Brooklyn Museum

Tickets, Egyptian Collection & Visitor Guide to Brooklyn's Beaux-Arts Museum

⏱ 2-3 hours👤 All ages$$

The Brooklyn Museum opened on its current site at the edge of Prospect Park in 1897. Designed by McKim, Mead & White as one of America's most ambitious encyclopedic art museums, the Beaux-Arts building was originally planned at four times its current size — what stands today is just the front quarter of the never-completed master plan.

The collection is 1.5 million objects deep, with several internationally significant holdings. The Egyptian collection is the largest in the US outside the Metropolitan Museum, with mummies, papyrus scrolls, and tomb objects spanning 3,000 years. The Sackler Center for Feminist Art is the permanent home of Judy Chicago's monumental installation The Dinner Party (1979), one of the most influential American artworks of the 20th century. The African art galleries are among the country's most respected; the American decorative arts (period rooms, furniture, ceramics) cover four centuries.

The contemporary program is where Brooklyn earns its reputation. The museum has consistently mounted shows other institutions avoided — surveys of David Bowie, Frida Kahlo, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Christian Dior, and the controversial 1999 Sensation show that became a national First Amendment case. The annual First Saturdays (free monthly evening with music, films, dance) draws thousands of locals and is one of NYC's better free cultural events.

Combine with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden next door (separate ticket but adjacent grounds) for a full Brooklyn cultural day. Prospect Park itself surrounds the museum on three sides.