Must-See Museums
A U.S. News tour of the new and noteworthy with local experts in tow |c Washington, D.C.; Houston; Santa Ana, California; Portland, Oregon; New York; Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama; Jersey City, New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles
There's no business like museum business. Dozens of institutions have sprouted since last summer, pushing the U.S. tally past 8,000. Some of these new halls are compact and uncomplicated, like the Norman Rockwell museum in Stockbridge, Mass., which features more than 500 of the artist's paintings and drawings. By contrast, you need six hours at Space Center Houston to really do it justice. And a new museum, like a new car model, needs to work out kinks--a confusing floor plan, indecipherable signs, exhibits that fall short. Atlanta's new Fernbank Museum of Natural History, for example, bills itself as the biggest natural-history museum southeast of the Smithsonian. It features an impressive robotic-dinosaur display and a Grand Canyon film that will certainly thrill kids. But Emory University paleontologist Anthony Martin notes that most exhibits rely on replicas instead of real specimens, that texts are often dry and that "the technology dazzles only enough to interest children." U.S. News visited the most noteworthy new and newly renovated museums--with local authorities along as commentators.
SCIENCE LIBERTY SCIENCE CENTER Liberty State Park, Jersey City, N.J., (201) 200-1000 Parents who prefer their kids not to bounce like Ping-Pong balls through the more than 250 exhibits at this world-class science museum "will have to work at focusing their attention," says Joan Lucid, a second-grade teacher who has visited with both her class and her own children. One strategy: Concentrate on one of the three exhibition floors and cruise through the rest. Children under 5 might prefer the environment floor, with its rock-climbing wall and irresistible collection of giant live bugs that can be touched on request. On the health floor, teenagers can try out a drunk-driving simulator while younger children climb through a fully-equipped ambulance. The invention floor is for tinkerers of all ages and includes a 10-foot-high boom crane that visitors can operate.
The museum's location near New York Harbor is a bonus--it boasts views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty that boggle even jaded New Yorkers. Ferries leave the park frequently every day for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and the crowds are smaller here than at the Manhattan terminal. Sun.-Wed. 9:30-6, Thurs.-Sat. 9:30-8:30. Admission: $9 adults, $8 seniors and students, $6 children 2-12.
OREGON MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY Portland, (503) 797-4000 The new OMSI opened in October 1992 in a reincarnated power plant, an airy building with a compelling view of downtown Portland. "There is more than you can absorb in one visit," advises Cyd Kaeser, a frequent visitor with and without her fourth-grade classes. There are six halls, for physical science, space science, information science, life science, earth science and a special exhibit called "What Makes Music?"
One-time visitors will want to stop by the stream table in the earth-science hall, where they can build a stream bed that will withstand erosion, using sand, rocks and logs. The earthquake room--you mount a furnished platform that rocks--provides the sensation of a 5.5 on the Richter scale (the 1989 San Francisco quake registered 6.9). The pre-natal development exhibit in the life-science hall displays real fetuses from a couple of weeks old to near birth age. "What Makes Music?" is hard to pass by--even if all you have time for is a quick dance on the oversize, floorbound keyboard. Sat.-Wed. 9:30-5:30, Thurs.-Fri. 9:30-9. Admission: $6.75 adults, $4 children 3-17.
SPACE CENTER HOUSTON Houston, (713) 244-2100 Plan to spend at least half a day--and then you probably won't see everything. Former astronaut Karol "Bo" Bobko, who piloted the maiden voyage of Challenger, suggests you begin at the mock-up of the planned space station for the "Living in Space" show, which takes a young volunteer from the crowd to demonstrate how astronauts eat, shower and even use a toilet in space. Visitors might also try simulating a shuttle landing by computer ("It's probably harder than the real thing," Bobko confides).
Of the museum's two tram rides, Bobko prefers the 75-minute Johnson Space Center Facilities Tour. It stops at the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory (an enormous vault that re-creates the vacuum of space for astronaut trainees), full-size mock-ups of the shuttle and the space station, and the Weightless Environment Training Facility (where astronauts train underwater in spacesuits). The other tram ride goes to the Mission Control Center--but only when no real launch is scheduled. The 45-minute tour is rather dull unless a flight simulation is going on. Daily 9-7 (summers, weekends and holidays); otherwise 10-6. Admission: $9.95 adults, $8.95 seniors, $5.95 children 3-11.
