Birmingham, a city located in the north-central region of Alabama, is an important hub of historic and tourist attractions in the United States. Its cultural district is home to the Birmingham Museum of Art.  

All about the Birmingham Museum of Art

The museum was founded in 1951, and it encompasses over 180,000 square feet of space. It has one of the finest collections of art in the United States that includes over 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts that represent different cultures. It also features an outdoor sculpture garden. Here are notable Collections in the Museum

– Asian Art Collection: With over 4,000 objects, it is the largest and most comprehensive Asian collection in the Southeast, and it features the finest array of Vietnamese ceramics. It also includes one of the most important jade collections in the United States.

– Kress Collection of Renaissance Art: Baroque paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts from the late 13th century to the 17th century.

– European Decorative Arts Collection: It comprises over 12,000 objects dating back to the 18th-century which includes examples of English ceramics and French furniture of the Louis XIV, XV, and XVI periods.

– African Art Collection: Collection of nearly 2,000 objects from the major culture groups of sub-Saharan Africa. Dating from the 12th century, the collection has fine examples of figure sculpture, masks, ritual objects, furniture, and ceramics that include an Egyptian false door, a Yoruba mask, a Benin bronze hip pendant, and a divination portrait of a Dahomeyan king.

Other features of the museum

Clarence B. Hanson Jr. Library is one of the most comprehensive art research libraries in the United States. Home to a broad range of materials that includes general art reference works, auction catalogs, artists files, periodicals, indexes, exhibition catalogs, and databases.

Charles W. Ireland Sculpture Garden: A beautiful multi-level sculpture garden that showcases works of various artists and three site-specific artworks commissioned by the Museum; A water wall, a pool of textured granite blocks set into the curving east wall of the garden, and Lithos II.  

It should be of note that the museum is part of the Monuments Men and Women Museum Network.

How to get there?

The Birmingham Museum of Art is situated at 2000 Rev. Abraham Woods Jr. Blvd. North Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.A. Opening hours are from 10 am to 5 pm on Tuesday to Saturday and 12 pm to 5 pm on Sundays. For more information on tickets, visit