Lovely museum with a variety of exhibits. I was very excited to view the new armor collection they have on exhibit. It's a vast collection with full suits of armor down to the smallest embelishment, cerfemonial or functional. Pieces include European and Asian examples. The exhibit is included with admission and has timed entry so be sure to book ahead to get your desired time slot. A small kids area in the exhibit has art supplies and books in case the adults are taking too long. Directly across from the armor exhibit we viewed the "Peaceable Kingdom" exhibit. Artists around the world have submitted works of their interpretation based on the original painting. Some artist included information explaining their thoughts working on the project. Many of the pieces are very insightful. A recreation of an Italian palazzo courtyard showcases a roman mosiac floor. Gorgeous. Also on this level is a 12th century Charter House moved from France. The museum has adorned this space with period stained glass from England and mimic candle light with electric candelabra to set the scene. A small cafe near the moasic floor offers sandwiches, coffee, tea, water, sweets, soft drinks, soup and salad. The gift shop is by the entrance on this side of the building and offers a large variety of gift items including note cards, ornaments, books, games, kitchen items, hand bags and more. On the next level up in the palazzo are a series of galleries flowing into each other displaying European art from the 11th century to the early 20th. Behind this area you will find egyptian art and more. One exhibit included a kiosk with more information about items in that collection and a comfortable sofa and seating. At the time of this review, the third level is being renovated. The fourth level is modern art (Andy Warhol and Christos for ex.) and collection preservation labs. Fifth level seems to be an event space. Free lockers are available in the coat rooms near the ticketing desk. Class rooms are located near the Lance St. entrance. See their website for available classes. A free parking lot for museum patrons is available across Lance St. There is a cross walk with wheelchair ramps on/off the sidewalks here. An elevator is available to the left of this entrance if you cannot navigate steps. Interior elevators move between levels as do staircases. Restrooms are on a couple of levels and have diaper stations. A water fountain (bubbla) is near the elevator and restrooms. A few wheelchairs are available on a 'first come' basis. Discounted entry is available, see website for details. Most definitely recommend. I very much enjoyed our visit. Plan to possibly spend a few hours. You can easily spend hours looking at all that armor. You can also make a quick run through if you are short on time. On a side note, the Salisbury Mansion is located behind the museum and well worth a look if you have time. read more

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The Worcester Art Museum is packed with memorable exhibits, and I had a great time exploring them for 2.5-3 hours. I was able to make it through the entire museum at a leisurely pace. The Asian art section, especially the Japanese prints exhibit "Reflections of a Changing Japan: The Evolution of Shin Hanga" was a standout. The Roman mosaics taken from a floor of a home were definitely memorable. They're incredibly well-preserved and shows stories about life, mythology, and religion. I was amazed by the amount of skill and detail it must've taken to puzzle it back together after transporting it across the world. The ancient Egyptian exhibit was super cool, packed with statues, sarcophagi, and other artifacts. They also have some restored European and American oil paintings that were truly stunning, some looked insanely realistic. I spent the most time admiring this exhibit. I wasn't a fan of the contemporary art but one can say that I lack whatever it takes to fully appreciate it. It's a small museum but worthy of a visit. read more

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Small but impactful art museum covering ancient to modern art. It is well-curated and organized and has some very nice collections. We especially liked the Japanese print gallery and the tapestry room. Upon entering the main entrance, there's an amazing Roman mosaic floor and a complete medieval chapel house interior that you can walk into. You'll also see a few well-known names in the modern art galleries (a Warhol soup can, a pre-dribble Pollack, and a somber Magritte stood out to me). The museum can be covered in about an hour and probably 2 hours if you take your time to peruse the exhibits thoroughly. The staff is very nice and plenty of parking. read more

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Everyone was very helpful in guiding us through the museum. Making the beeswax candles was really fun (for kids or kid at heart). We also enjoyed putting on the armour helmet and arm protection. We had gone to see the Knight Armour collection my husband enjoyed the exhibit as he had never seen one. We were amazed at the Roman tile mosaic exhibits. I would highly recommend a visit. We plan on returning (note we live in CT) read more

I have always loved my visits and experiences at WAM. So many different galleries, available art classes, even the cafe and gift shop. Highly recommend on any visit to Worcester area! read more

Fantastic collection!!! Who knew a gem of a place like this existed in Worcester? They have paintings by known painters, armory, Egyptian artifacts, a rebuilt church room, a special current exhibit on Japanese woodblock prints, Roman mosaics, modern art, and more. A great way to spend a rainy afternoon! read more

