M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, Fine arts museum in Golden Gate Park, United States
The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum is an art museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California, housed in a building wrapped in copper panels that reflect and absorb light throughout the day. A tower measuring approximately 44 meters (144 feet) rises above the surrounding trees, offering views in every direction across the park and city beyond.
The museum grew out of the California Midwinter International Exposition held in 1894, with the building opening the next year to house exhibits from that event. After decades in a period revival building damaged by earthquakes, the institution moved into a new structure in the early 21st century designed to meet seismic standards.
The institution honors Michael H. de Young, a San Francisco newspaper publisher who championed the founding of the museum after a world exposition. Visitors can walk through galleries dedicated to American painting, where works from different centuries hang side by side, while the African sculpture collection occupies specially designed rooms that highlight the objects' forms and textures.
Access is from Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive in the eastern section of Golden Gate Park, near other cultural institutions and green spaces. Visitors planning to use the observation platform should expect wait times, as the space at the top holds a limited number of people at once.
The copper facade changes color over the years through natural oxidation, so no two visits show the same appearance on the outer walls. The perforated copper panels allow daylight to filter into interior spaces, creating shifting patterns of light on the gallery walls throughout the day.
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