Newark Museum

Museums in Newark enrich your imagination and all Cultures. Stop being scare of Newark. There are Great things to see in Newark. The Architectural buildings great shops reasonable prices.

The Newark Art Museum holds a wonderful collection of American art. This is a collection well worth seeing. Especially famous is the exceptional sculpture by Hiram Powers called ‘The Greek Slave’. The Newark Art Museum also has the largest collection of Tibetan art in the United States. A Buddhist altar dedicated in person by the Dalai Lama is beautiful. In the ground floor galleries there is room for a special exhibition and on this occasion it was one focusing on Islamic Art. Probably the most unique feature of the Newark Museum is its incorporation of the impressive Ballantine House which is located right next door to it. This is one of the finest examples of a Victorian house and furnishings in the United States.
Tip — The museum is located right on Washington Park in downtown Newark with metered street parking in front of it. It is also a short walk from the Penn and Broad Street train stations.

The Newark Museum was founded in 1909, moved into its own building in 1926, and continues to offer a significant display of the fine arts, opportunities to learn about science and regular special exhibitions. Today the Museum consists of a main building with north and south wings and the attached Ballantine House (built in 1885 and part of the museum since 1937 although only opened as exhibit space in 1976 when its Victorian details were restored). In addition to education facilities for children and adults and science exhibits (including a planetarium), Newark offers a small display of works from African and indigenous American cultures, ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome and extensive installations of American painting, sculpture and decorative arts from colonial times to the present. It also has a full floor of Asian arts, among them galleries dedicated to China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Tibet (including a Buddhist Altar consecrated by the 14^th Dalai Lama during a visit to Newark), a particular strength of their collection. There is a small sculpture garden and parking lot outside and a small gift shop inside. With its many big neighbors across the river in NYC it is easy to over Newark, but especially for those interested in American and Asian arts it is well worth a special trip.

Who knew that New Jersey had its own little Met? The Newark Museum has art and artifacts from around the world and from various time periods. It has African, Native American, and Asian collections, and even a small section of classical /​ancient antiquities; there are two American wings, for the 18−19^th and 20^th– 21^st centuries. In addition, the museum has modern exhibitions and installations. The current featured installation is a string exhibit, which is fun to see and walk around. It’s there until January 10^th.
I took a tour of the Ballantine wing. The building itself is the former home of a brewery owner, and part of the museum is devoted to showing the home. There’s a reception room, front hall, library, parlor, dining room, game room, music room, and bedrooms. They had also decorated the rooms as they would’ve been for the holidays. For example, it was customary to tie ribbons from the chandelier to the dining table.
I had come for the string installation, but was glad I went on the Ballantine tour because it was more enriching. The tour of the installation was a non-​starter. I kind of wish I had stayed til four for the next show at the planetarium, but it’s probably better that I didn’t do everything at once. Save something for next time. Yes, there’s a bit of Museum of Natural History in there, too– half of the third floor is earth science with an emphasis on New Jersey’s natural history.
I love the size of this museum. The Met gives you an existential crisis. You should never know so much history that you can see that you’re just a speck in the universe. Keep the magnification on 10−100x. Anyway, this museum is a good size. You can wander around and see everything in a couple of hours.

I came to the Newark Museum for the first time last week, and I’ve already been back for a second time. The mix of natural history, art, science, and interactive exhibits makes this almost a one stop shop for anything you’d like to see. The art collection is truly impressive, spanning the globe and going back centuries. They have art from some names you may recognize — Andy Warhol, Georgia O’Keeffe, among many others. The current featured exhibition, «The Shape of Light» by Gabriel Dawe, is breathtaking. I’ve never considered myself to be a huge fan of art, but I enjoyed the art sections quite a bit.
I spent most of my time in other sections that were very interesting, including an Egyptian section, African section, Asian section, and Native American section which all featured many different artifacts and items. There is also a Tibetan Buddhist Altar that was consecrated in 1990 by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and was very eye-​opening to learn about.
The part of the museum that really stood out for me was The Ballantine House, which was built in 1885 for the Ballantine family (you may recognize their name from Newark’s own Ballantine beer). It’s a stunningly beautiful Victorian home that you can walk around and explore each room in, and it’s connected to the actual museum and included in admission. I would pay the admission cost to see the house alone.
Overall, I had a great experience and learned a lot. There’s no way I could include everything in this review. Knowing that there’s a museum of this caliber only 10 minutes from where I live is great, and I’ll absolutely be back.

