Center, fire engines and a full memorial plaque with pictures and biographies of the deceased, as well as a journey along a timeline from the day New York was attacked (including previously unpublished footage, clothing, letters, voicemails, or newspaper clippings) it is a very moving event to visit this museum.

American Museum of Natural History

Natural history museums sound boring at first, but the Museum of Natural History in New York is not.

Human history is treated over five floors in the most important natural history museum in the world. From the Stone Age to the Space Age, from real dinosaur bones to far away galaxies, it is an amazing 111,483 square meter journey into the past and at the same time a lesson about our life on planet earth.

It opened in 1869 and spans four blocks on Central Park West. Many have certainly seen the museum in the well-known film "Night at the Museum" with Ben Stiller. In the heart of Manhattan, the American Museum of Natural History is one of the greatest scientific and cultural institutions in the world. The architecture of the building is as unique as its size, as the museum consists of an incredible 25 interconnected buildings. Similar to the Metropolitan Museum, size matters here. Unfortunately, one day is not enough to see everything. So make a plan in advance of what you want to see.

Statue of Liberty Museum

The new Statue of Liberty Museum has opened on Liberty Island. It brings some new features to Liberty Island to make the Statue of Liberty experience more exciting and interesting for visitors.

Whitney Museum

Newly opened in 2015, the Whitney Museum in New York shines in a whole new light. The Whitney Museum has one of the most spectacular collections of contemporary art, that's for sure. It opened in 2015 and its focus is on American art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock and Robert Rauschenberg are just a few of the names whose paintings, drawings, sculptures, photos and installations are part of the exhibition at the Whitney Museum. Over 21,000 works of art are on permanent display here.

Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

The museum offers the third largest exhibition of design and decorative arts in the world after the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and has found an appropriate exhibition space in the Carnegie Villa.

Museum of Mathematics

There is a museum for every field and every subject in New York. So there's also a museum about "our favorite school subject". The Museum of Mathematics shows its visitors that math can be fun, too. Everything from algebra to geometry is covered in the museum.

Brooklyn Historical Society Museum

Established in 1863 and recently refurbished, this British architectural style exhibition enchants its visitors every day. The well-stocked library, interesting photographs, very old maps, old newspapers and excerpts from family histories give you a very good overview of past events in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum is Manhattan's answer to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The building designed by MCKim and Mead & White in 1897 is home to the seventh largest art collection in the United States with more than 2 million objects in Brooklyn. Special highlights are the Egyptian and the pre-Columbian collection.

Ellis Island Immigration Museum

The world-renowned Immigration Museum is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and tells the story of immigrants to the United States and what happened to them after they arrived. The museum is a very impressive place as this is where immigrants used to come if they wanted to immigrate to the United States.