This is one of my favorite places. Okay, so I'm a bit biased because I also got married there, but that's because it's held such a soft spot in my heart. I love museums, and as a Bostonian I do love the MFA. But there's something about WAM that elevates it above MFA. For me, it's the perfect size, with amazing exhibits that can be seen in an hour or two. The Renaissance Court is stunning and awe-inspiring, and the Chapter House (moved brick by brick from France) is jaw-dropping. read more

Worcester Art Museum - Art Museums Near Me - Worcester, Massachusetts

Whatever you do, don't bring your kids here. This museum has so much to offer. It had really awesome features were hands on was what they were looking for. Unfortunately, there hands on signs look just like the hands off signs and it becomes extremely confusing. I have never seen that many employees work at a museum. Every single area had employees actively watching every single move people made. Some rooms had multiple employees watching your every move. Every single display is in a case or on a wall. It's extremely unnerving to be in a two room area with a glass door separating us from leaving, but have a man constantly following your group from one room to the next. When we left that glass door area, he then tried to follow us into the next glass door area but must have been reassured when he saw there was yet another employee in the next area of glass doors just waiting to watch us look at paintings! This museum is well funded and has lots of space for their employees to constantly tell you not to touch things... even though we never touched one thing. They didn't even like if a child pointed to a painting BUT in the gift shop, while my rules are hands behind your back and please do not touch anything. The gift shop wanted to make sure the children knew, "THEY CAN TOUCH THAT." I explained our rules and we left the gift shop. It was a really interesting experience. read more

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This museum has a great collection. There are many floors, each with different time periods and types of art in an array of different rooms. Upon entering, you're met with a beautiful mosaic, and the Chapter House. Both were so incredible to see. At the time we went, they were doing some construction, so we didn't get to see their full collections, but I do plan to return when construction is finished so I can finish seeing everything. The staff was very friendly upon arrival, as well as parking being quick and easy for the time we went. The whole experience took around 3 hours, so if you plan to explore a large portion or full museum, make sure you have a good amount of time aside. read more

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Excellent art museum with a really wide variety of art. I really like the layout, which takes you from ancient art at the bottom floor, through the medieval-classic art of Europe of the next floor, and then more modern and contemporary art on the top floors (though randomly the precolombian mesoamerican art is at the top too). The museum also has a large quantity of arms and armor which I really enjoyed. Check it out! read more

Worcester Art Museum - Mosaic - Art Museums Near Me - Worcester, Massachusetts

I was in the area for one of my teens activities today, other teen and I spent the day exploring, this art museum came highly recommended. 0-17 is free and admission for adults is 18$. The museum is absolutely beautiful and filled with something for everyone. They're are a few hands on displays for kids. Would definitely go back again if in the area, a hidden gem! read more

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Wonderful museum with equally terrific gift shop. Always an enjoyable experience and always feel we've learned something valuable. We make sure to check the website regularly so we don't miss a new exhibition. read more

the museum is much larger than i remembered from my first visit with two full floors and two sorta half floors. parking was easy to find, and i went on a friday morning. the only downside was that some of the security guards would buzz around the room like a fly that couldn't figure out how to get out of a window, and so there was a little bit of breathing down my back. read more

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Wonderful small scale museum in the area. Doesn't have the expansive collection of, say, the MFA Boston, but it also doesn't have the price tag. Free lot parking (though it's small), lots of kids/school programs, and inexpensive tickets. I think our kids, all under 10, were free as well. The museum itself is easily walkable in an afternoon and though the whole thing isn't HUGE it has a lot of various periods and really well curated and designed collections. We especially loved the huge center atrium with the paired wall mural and floor mosaic. I don't want to describe it and spoil it, it's that good and that visually arresting. This is now a don't-miss on my museum list. I honestly waited too long to check it out. read more

What a great museum to spend an afternoon at. We decided to visit on a lark and had a wonderful visit. The quality of the collection is fantastic for a museum of their size. The mosaics when you enter are outstanding and the special exhibit from the British Portrait Gallery was fantastic. We'll with the trip and on top of that it was free admission because of the Chase museum promotion. read more

