The Gardner Museum

Another wonderful field trip we took this week was to the Gardner Museum.  Back in the late 19th and early the 20th century, Isabella Stewart Gardner used her wealth to collect art.  She then build the museum to house her impressive collection and show it to the world.  She had to expand the building once in her lifetime.  The gorgeous new wing, a contemporary building built beside the original and now the official entrance, just opened about a month ago.

Upon her death she left an endowment for the museum with the stipulation that the art be left as she placed

All children up to age 18 are always free. Typically adult admission is $15, but visiting with my mother and aunt we again made use of a library pass that allowed up to 4 adults to be admitted for $5 each.  The museum is well worth it.

The boys did really enjoy the art and wondering through the many rooms.  Everyone was impress with the beautiful courtyard mosaic and garden at the center of it all.  We may go again with our history co-op as we are studying the late middle ages/early renaissance and the museum has an abundance of pieces from this period.

The museum was the target of a highly publicized and yet unsolved theft in 1990 when 13 pieces were stolen including two by Rembrandt.   The empty frames remain on the wall keeping vigil in hopes of their contents' return.