As a NJ resident, I was looking for a good museum to take my boyfriend to that wouldn’t be too expensive of a date but wouldn’t include venturing into NYC either. The Newark Museum was a great choice!
Exhibits range from American art, religious shrines and sculptures from Asia, Jewelry and Silver, a small kid-​friendly section on the earth and its animals (that us 20-​somethings enjoyed too) and my favorite, the beautiful mansion that spans a few levels on one side of the building.
We found discounts online and were able to get half price off our general admission from AAA and get discounts on the planetarium using our college IDs. For both of us it turned out to be $ 18, with parking costing another $ 8.
They have a few kid-​friendly spots and a show in the planetarium geared towards kids, but if i don’t know that I would have appreciated 80% of the museum if I were younger.
Everyone on staff was very friendly!!!

One of the best Museum in NJ.
1) There are tons of exhibits. One can actually spend the whole day here. I especially like Tibetan and Indian exhibit.
2) They have parking, but it is 8 bucks for a car. But if you come here Sunday, the street parking is free, and usually there is street parking available. Or else, on weekdays, the street parking is a pain, as there is a one hour limit. So you will end up coming to refilling the meter multiple times.
3) They also provide tours, just call to check availability.

An amazing view and beautiful scenery, what more could you ask for? Best time to visit is during sunset, you’ll get to see the transition from day to night and it is just breathtaking.

Great museum to check out! It’s not big so you can see everything in one shot. There’s a good variety — paintings, sculpture, Eastern art, African art, beautiful glass art, metal art, as well as a couple kid-​friendly exhibits. I came with my friends and their 5-​year-​old son and he was very entertained. There was a great little nutrition/​exercise exhibit for kids with all sorts of interactive ways to learn about proper diet and exercise. Also, the hall of science had a bunch of interactive exhibits (cave, alternative energy, hurricane simulation, etc). Additionally, there was a special exhibit on comets that had a ton of hands on stuff for kids. There’s a planetarium too — costs a few bucks extra to enter — we didn’t go in. Basically, everyone was happy — adults got to see their art, kid got to play.
Also, make sure you check out the Ballantine house — it’s right next door to the museum. You enter through the museum. They do tours but we just walked around — it’s a very beautiful, restored Victorian home.
There is also a garden, which includes a small fire museum (which paid a tribute to firefighters lost in ⁹⁄₁₁ and acknowledged the Newark firefighters that helped after the attack). There’s also an old schoolhouse in the garden, which was locked when we went — it might be by tour only.
Museum shop was cute and had a good selection of items. This museum has a «suggested» admission. I definitely recommend it if you are in the area.

What a fantastic treasure trove! Great museum, they have a wonderful children’s program, and their collections are unique. Visit!

I’ve worked in Newark for over 3 years and my company is one of the sponsors (translation = free admission), so I figured I should finally pay a visit.
I did not realize how big the museum would be! Or how friendly the staff would be. I am used to the cold, indifferent treatment at the NY museums, but all the staff and volunteers here were cheerfully pointing us to the exhibits we were trying to find.
The Ballantine house is really cool. They show you what life was like in the Victorian era for a typical wealthy family in Newark — very cool to learn what it was like in the 1880s. The dining room scene with decapitated mannequins was especially creepy/​entertaining. Great exhibit if you like learning history in a hands-​on manner.
The collection of Asian art is impressive: Tibetan, including a temple set-​up, Chinese, Korean, Indian, Japanese. They have tapestries, jewelry, sculpture, religious relics, etc. On par with a larger urban museum. They also like to sprinkle in some modern items for comparison.
We spent almost 2 hours here, but I’ll be back to check out the African art and the garden. What a gem in the middle of Newark!

