Albany Institute of History & Art

Albany Institute of History & Art

Albany Institute of History & Art
4.5
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
About
Step inside one of the oldest museums in North America for a glimpse of what life was like in old Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley through an amazing collection of furniture, clothing, paintings, silver and photographs, all celebrating the importance of this region in American history.
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles180 reviews
Excellent
113
Very good
47
Average
17
Poor
2
Terrible
1

Big Duck 09
New York City, NY100 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Solo
One of those local museums that is a real find. Beautiful modernized building, helpful staff and some very interesting exhibits both local (Hudson River School Art) and topical. Very well curated. A must visit in the Capitol Region.
Written 24 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

NYC Explorer
13 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Solo
You know your museum experience may not be the best when you spend almost as much time in the museum gift shop than viewing the actual collections. First getting to the museum on WAZE was easy - it took me through Empire Plaza which is the jewel of Albany modern International Style architecture and then near the city center is situated the Albany Institute of History & Art. Finding Parking in downtown Albany is a nightmare - even the Visitor Parking lot was completely full. Albany has a major parking problem because there are not any daily parking garages and street parking is only 2 hours. Thankfully the museum has a parking lot but it was nearly full. My guess is 90% of the parked vehicles were NOT visitors as I was the ONLY visitor during the time I stopped in!!!!!! So maybe they may want to issue a badge to put in the windshield of the car to make sure visitors have parking spaces. And have the rest towed. Finally after getting the car parked, I entered a museum complex that was partly Victorian original complimented with a contemporary newer wing of glass and modernism. The atmosphere was very inviting although showing some age (it felt 1970s modern). All of the docents were very friendly, very helpful. The overall presentation of the museum was disappointing. I'm sorry to say this to the curatorial staff who may read this review. In the future they should offer a larger variety of revolving exhibitions rather than one. The Marine Art Exhibition was a temporary exhibit of MANY works of art, painting, sculpture and some unique 2D works on display. But the overall exhibit was average in the works displayed - a handful of paintings were above average in talent. And it went on and on for several rooms. In the future the best works should be displayed in 2 rooms and other rooms should be used to feature other exhibits. I sound very critical but for $10, I expect as a visitor to see only the best of the best and more of other things. Albany has a rich history of colonialism, Native American life, manufacturing, industry, decorative arts, architecture of homes and business, river life, etc. I was expecting to see so much more here to learn more about Albany and NY state. The sculpture atrium featured works by Palmer and others and was very well presented. The curators did a great job in the historical relay. And the Victorian architecture enhanced the experience with the beautiful stair cases. Elevators are in the building complex as well. The upstairs featured more of the sculpture. From here the museum could do more on directional signage. They were in process of doing a new exhibit. In the future they may want to create standup banners to conceal the dull empty cases. The banners could feature history on the building and museum itself to be used whenever they need to conceal work in progress. The Egyptian area was a surprising feature of the museum but the way it was presented was VERY dated. The actual arrangements were done beautifully but the wall and ceiling decor need a major refresh. Doing rooms in Turquoise blue and the next in beige etc would be more exciting. I felt it was very clinical and despite the mummy and art, which was amazing, the presentation was extremely academic. The historical content presented by the curators was very well done - easy to read and full of interesting facts and information. The rooms were very small for such a gem of the collection. The removed artwork in some cases would have been nicer if a photo description was provided to show what the museum had removed. Next, the largest gallery was a display of the Hudson River School painters, NOT paintings, because some paintings showed scenes depicting other locations like Italy. A bit confusing. I think this gallery could be more enhanced. For example the Met, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Rochester Museum of art compliment the period paintings with decorative arts. Showing 19th century examples of furnishings, sculpture, ceramics etc in the center or sparsely around would have made this much more elevated. The last small gallery was one of the most interesting featuring examples of decorative arts and textiles from the colonial period. This was more of what I was expecting the entire museum to be more like - a mixture of the history and art together to show the social class comparison and context.

The cafe was no longer in operation. Some snacks were in the space on sale. The gift shop gets 5 stars for presentation, friendly staff, a wealth of art and history resources - many books of interest and thematic gift options all beautifully presented. Restrooms on the ground floor were clean and okay.

The last criticism is the lighting. Many of the exhibit areas had poor lighting in places where placards or signage was, especially in the Egyptian galleries - not easy to read in partial darkness.

