Museums in New York

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

• Price band: 1/4

RECOMMENDED: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) After a two-year redesign by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi, MoMA reopened in 2004 with almost double the space to display some of the most impressive artworks from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Outside, the Philip Johnson–designed Abby Aldrich

Discovery Times Square

• Rated as: 4/5
• Price band: 2/4
• Critics choice

The Discovery Channel is one of the sponsors of this new large-scale exhibition center, which will offer limited-edition runs of exhibits from across the globe. The 60,000-square-foot space is housed in the former New York Times building, and includes a learning center, a space for special events

The Cloisters

• Rated as: 4/5
• Price band: 2/4
• Critics choice

RECOMMENDED: 50 best New York attractions Set in a lovely park overlooking the Hudson River, the Cloisters houses the Met’s medieval art and architecture collections. A path winds through the peaceful grounds to a castle that seems to have survived from the Middle Ages. (It was built less than 100

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

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RECOMMENDED: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim is as famous for its landmark building—designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and restored for its 50th birthday in 2009—as it is for its impressive collection and daring temporary shows. The museum owns Peggy Guggenheim’s trove of Cubist, Surrealist

International Center of Photography

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The library at the International Center of Photography—a major photographic resource—houses back issues of photography magazines, and thousands of biographical and photographic files. Founded in the 1960s as the International Fund for Concerned Photography, ICP has work by photojournalists Werner

MoMA PS1

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RECOMMENDED: 50 best New York attractions Housed in a distinctive Romanesque Revival building (a former public school), PS1 mounts cutting-edge shows and hosts an acclaimed international studio program. Artwork crops up in every corner, from the stairwells to the roof. PS1 became an affiliate of

The 9/11 Memorial

Years of planning went into this monument, which opened on the tenth anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks. Called “Reflecting Absence,” the design by architect Michael Arad features two reflecting pools that sit within the footprint of each of the Twin Towers. The water elements are surrounded by oak

Museum of the Moving Image

• Price band: 2/4

RECOMMENDED: Museum of the Moving Image Only 15 minutes from midtown, the Museum of the Moving Image is one of the city’s most dynamic institutions. Rubbing elbows with Kaufman Astoria Studios, it includes a three-story extension that features a state-of-the-art 267-seat cinema and expanded gallery

Museum of Arts & Design

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Originally designed in 1964 by Radio City Music Hall architect Edward Durell Stone to house the Gallery of Modern Art, 2 Columbus Circle (nicknamed the "Lollipop Building" because of the Candyland-like columns that lined its base) was a windowless monolith that had sat empty since 1998. After an

Brooklyn Museum

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RECOMMENDED: Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn’s premier institution is a less-crowded alternative to Manhattan’s bigger-name spaces. Among the museum’s many assets is a 4,000-piece Egyptian collection, which includes a gilded-ebony statue of Amenhotep III and, on the ceiling, a large-scale rendering of an

New York Transit Museum

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RECOMMENDED: 50 best New York attractions Other archives may offer broader perspectives on city history, but we love the Transit Museum because it goes deep into one essential element of New York life: the public transit system. Opened in 1976 in a former IND subway station, the museum displays

City Reliquary Museum

• Rated as: 4/5
• Price band: 1/4
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This quirky institution houses all sorts of New York City ephemera, from old postcards featuring the Statue of Liberty to a vintage subway turnstile, as well as permanent exhibits on the history of burlesque in NYC and the 1939 World's Fair. The museum is also an active presence in the community,

The Tenement Museum

• Rated as: 4/5
• Price band: 2/4
• Critics choice

This fascinating museum—actually a series of restored tenement apartments at 97 Orchard Street—is accessible only by guided tour. Tickets are sold at the visitors’ center at 108 Orchard Street; tours often sell out, so it’s wise to book ahead. Costumed "residents" give glimpses into the daily lives

Ten must-see works at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

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Good for: Contemporary-art lovers Edgar Degas, Spanish DanceDegas loved dancers, and they became one of his favorite motifs. This tiny sculpture of a graceful nude figure midmove, which appears alongside two other Degas sculptures, was actually cast from the artist's model posthumously under the

Bronx Museum of the Arts

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• Free

Founded in 1971 and featuring more than 800 works, this multicultural art museum shines a spotlight on 20th- and 21st-century artists who are either Bronx-based or of African, Asian or Latino ancestry. The museum sporadically offers family programming.