Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri is one of the finest general art museums in the United States, housing a permanent collection of more than 42,000 works spanning five millennia of human creativity. The original 1933 neoclassical building — clad in Indiana limestone with a grand colonnaded facade — was expanded in 2007 by architect Steven Holl with the Bloch Building, a series of frosted glass lenses that emerge from the adjacent lawn and are best appreciated at dusk when they glow from within. The permanent collection's strongest holdings include European old master paintings, a world-class Asian art department with Chinese bronzes and Buddhist sculpture, a comprehensive photography collection, and one of the most significant collections of ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities in the central United States. The museum's outdoor sculpture garden is anchored by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's monumental Shuttlecocks — four giant badminton shuttlecocks placed as if fallen from the sky across the south lawn — which have become an icon of Kansas City's cultural identity. The Kansas City Sculpture Park surrounding the museum is open to the public 24 hours a day and free of charge. Inside, the Rozelle Court Restaurant operates during museum hours and serves lunch in a historic courtyard setting. Most of the permanent collection is free, making the Nelson-Atkins one of the best-value museums in Missouri. Friday evening hours until 9pm draw a lively post-work crowd and offer a more relaxed atmosphere than weekend afternoons.