Harvard Art Museums
Three Harvard collections under one Renzo Piano roof, with a glazed courtyard and study centre.
The Harvard Art Museums bring together three institutions with distinct histories: the Fogg Museum, founded in 1895 and devoted largely to Western art; the Busch-Reisinger Museum, the only collection in North America dedicated to the art of German-speaking Europe; and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, whose holdings cover Asian, Islamic and later Indian art. Together they hold roughly 250,000 objects, assembled as much for teaching as for display, and the institution remains part of Harvard University's academic structure.
The buildings were unified in a six-year project completed in 2014, when Renzo Piano Building Workshop wrapped the 1927 Fogg structure in new galleries and glass. The historic Calderwood Courtyard, modelled on a sixteenth-century Italian canonry, survives at the heart of the plan, now crowned by a glazed roof that pulls daylight down through the building. A rooftop lightbox, open study centre and conservation laboratories are all visible to visitors, and admission is free.
Highlights
- Calderwood Courtyard beneath Renzo Piano's glazed rooftop lightbox
- Busch-Reisinger holdings of German and Central European modernism
- Art Study Center where visitors may view works close up
- Straus Center for Conservation visible from the upper galleries
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