If this museum was funded by the state of NY and a free admission museum I would give it a much higher rating and encourage seeing. A $5 fee would be acceptable. But for $10 I was glad I did not have to pay extra for parking. Sorry but this was rather disappointing overall.
Written 17 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Robin L
Adams, MA177 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2023
This was a fantastic place with the usual museum stuff, but holy cow, a big room full of paintings from the 1800s. Very nice nature scenes, Hudson River, farms, cows. All very nice, and no modern art anywhere! If you like older art, you will love this.
Unfortunately the second floor was closed while they are installing a new exhibit, but it was still worth the visit. We may go back to see the new exhibit.
Ample parking in their lot. If you have a NARM card it's free admission.
Written 21 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

N0rmalee
Bossier City, LA674 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2022 • Couples
This place was strongly recommended to us by a local but we were unimpressed. They had a few paintings from the Hudson River group of artists. There was a lot of ceramic stuff- plates and ewers and such, some sculptures, a LOT of paintings by some children’s author/illustrator Jan Brett, early maps and a sarcophagus with a mummy in it! Certainly a diverse collection on the 2nd and 3rd floors. $8 admission fee seems high.
Written 21 September 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

ChrisH
Frederick, MD525 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
Two adults visited this museum on a Friday in mid-August 2022 and had a great time. We spent the entire day there (about seven hours including time for lunch) looking and reading about all of the exhibits. YMMV, but the museum could certainly be seen in much less time. We tend to read all of the posted information. The third floor was our favorite with their Egyptian rooms, map rooms and art exhibits. Lots to see. Probably would not bring very young children but elementary school age and above would be fine. There is no food or drinks available for purchase at the site.
Written 27 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Noa
Natick, MA3 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022 • Family
Very nice museum. Even with 3 kids and 3 teenagers we all enjoyed it! The variety of paintings, maps, statues, special exposition etc made it interesting for everyone. Entrance is not too pricey.
There is a parking in the back!
Perfect place to visit to spend around 2 hours.
Written 22 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jjanen
Lake Wales, FL278 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021 • Solo
Is very interesting and diverse museum. They have lots of different exhibits. They had 2 mummies, an exhibit on railroads, sculpture, historic paintings and landscape paintings and history displays.

Worth the time to stop in. Staff is friendly and efficient. Enjoyed my visit very much.
Written 25 June 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

kzsull01
Windsor, CT365 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2021
My husband and I visited the Albany Institute of History and Art in Albany, New York on Wednesday March 31, 2021. This museum is about an hour and forty-five minutes from our house, but it has always been worth the long trip, being a nice walk back through time. The exhibits have been consistently interesting, informative and quite educational, being a good lesson in art, history, culture, politics and much more, depending on what is applicable.

This time we really enjoyed the Special Exhibit: ‘A Sense of Time: The Historical Art of L. F. Tantillo’. It is a very impressive and excellent representation of historical fine art, truly a great treasure, including numerous marine scenes with a particular focus on New York State, the Albany area and the Hudson River Valley. More details about our experience viewing this exhibit are provided below in the Special Exhibit section.

All the exhibits in this museum are nicely curated and have detailed write-ups describing them that are very well done. We have visited this museum multiple times and have always been impressed with its nice mixture of various types of art work, including many beautiful Hudson River School paintings included in the Permanent Collection, which are always nice to see and are another great treasure in the museum. Details about both the Special Exhibits and Permanent Collection are provided below..

Our visit to the museum took about an hour and a half this time. The museum staff member at the front admission desk was very friendly and helpful, providing details regarding where each particular exhibit was located. The write-ups/documentation that he provided to us were also quite helpful. However, the timed tickets that were recommended but not required caused us to delay our visit a couple of times. We prefer more flexibility and not having to be at the museum at a specific time. But we appreciate that the timed tickets applied to an hour span of time.

It is great that the museum offers convenient free parking in the museum’s parking lot, which is located behind the museum just before the intersection of Dove Street and Elk Street. We have been lucky to get one of the last parking spaces the times we parked in this lot.. We have parked in both the museum’s parking lot and across the street from the front of the museum on Washington Avenue, which is metered parking that is free on Sundays. Specifically the days that we parked in the museum’s parking lot included a Sunday (around 12:20 PM) and a Wednesday (around 11:00 AM) and both times there was very limited parking available.

In the past, our car navigator has led us to the parking lot behind the museum automatically. But this time it led us a different way and we had issues finding the museum. It led us to the front of the building on Washington Avenue. To get to the parking lot from Washington Avenue heading towards the state capital, take a left at the Intersection of Washington Avenue and Dove Street, just before the museum. The parking lot will be your first right. . .

Special Exhibits:

We highly recommend the Special Exhibit: ‘A Sense of Time The Historical Art of L. F. Tantillo’. This exhibit is really quite inspirational and has a variety of different historical fine art paintings nicely classified under nine different themes, ‘Native People’; ‘New Netherlands’; ‘New Amsterdam’; ‘the English Colony’; ‘A New Nation’; ‘Steam Powers a Nation’; ‘Building Interest’; ‘Technology and Defense’’ and ‘En Plein Air’.. The text/write-ups that accompanies each work were written by the artist, Len Tantillo, are very informative, interesting and educational. The background on the artist is quite impressive, including his reliance on a network of dedicated historians, leading to a consensus on texture and tone in his artwork. Also, his ideas about history, including that: ‘history is all what we share and joins us together’ represents a great perspective. I loved the many boat/marine scenes, including the steam ships; the Fort Orange scene showing how Albany looked in 1635; the ‘Siege of Fort William Henry, 1757’ scene, depicting the historic battle that took place on the banks of Lake George, New York in 1757; the section on ‘Plein Air’ painting; as well as the artist speaking about his work in the background. This exhibit is definitely well done and we are glad to have had the opportunity to view it during our visit at the museum this time.

