Welcome to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (with Audio Description))

Welcome to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a magical setting in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, where art and community come together to inspire new ways of envisioning our world. Embodying the fearless legacy of our founder, the museum offers an invitation to explore the past through a contemporary lens, creating meaningful encounters and joyful connections for all. Isabella Stewart Gardner opened her historic palace in 1903 for the enjoyment and education of the public forever. A new building was added to the museum in 2012 with many amenities including a special exhibition gallery, concert hall, education studio, gift shop, restaurant, and staff offices. When you come to visit the Gardner Museum, you'll enter through this new wing, which is illuminated by natural light coming in through the glass doors, windows, and walls. After getting your ticket at the admissions desk in the lobby and placing any jackets or backpacks and coat check, you'll make your way past the gift shop behind you to the rest of the museum. If you want to visit special exhibitions and performances, you can take the gray elevator to your left or staircase to your right to head upstairs. If you want to visit the historic art collection and courtyard, you can go past the stairs through the long glass pathway that connects the new wing to the palace. Once entering the historic palace, your senses may be activated. You are plunged into the dimness of the hallway with its cool stone floors and brick walls before moving into the natural sunlight streaming in through the glass roof over the four-story central courtyard. Palm trees tower over the garden as well as numerous flowers, plants, and ancient sculptures dispersed symmetrically around a tile mosaic. The air might feel a little warm and humid and the scent of fresh flowers wafts over you. Water trickles from the fountains. Surrounding the courtyard are stone floors and red brick walls forming galleries called the Cloisters, featuring a mix of medieval and renaissance sculpture. Behind these brick walls are more galleries full of paintings, furniture, sculptures, textiles, and archival materials. On the second and third floors, whose galleries are brightened by sunlight coming through the balconies and windows, there are several well-known masterpieces. You can access these floors using the main stone staircase along the west side of the building or the elevator on the south side of the building. Galleries are named after important renaissance artists such as the Raphael Romantician Room or after countries like the Dutch Room and early Italian Room. Mrs. Gardner decided where every single artwork and object was placed in each room or on each wall, sometimes putting things from different countries and centuries together. She created her installations to evoke an emotional response in visitors. That's why, unlike at other institutions, there aren't conventional labels in this museum. She wanted you to find your own meanings. As you explore the museum, we encourage you to immerse yourself in the environment that Isabella created. We hope you enjoy what you discover and leave feeling inspired.