Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Location: 280 The Fenway, Boston

Time: Tue -Sun 11am -5pm

Age appropriateness: All ages

Cost: Varies

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum houses an intimate collection of fine and decorative art and is a vibrant, innovative venue for contemporary artists, musicians and scholars. Its building is just as stunning as the art work is houses: a stunning 15th-century Venetian-style palace with three stories of galleries surrounding a sun- and flower-filled courtyard, the Museum provides an unusual backdrop for the viewing of art.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum contains more than 2,500 pieces of art--some of the most recognized artists in the world, including Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargent.

The museum opened to the public in 1903 with a musical and visual arts celebration. Following an opening concert of Bach, Mozart, Chausson and Schumann performed by members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, mirrored doors were rolled back to reveal the spectacular interior courtyard, brimming with flowers and dramatically lit with Japanese lanterns. Surrounding the courtyard, galleries displayed art in a highly intimate and personal setting.