Definitely recommend if you are in Worcester. Parking is free. On the first Sunday, it is free for visitors. You can finish the whole museum in 3-4 hours. New visiting exhibitions are not to be missed. Bathrooms are sufficient even though some maybe a bit dated. read more

me: Hello, one, please. ticket counter person: Is this your first time here? me: Yes. ticket counter person: You'll be impressed. Enjoy your visit. Unlike the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston that sees over one million visitors a year, this smaller but nevertheless encyclopedic museum is trying to crack 200,000 visitors by 2020. From the outside, the Worcester Art Museum occupies an entire block. It's a large complex that, frankly, looks worn out. Pavement is cracking outside the Lancaster Street entrance and the mundane lobby can dash expectations of what's inside this place. (There are plans to overhaul the entrance and expand the square footage.) Once past the lobby, I opened the doors into the museum itself. Immediately, an old-timey museum scent rushed into my nasal passages. I'm not exaggerating. One gallery, in particular, had such an overpowering odor that I noticed some visitors enter then depart instantly; it was just too much for them. Some galleries look they haven't been refreshed since the late 1960s; wall colors and art work labels (including occasional misspellings) are firmly from a few generations ago. With that said, the bones of this museum and its contents easily make up for any of its shortcomings. WAM is worth a visit from Boston, New York City, and even Los Angeles, too. There are remarkable old masters on the walls. The Renaissance Court is a glorious open space. The Chapter House was the first medieval structure brought to the United States back in 1927. The quality of the sculptures in the Indian galleries is superb. The fresh pre-Columbian gallery has compelling works. Perhaps, most notably, their armor collection is second only to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (although there isn't a lot of it currently on display). The Mid-20th Century gallery is not strong in depth but what's here is all very good. (WAM, what's up with non-flash photography not being permitted in this gallery? You may be the only museum left in the US that has placed such limits photography-wise on a permanent collection.) For me, this museum's highlight is easily the 'Worcester hunt mosaic,' a gigantic 6th century Roman floor mosaic that is the largest on display in any North American Museum. You'll be impressed. Enjoy your visit. read more

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Surprisingly large museum. Took a couple hours to walk through. Nice balance of permanent collection on display vs traveling exhibits. Half price admission with a library pass. Easy access off I290 Free parking read more

It is a great place to be with family and friends. The exhibitions help you learn about other cultures. The staff is respectful, professional, and attentive. A place to always come back! read more

Worcester Art Museum - Between mosaics and paintings... - Art Museums Near Me - Worcester, Massachusetts

My family enjoyed our visit! We came early on a Friday and caught a bit of a string quartet concert right in the lobby. The collections are fun and varied. The building itself is large and interesting. But the layout, you guys...is the worst. We were pushing around a stroller so you basically had to find the elevators and they are the most unintuitive and confusing elevators there ever were! We tried to go to every exhibit but kept missing nooks, crannies or half floors that were pretty much as inaccessible as they could be. Most rooms had these narrow, heavy glass doors which were terrible for flow and caused many a blockage. There were also too many employees/volunteers that just hovered annoyingly close to you or watched you like a hawk. There were fewer than 10 parking spaces so be prepared for street parking! There weren't enough water fountains around the building to warrant a no-bottle rule. I'm just glad I came on a free day because I'd be pretty frustrated at paying for this. Cleveland art museum, Chicago art institute, Philly art museum are miles above this one. read more

As a life-long art lover, I was happy to see the collection at the WAM. Accessibility is a bit of a problem due to the age of the building, but the various collections include good representations of many varied periods. My brother, my daughter and I made the impromptu trip to come here and definitely glad we did. However we arrived there at 2 and weren't able to see the entire place so we'll have to come back...not that I'm complaining! One of the best part of the museum is that they have activities for children. Usually kids don't exactly get excited to visit museums. My little one is only ten months but knowing that this place is around for when she's older is great. She can learn bits about history while having fun. Best of both worlds in my book! read more

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An excellent find during our Thanksgiving trip to Boston. It was a dreary day and wanted to be out of the cold and rain. While we only had an hour to spend, it was well worth the trip. We were able to peruse the Portraiture exhibit and see a few of the holiday trees. It would definitely be worth a few hours and the price of admission to visit. read more

The Worcester Art Museum COULD be a great place-- but it stumbles in so many different ways. The Cafe, which is overpriced to begin with, is open some wacky hours like 11-230-- and the museum itself closes weekdays at 5-- are people with jobs supposed to call in sick to visit? The gift shop is five stars and so is the museum collection. It's just lacking a lot of things that could really bring this to a full on MFA type of experience. read more

This museum is gorgeous! Not being from the area my friend and I drove well over 2 hours to check out the "Meow" exhibit only to find out we'd missed it by about 2 months. Whoops. Seeing our sad little faces tho the lady up front let us go in for free which was so nice and she didn't have to do that!!! It was appreciated. It took us a few hours to hit all four floors and the gift shop, but it was worth it. The only downer for me was the high temperature on the higher floors but I also tend to run hot. My favorite, hands down, was the modern art exhibit. Out if this world. I highly recommend this museum...... maybe more for adults or those with older children tho as it's large and not a hands on type experience. Really beautiful. read more