HISTORY BIRMINGHAM CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE Birmingham, Ala., (205) 328-9696 Some locals picketed the opening of the museum last fall, protesting that not enough of the "foot soldiers" of the civil-rights struggle are included. But the Rev. Edward Gardner, president of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and a leader of many early sit-ins, boycotts and marches, says he finds most of the exhibits "stirring and true to life." The first third of the tour, called "Barriers," displays replicas of such civil-rights-era symbols as a whites-only lunch counter and a segregated city bus. You might sidestep the "Confrontation" gallery, where Southern-accented voices swirl and overlap annoyingly as they spout cliches: "The Negro is only one step up from the chimpanzee." "The NAACP is a white man's organization fronted by Negro Uncle Toms."
The most affecting part of the exhibit is the "Movement" section. Efforts to stop discrimination are recounted in television footage, photos, original documents and newspaper coverage. The account of the 1961 Anniston, Ala., bus bombing is offered via a life-size replica of a burned-out Greyhound bus as well as arresting footage of Freedom Riders, white and black, being pulled off buses and beaten. Scenes of police wielding fire hoses against protesters, marches, tense sit-ins and packed jails are intermingled with present-day interviews with some of the people involved. Respite--and context--are provided by the voice of Martin Luther King Jr., reading from his "Letter From Birmingham Jail," explaining the necessity of bold action. His "I Have a Dream" speech is aired in its entirety. Sun. 1-5, Tues.-Sat. 10-6. Admission: free.
MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE Los Angeles, (310) 553-8403 From The Manipulator, the museum's host (brought to life on a 10-foot-tall stack of video monitors), to the Whisper Gallery in the Tolerance Center, where visitors are bombarded with racial and sexist epithets, fast and flashy interactive exhibits force museumgoers to confront their biases. In the section on the 1992 Los Angeles riot, for example, visitors watch videotape of Rodney King being beaten and are then asked whether they feel shock at what's happening to King or fear for themselves because they could have been in the same position. "This is a very powerful exhibit," says Cheryl Grills, associate professor of psychology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. "For many people, becoming Rodney King seems like a very real possibility."
The second part of the museum deals exclusively with the Holocaust and is as somber and purged of color as the Tolerance Center is bright and alive. Visitors journey from scenes of prewar Berlin to the gates of Auschwitz, encountering animated figures of Nazi perpetrators, collaborators and bystanders along the way. Although all the exhibits are painstakingly accurate, there are no artifacts. In the gas-chamberlike Hall of Testimony, the final stop on the tour, the personal accounts of Holocaust survivors are broadcast on television monitors.
Visitors can roam the Tolerance wing freely, usually in under an hour. The Holocaust section must be seen by tour, which takes about two and a half hours. The museum is not recommended for children under 11 and is closed on Saturday. Sun. 10:30-8:30, Mon.-Wed. 10-7:30, Thurs. 10-10:30, Fri. 10-5. Admission: $7.50 adults, $5.50 seniors, $4.50 students and $2.50 children 3-12.
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM Washington, D.C., (202) 488-0400 In the two months since it opened, this museum has been praised for its powerful exhibit on Hitler's war against the Jews and its disconcerting, industrial-style architecture. But seeing it can be difficult: Signs aren't always clear, three to four hours are needed to do the museum justice and the ticketing system adds to the chaos. To control crowds, ticket holders are assigned a time; lines for free tickets start forming at about 8:30 a.m. on weekdays, 7:30 a.m. on weekends. You can reserve $3.50 tickets in advance by calling Ticketmaster, (800) 551-7328.
The quantity and emotional weight of the material argue for two visits, suggests Richard Breitman, professor of history at American University and author of "Architect of Genocide: Himmler and the Final Solution." To skirt summer crowds, tourists might aim for a 10 a.m. start, with a brisk walk through the fourth-floor display on the Nazi rise to power. On the lower floores, Breitman says, it is easy to miss some potent displays--a rusty old milk can, for example, which was buried in Warsaw in 1942 or 1943 by historian Emanuel Ringelblum, who filled it with documents attesting to Jewish suffering; it was unearthed in 1950 by construction workers. The telegram dated Aug. 29, 1942, on the second floor, proves the U.S. State Department knew of the death camps early in the war. The text panels in the second floor display on "Rescuers" offer rare moments of inspiration: Stories of a German intelligence agent, a Polish housekeeper, a Bulgarian bishop and others who risked their lives to save Jews. The museum's permanent exhibition is recommended for ages 11 and up. "Remember the Children: Daniel's Story" is a separate exhibit for ages 8 to 14; no tickets are needed. Daily 10-5:30 except Yom Kippur and Christmas. Admission: free.