I love the Newark Museum. I come here every year with my class. I love the structure and organization that they have at this museum. The labs/​workshops and shows in the planetarium are very educational and entertaining. It’s the perfect place to take your class and not have to take chaperones with you, although I always take one, but it is not necessary. During certain hours on certain days, you can take self-​guided tours through the museum, which is always nice.
I always look forward to planning my trip here, but keep in mind, they get booked pretty quickly and early, so if yo’re a teacher trying to plan a trip, call with time!

I can’t remember the last time I went to any museum. Museum’s and I are not close friends, but I understand that museums like The Newark Museum are important educational facilities. They offer art, knowledge and the history of us on the planet.
The Newark Museum is small, but with a wealth of art for all ages. I must state that, I was there for a Super Bowl function and The 1967 version of the Vince Lombardi Trophy. While the function was nice; the Trophy was awesome.
The design of the trophy is very interesting in that if you look at the trophy from a distance, it seems the football is floating in air. This is due to the concave of the three sides of the trophy stand. As the trophy rotates the allusion of a floating football was impressive.
I did take the time to view «The Art of Glass» which is a very beautiful display of glass art. Small pieces, large ones; all very intricate pieces of glass with vibrant colors and glass perfection.
If your in Newark, stop by The Newark Museum. Knowledge is important and The Newark Museum offers a plethora of history.

I was the bridesmaid of a bride who had her wedding at the museum, so this review is only based on the museum as a wedding venue and what I observed helping the bride through the whole process.
At first the museum and museum’s event coordinator was very friendly and on task. But as soon as the wedding neared the end she became cold and domineering. Everyone was rushing to clean up and she walked around with a scowl on her face and even followed us outside to rush us off the museum premises when everyone was just waiting for their family members to get their cars. We did not stay longer than what the venue was booked for and I thought this was very unprofessional.
Additionally, the couple was charged a «staff fee» that was based on a guest count that was higher than the final guest count which the museum knew about weeks before the wedding. I don’t understand how the Newark Museum could still have the gall to charge them the same fee when there was a smaller # of guests attending the wedding.
THEN they came after the couple for these «outstanding» charges nearly half a year later with months of radio silence. The bride was really upset when she told me that they even put a $ 200 «late fee» on her invoice on top of the overinflated ‘staff fee.‘
What a shame. The museum is a lovely place and the staff is nice. Because of the deceptive pricing and how their customer service AFTER the wedding unfortunately I cannot recommend this place as an event venue.
P. S. For the wedding ceremony I gave their in-​house AV tech an ipod with a playlist and he didn’t know how to access it. Really?

Looking forward to some good tailgate party food! And I was not disappointed! I sampled on chili, three samples of the wings tastings, a couple awesome sliders, pulled pork sandwich, turkey chili, and of course, a little dessert, what else but cake! I needed a nap by the time I was finished sampling and there was no shortage of sampling to go around either, went back several times.
I did not get an opportunity to get all the vendors names however, I managed to slip a very business cards in my bag. I sampled from Martini 494 and Garage, with three locations, one in Newark, and two locations in Millburn. Next up was, F & B Fine Catering from Bloomfield, Rudy’s Pasty Shop in Bloomfield, as well… I’ll be making a trip up to Rudy’s; it’s that sweet tooth of mine, what can I say.
Also, tending to my salivating palate was Château of Spain, located in Newark, I sampled on the Spanish Sausage and Shrimp in Garlic, mmmmm, very yummy!
Standing by on the beverage station, among several others was Morris Tap and Grill, located on Route 10 in Randolph, I did not have to opportunity to samples some of the fine brewery items however, there was no shortage of individuals looking to wash down a cold one, while nibbling on some of their all time tailgate chicken wings!
In addition, the Museum did not disappoint with a cooking demonstration from one of Food Networks celebrities, Aaron McCargo Jr., who seemed to have a flair for entertaining the audience!
Last but not least, there were plenty of photographers, mostly from New Jersey’s Star-​Ledger, around to take your complimentary photo with the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and yes I went for the photo opt, hell why not?
All in all, it was a fun day, food was simply delicious and ample to go around, museum staff were friendly and accommodating to the needs of party tailgate fans, they even had a few door prizes, compliments of Essex County College.

