Museums
Visit Santa Fe’s museums and wake up the artist within youǃ Whether you are 7, 17 or 70 years old, get inspired by the rich blend of history, arts and cultural heritage with more than a dozen state and private museums around Santa Fe.
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, opened to the public in July 1997, eleven years after the death of the artist from whom it takes its name. Welcoming more than 2,100,000 visitors from all over the world and being the most visited art museum in the state of New Mexico, it is the only museum in the world dedicated to an internationally-known woman artist.
New Mexico History Museum
New Mexico History Museum, opened in May 2009, will change the way that New Mexicans and visitors understand state history and the history of the nation. The new museum includes permanent and temporary exhibitions that span the early history of indigenous people, Spanish colonization, the Mexican Period, and travel and commerce on the legendary Santa Fe Trail.
New Mexico Museum of Art
Founded in 1909 by archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett, he begun holding art shows in the historic Palace of the Governors, and soon realized that an art gallery would be needed to effectively promote art throughout the region. The architects, Rapp and Rapp, built the wildly successful New Mexico pavilion for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego.
Museum Hill
Explore four world-class museums presenting the art, history and culture of the Native American Southwest, the Spanish colonial past and folk traditions from around the world.
Museum of Spanish Colonial Art
The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art is the newest museum on the Santa Fe scene and features objects from throughout the Spanish Colonial world, housed in a historical building designed by John Gaw Meem.
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
At the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, encounter Native cultures and artifacts of the Southwest from ancestral to contemporary, in exhibits drawing from more than 70,000 works of art and material culture.
Museum of International Folk Art
Experience the color and excitement of the world’s cultures, go to the Museum of International Folk Art and see an unparalleled collection that includes toys, textiles, household goods and religious art.
Wheelwright Museum of American Indian
New Mexico’s oldest private non-profit museum, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, emphasizes important Native American art in an eight-sided building inspired by a traditional Navajo hooghan.
The Palace of the Governors
The Palace of the Governors was originally constructed in the early 17th century, as Spain’s seat of government, for what is today the American Southwest, and chronicles the history of Santa Fe, as well as New Mexico and the region. This adobe structure, now the state’s history museum, was designated a Registered National Historic Landmark in 1960 and an American Treasure in 1999.
Fray Angelico Chavez History Library
The Fray Angélico Chávez History Library is the institutional successor of New Mexico’s oldest library (1851) and is part of the Palace of the Governors. A non-circulating, closed stack research facility, it preserves historical materials in many formats documenting the history of the state, the Southwest, and meso-America from pre-European contact to the present.
Rancho de las Golondrinas
El Rancho de Las Golondrinas is a living history museum located on 200 acres in a rural farming valley just south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The museum, dedicated to the heritage and culture of Spanish Colonial New Mexico, opened in 1972. Original colonial buildings on the site date from the early 18th century. Historic buildings from other parts of northern New Mexico have been reconstructed at Las Golondrinas.
Find Out More
Day Trips & Pueblos
Northern New Mexico offers some of the most diverse, beautiful terrain and varied landscapes to be found find anywhere in the world. You can make a variety of day trips to explore everything from ancient ruins and historic mountain towns to rushing rivers ripe for rafting and fishing.
Art Experiences
Every summer since 1957 opera lovers have come from all over the world to enjoy The Santa Fe Opera. A wide-ranging repertory of new, rarely performed and standard works are performed in a dramatic theater with stunning views of the surrounding landscape.
Festivals & Events
Visit Santa Fe’s museums and wake up the artist within youǃ Whether you are 7, 17 or 70 years old, get inspired by the rich blend of history, arts and cultural heritage with more than a dozen state and private museums around Santa Fe.