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I've never been much for art museums, but everytime I visit I see something special. When taking a break they have an excellent restaurant, but check the hours. The restaurant closes much earlier Wonderful place for a date and kids read more

Fresh new ideas experienced in an Old Dusty museum! Brilliant marketing of the cats exhibition (a billboard on the highway) pulled me into this gem in a hard luck city. Community Minded: Free for the month of August and many other free times through the year. Plenty of parking, lovely outdoor play area and cafe, wonderfully knowledgeable and helpful staff, and a community art show in the museum. Cats sucked me in: New Fresh Ideas are evident in the management and marketing of this museum. The featured exhibit was Cats, and, well, it was kind of a stretch. A lot of filler, a lot of art that wasn't really worthy of exhibit but was pulled in because well, CATS! And sorry but I loved it. Because well, CATS! cAaaaaaats!!!! I personally would have added a modern video montage of Internet cat videos. The collection: if it weren't for the fresh idea to do a "Cat Walk" map to guide me to the additional cat artworks throughout the museum, I never would have pushed myself to go to all four floors, multi levels and get lost on my way to see the whole solid collection that spans ancient Olmec carvings through contemporary video art. Method of display: Loved LOVED the room of art without any labeling! Enjoy the art without knowing the who or when. Brilliant. some of the wall cards are soooooo old and dusty and crookedly typed in a typewriter, and I hope they don't change that. So charming. PS, the rural graveyard is two blocks away and is a 40 acre Victorian era garden park with Mosoleums and memorials of many statesmen. read more

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Worcester's winter thaw Epic snow crumbles concrete Patrons use caution #NOLA_Haiku #Haiku #Worcester #WPI #BostonWinter #WorcesterArtMuseum read more

Worcester Art Museum - New show opens this week! - Art Museums Near Me - Worcester, Massachusetts

Free admission on Saturdays between 10-12. Looks like there is one staff per floor except for the main one of course! It was kinda annoying on the European painting floor - the dude just kept walking thru in circles (the gallery is like a ring). I suppose they are not allowed to be stationary. Kind of stalkish on every floor. Floor staff is much more welcoming at MFA. They have various collections of art from around the world (Roman, Greek, Asian, European, Etc). Some exhibits are still in the progress to be in place. I wish there were less plastic encasing or if the lights were angled differently so my pictures would come out better. At least they allow no flash photography! read more

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I love this museum! I live an hour away, but I am member and have gone to several Flora in Winter events. Today's was the best by far. Arrangements & interpretive designs were absolutely breathtaking. Staff are helpful and friendly. I've been to several MFA Art in Blooms and I truly like WAM better. The first year I went was long before Covid and I have to say the experience was different. They had floral design demos that were better than MFA. They had a wonderful catered lunch. Since covid there are fewer demos - and not as extensive. Their catered lunch has been downgraded to a salad and sandwiches. They were open in the morning and there were no breakfast foods (fruit, muffins?). No tea. Huh? Anyway we wound up not dining at the museum and went to Shrewsbury St (Restaurant Row) which we found out about thru a guide. Thank you! We had a great lunch - and the museum holds Flora during Restaurant week in Worcester - so diners take note. We ate at Via. It was terrific and a bargain! WAM has a lovely gift shop. During Flora they have musical offerings - always fun. Their regular collection and special exhibitions are worth the visit. Their armor collection alone is worth the drive. It's amazing. Just a really great way to spend a day. Highly recommend. read more

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Beautiful venue and nice art collection. On this particular day, a choir was performing in the atrium which was very pleasant sounding and full of Christmas spirit. Special exhibits we visited included the ReMastered works of 16th to 18th century artists and the Hubble Telescope image. Other collections we visited included the European art works, especially Impressionism which is my favorite, and modern works including one Pollock. Note that no Picasso artwork is included, which is a bit disappointing. read more

I spent such a wonderful Sunday afternoon with my mother here at WAM. The staff were friendly and kind. From the moment we walked in, we felt "at home" and very welcome. There is a coat room where you can hang up anything you don't want to carry around with you as you walk through the museum. The front lobby with the Roman bath mosaic is beautiful and so full of light. There are three main floors with a bridge to another section of the museum. I enjoyed all of the surprises that awaited me around every corner. My favorite was the kimono exhibit. I didn't realize how much I had missed physically walking around a museum surrounded by art until now...even if my glasses were fogging up from behind my mask. This was truly a wonderful experience I would recommend to anyone! read more

