Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Art museum in Fenway-Kenmore, Boston, United States
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Fenway-Kenmore, Boston, designed after a 15th-century Venetian palace. The glass-covered courtyard forms the center of rooms displaying more than 7500 artworks from Europe, Asia, and America.
The museum founder opened the building in 1903 to share her personal art collection with the public. After her death in 1924, the building was preserved unchanged according to her will, without selling or rearranging works.
The collection remains arranged as its founder placed it during her lifetime, giving each room a personal touch. Visitors experience the building as a private home, where paintings, furniture, and sculptures stand side by side without labels or modern barriers.
Entry is available Wednesday through Monday, free for visitors under 17. Digital room guides help with orientation and provide details about artworks in the different galleries.
The empty frames from 13 stolen works in 1990 still hang in their original places in the galleries. The theft remains one of the largest unsolved art heists in history, and the missing paintings remind visitors of the gap in the collection.
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