The Special Exhibit: ‘Fellow Citizens: Dewitt Clinton (1769 – 1828) Broadsides of the Early Republic’ has a lot of material to read but is of historical significance, providing good context to American life at the time the broadsides were created. Included in the exhibit is details about the background of Dewitt Clinton, the sixth governor of New York and about his Uncle George governor of New York for seven terms. Political Broadsides related to the elections of 1789, 1792, 1795, 1798 and 1801 are on display with information about each gubernatorial race, including: the candidates running for governor, lieutenant governor, party, number of votes and percentage of votes. Information about Albany and a very historic map of the city; the New York State Constitution of 1777 and Voting Rights is also on display. Interesting information on the parties of the elite Federalists and Democratic-Republicans of more moderate means, who promoted equal opportunity for all men, equal rights and free markets, is also provided. This exhibit is quite interesting and definitely a good lesson in history.

The Special Exhibit: ‘A Fresh Look at Eighteenth Century Portraits’ is quite interesting, especially from the perspective of the methods and procedures for conserving works of art that are three hundred years old and which have undergone earlier restoration and conservation treatment. The exhibit helped me really appreciate this type of art and the efforts required for its conservation and preservation. The preserved versions of the artwork on display looked great!!

Permanent and On-Going Exhibits:

The gallery of Hudson River School paintings on display in salon fashion is beautiful. It was very nice to have been provided with documentation at the front admission desk that included the title of each numbered painting on display along with other information describing the painting. There were 83 paintings included on the list of paintings on display. The document also included a quick guide to scan to get more information about the paintings on view. The overview about the paintings in the middle of the gallery gives good background information, including historic context for these paintings. The overview provides a good comparison of Hudson River School landscapes and Impressionist landscape styles. The paintings in this gallery are nostalgic and show the country during decades of transformation from small farms to a nation of industry and cities with rapid westward expansion and social and political turmoil that reshaped the nation’s identity and cultural outlooks.

The on-going exhibit on Ancient Egypt, has a great collection of nice artifacts and curios, including mummies, jewelry, as well as a good display on ‘Animals in Ancient Egypt’. This exhibit has nicely done write-ups providing good background information covering such topics as ‘Gods and Goddesses’; ‘The Afterlife’ ‘Crafts and Professions’; ‘Samuel W. Brown: The Man Who Bought the Albany Mummies’; ‘Ankhefenmut and His World’; and ‘Ankhefenmut as a Sculptor and Priest’..

The on-going exhibit on ‘Traders and Culture: Albany and Shaping of American Identity’ is a good lesson in history. It provides interesting details on how the values, culture and character of current Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley have been shaped by the diverse people of colonial Albany and the objects that reflect the early inhabitants’ interests, values, and interactions. The diverse people who shaped colonial Albany and the objects that reflected their interests and values are nicely illustrated. Also, the ways that Albany’s cultural identity evolved from the commercial and social interactions of its people, in the process constructing a unique culture and values that define us today as Americans is well depicted. Subject areas included in this exhibit were Life and Work; Trade, Commerce and Conflict; Traders and Culture; Social Identity; and Albany’s social economic, political and cultural connections to the Netherlands

We recommend visiting this museum. We enjoyed it and hope that you have the opportunity to visit it and enjoy it as well. An added bonus to the museum are all the interesting dioramas scattered throughout the museum!!
Written 6 April 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Patricia D
Niskayuna, NY6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2020
We had a wonderful time at the Albany Institute of History and Art today! Highlights are the Hudson River School paintings, Egyptian mummies and the Mohawk/Hudson area artist works.

Afterwards, we enjoyed the museum cafe and cafe sitting area (which is in a lovely historic room ).

We ordered our timed tickets 2 days prior, which were delivered to my email. We parked in the street, but there is a parking lot in the rear of the building (where there is an enterance as well).
Written 11 October 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

kungfuNewJersey
New Jersey97 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
A great museum- not to big, not to small, but JUST right! Wonderful works of art representing the Hudson valley, beautiful sculptures, and a cafe with good coffee and macrons. Nice way to spend a few hours in Albany.
Written 15 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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ALBANY INSTITUTE OF HISTORY & ART: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Frequently Asked Questions about Albany Institute of History & Art

Albany Institute of History & Art is open:
  • Sun - Sun 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Wed - Sat 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM


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