Worcester Art Museum - Art Museums Near Me - Worcester, Massachusetts

This is a once and done place. Family members visiting from out of town wanted to see WAM so we went. Having been before I was bored, especially since they are the type to stop and read every caption. The collection covers a lot of different periods and regions on four floors. There was one ho-hum temporary exhibit. Some galleries were closed. The first floor had some touch this items for children, from their merger with Higgins Armory, but for the most part this place is not child friendly. Wait until your kids are at least tweens and express some interest before bringing them here. Two of our party had lunch in the cafe. The food was fresh, tasted good, and came in ample portions - too ample in the case of a sandwich that would in no way fit in someone's mouth and had to be disassembled. There were many healthy options and unique combinations of ingredients. This was the highlight of the trip for me. The gift shop was fine, but didn't have any snacks or drinks. While free, parking is bad. I went to the second lot and the pitch is so steep it was hard to get in. Getting out was worse. My car scraped the bottom of the road so hard it knocked the car out of gear although I was inching along. All the passengers had to get out so I could clear the lot. It's tricky dealing with this as cars come in a fairly steady stream down the road. There is a concierge/security guard who called a patron a cab so you don't have to drive there, but it had been 45 minutes and no cab had come. The receptionist offered the man waiting a cookie, nice since that is not the museum's fault. All the staff are pleasant. read more

Parking-found parking in the back Ambience-awesome place Cafe-food was very good. I highly recommend it for lunch. Service-very good Prices-reasonable Cleanliness-very clean The place is a gem!! Focused foodie read more

Did you know there is a world class art museum in Worcester??!! Not exaggerating, I have been here over 50 times, and I still find new things to love. Excellent permanent collection (best bust of Caligula ever made), creative incorporation of the Higgins Armory collection, and awesome new exhibits that keep me coming back! read more

I've gone to this local museum twice now when visiting one of my best friends in Worcester and each time I go, I learn something from the beautiful pieces I see! The docents are especially knowledgeable and extremely friendly, providing so much information about different pieces. In Nov, we went for the Tiffany's stained glass exhibit- so beautiful! Don't miss out on the free museum days as well! read more

I am literally shocked by some of these reviews. "... can't compare to larger museums in big cities" Um, who said it was trying to?! The museum doesn't try to pretend it is anything but what it is. I walked in yesterday to get a feel for it. Though it is was free (Saturdays between 10 and 12PM are free), after talking to the information desk, I knew I'd love it and be back often so I purchased a membership. As after two and a half hours I had only made it through two floors just taking everything in, I am so glad I did purchase that membership. The Roman mosaics and Medieval chapel inside the museums addition are just incredible. The masters that hang and the paintings along side are so surreal. And yes, I have been to larger, more well-known museums. But the friendlier crowd allows you to saver each painting without too much of an interruption. One of my favorite paintings turned out to be such a surprise as I normally do not like Dutch or Flemish paintings very much due to the overly religious and/or dark tone but there was a Flemish painting called "Queen Eleanor of Austria" that was just so haunting and stirred such emotion for it. You could feel the sadness emulate from it. I also like that the museum works with students from Clark University. I love that students are given such a great opportunity. Can't wait to go back! read more

I want to write a review about WAM as a venue - my review as a museum will come at a later point (but I'm sure it will still be great from what I have seen thus far)!! I recently was married at WAM in the Renaissance Court. We hosted the wedding ceremony in this beautiful space and could not have been happier with the museum's space, decor, staff preparations and organization! We worked with Janice, who was a dream to coordinate with. She was professional and always on top of things. She would answer questions before asked, was always available to reach during business hours, and really made the process of planning go smoothly and effortlessly on our part. (We planned in whirlwind time as well.) Janice contacted our vendors, coordinated the schedule of the ceremony and gave great recommendations for musicians (basically everything you need!) The staff set up the chairs and were willing to organize additional rentals when needed. We want to thank WAM and Janice for making this process so incredibly easy, enjoyable, special and fun! We have already received so many compliments on the space and how smoothly things went! read more

Free for veterans and military - YAY! Small, quaint and delightfully surprising. A respite in the hustle and bustle, worth the visit. Walk in stressed, walk out inspired. read more

I've lived in Mass most of my life and didn't realize this museum existed until recently. I would go here just to see the mosaics, if that's all they had. But, they have much more. I prefer this size museum to the large museums like the MFA or MOMA. It doesn't have the institutional feel of those places, but has a fine art collection. They do a terrific job, in my opinion, of displaying the art. I'll definitely be back. read more

After reading some of these reviews, I would first like to state Worcester is not Boston nor does it want to be. Please stop comparing the two and try appreciating the many wonderful things Worcester has to offer. This museum is real beauty and one worth exploring. There is a great sampling of art spanning the centuries and I am certain there is something for everyone's taste. It is really too hard to describe something that should be experienced firsthand. I am 100% certain you will go and have a wonderful time. read more