ART THE BOWERS MUSEUM OF CULTURAL ART Santa Ana, Calif., (714) 567-3600 Diversity is the buzzword at the compact Bowers, which reopened last October after a three-year, $12 million face lift that tripled exhibit space. Subject matter ranges from pre-Columbian archaeological finds to the art and architecture of 20th-century Orange County. The permanent collections of indigenous art from the Pacific Rim, Africa and the Americas are "wonderful for getting historic information in a charming and well-executed way," says Darryl Curran, chairman of the art department at California State University, Fullerton. He recommends that visitors with limited time head for the two special exhibits. Through July 31, there's "Art of the Himalayas: Treasures From Nepal and Tibet," 115 works dating back to the 7th century. Visitors might start at the end of the exhibit with the 28-minute video presentation that explains the religious significance of the Buddhist and Hindu objects glittering in the galleries. The "Head of Bhairava," an enormous 16th-century hammered gilt copper mask that dominates a gallery mid-exhibit, is particularly impressive both for its proportions and its fascinating function: A beerlike drink used to flow from the mouth during Tibetan religious celebrations.
The other must-see special exhibit is "African Icons of Power." Of the 100 ritualistic masks, architectural pieces and ceremonial objects, Curran suggests paying special attention to the fearsome antelope-skin-and-wood ceremonial headdress from the Calabar area of Nigeria (it depicts a face with protruding horns) and the 60-pound Ododua brass helmet mask from the 18th-century court of Benin. Tues.-Sun. 10-5 (Thurs. until 9). Admission: $4.50 adults, $3 seniors and students, $1.50 children under 12.
FREER GALLERY OF ART Washington, D.C., (202) 357-4880 This newly renovated Smithsonian museum of Asian art extends a welcoming hand to visitors. Breezy corridors, plenty of natural light, considerately low display cases for the wheelchair-bound and the sheer beauty of the objects themselves should dispel any notion that Asian art is inaccessible or overly exotic, says Gail Capitol Weigl, assistant professor of art history at the Corcoran School of Art. Clear, informative labels reinforce the attention to detail. Since all 19 galleries surrounding the courtyard contain masterpieces, visitors should walk quickly through and then return, as time permits, to linger over favorites. Absolute musts: the early Chinese bronzes, such as the intricately detailed ritual food container from 1050-1000 B.C.; the Buddhist art from India, China, Tibet and elsewhere and a room of Chinese landscape paintings and calligraphy spanning the 10th to the 18th centuries. Other highlights include the boldly colored Japanese screens, such as "Waves at Matsushima" (best viewed while seated, to get the proper composition), and the Peacock Room, a dining room from a London shipowner's home, decorated by James McNeill Whistler to be the setting for his painting, "The Princess from the Land of Porcelain." Daily 10-5:30 except Christmas. Admission: free.
THE MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART New York City, (212) 966-1313 One of only two institutions in the country devoted exclusively to African culture (the other is at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.), this small, serene museum in the heart of the Soho art district strives to present African art on its own terms. In the museum's softly lit spaces, visitors are encouraged by the wall texts to imagine the figures and masks on display here in the ritual performances for which they were intended--seen in semidarkness or only for an instant as they are swung about a dancer's head as part of a funeral procession, for instance, or impaled with nails to seal a contract.
The building is intended to be just as evocative. Designed with a sculptor's free hand by Vietnam Veterans Memorial creator Maya Lin, its malachite-green floors and indigo-blue walls suggest the sky and mineral-rich earth of Africa. After exploring the second-floor galleries, visitors descend to the first floor on a gray staircase, which New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp has likened to entering the Earth. A butter-yellow staircase brings them back up to the light.
As yet without its own permanent collection, the museum organizes shows of borrowed objects. This summer's exhibition, "Secrecy," deals with the way art is used to transmit, or restrict, knowledge. A beaded memory board looking remarkably like computer circuitry recounts the history of the Luba royalty of Zaire--but only to the initiated. Carved heads with mirrored eyes warn away trespassers from the relics of the dead. Of particular beauty and mystery, says art historian Mary Nooter, is a wooden figure from the Bebe people of Congo, said to contain the living breath of an ancestor. Family programs on Saturday afternoons include dance, mask making and storytelling. Wed., Thurs., Sun. 11-6, Fri.-Sat. 11-8. Admission: $3 adults; $1.50 seniors and children.
This story appears in the July 5, 1993 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.