I’ve been coming to this museum since elementary school field trips, and now I usually go for cocktail hour social events of course.
This truly hidden gem is very under appreciated and it’s so unfortunate.
I keep updated with a museum e-​blast and try to go to new exhibits whenever I’m in town.
Bang for the buck value is incomparable as well compared to others in the metro area.

We just went there today with our 5^th graders on a class trip. We did two parts of the museum– the ballentine house which was beautiful. It was great to see the different rooms and learn about the history of the house. The guide was very informative. Then we went on to the Egyptian section, and i’m always curious to learn more about ancient Egypt so i found it to be quite interesting. The lunch room was air conditioned (ahhhhhh) and clean.
The gift shop was closed so the students were a bit disappointed.
Overall, its a nice place for students to learn about some history.

The Newark Museum is the largest museum in New Jersey. Underrated to say the least, one can view 19^th century American Art, contemporary art. It is mind boggling how the N. Museum even has the greatest Tibetan galleries outside of Asia. It doesn’t just stop there; let’s add the «John Ballantine House» is a National historic landmark. The house sits adjacent to the museum, as you enter it is preserved as if one was transported to the 1900s, simply remarkable!
I recall coming here as a child it’s the first museum I have ever been too. So it definitely holds special place in my heart. We took the NJ Transit bus to get here, pretty gangster. I remember the small zoo but that is no longer present as of 2010. As a child I was amazed by the Dreyfuss Planetarium just spectacular and interactive. Folks bring your kids, they will have hours of fun here, and learning experience for the parents, versus going to chucky cheese.
Visiting the museum now I see things differently in my adult eyes. So, what stands out you ask? Easily the Alice Ransom Dreyfuss Garden, undervalued it is a sanctuary, a place to escape the busy days of work. Relax and sit on one of the benches listens to the birds chirping. I even saw a wedding done here. When I saw the wedding I couldn’t believe it. If you didn’t know better you would have thought they were at the «Cloisters Medieval Garden» at Fort Tryon Park. They also have jazz in the Garden cost $ 3.00 you cannot beat that.
I have tried to get my friends to come, they say why Newark, sooner or later I will convince them to accompany me to this museum whether they like or not. It is worth it to see this. Newark Museum is a simple escape from going to the NYC museums for a change. The admission is $ 10.00 if it’s the beginning of the month try BofA museum on us program. Guys great date spot, She will be amazed on your knowledge. Please read up before you go there, stuttering the information that I have written here is not a good look!

Wow. Really? You are this close to me and I just found out about you? The Ballantine House is a must. The Ballantines were a super wealthy family from Newark that really garnered their wealth through the Ballantine Brewery. Their house has been renovated to replicate the original and reflects Victorian life. Most of the furnishings both wood, metal and porcelain are relics from when New Jersey produced it all. Who knew?! Glass from Jersey City, furniture from Newark, rugs from Central Jersey… I can’t speak more highly of what a great experience this was.
The Museum itself is beautiful. I was there for a private event which was extremely well done but, again the space they are working with is beautiful; with really large collections of great classic art. I got a peep at a more modern exhibit of «women behind the lenses» and it seemed that most of the photographers featured were Jersey centric. Again, can I get an amazing?
This isn’t the most massive of places but definitely a great staycation, Jersey centric way to spend the day.

Newark as a city is such a shame: it once rivaled New York City as an industrial and trading competitor, hosted many different ethnic peoples, had a thriving downtown and beautiful sprawling suburbia. Now it is a scary ghetto with some interesting attractions, such as the Newark Museum.
$ 7 parking, walled off from the street and very close to the so-​called Southern Entrance. $ 10 per person, but I heard you can get a 2-​for-​1 with an AAA membership. It is a small museum and you can see pretty much everything in one shot. Very clean and well organized. It’s a fun experience for a rainy day. There is a garden in back that is enjoyable.
My favorite attraction is the Ballantine House, a fully restored late 19^th century mansion with excellent descriptions of the changing attitudes of housing in the 19^th century as examplified in this Victorian masterpiece.

Still good but the weird little zoo is gone.