Anchorage Museum
Art, science, history, Indigenous knowledge, and the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center meet without reducing Alaska to wilderness scenery.
Artwork inspired by Eustace Ziegler
Alaska’s largest museum treats the North as a living, changing place. Art, science, history, Indigenous knowledge, and the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center meet without reducing Alaska to wilderness scenery. The building’s glass expansion and changing commissions make contemporary Anchorage part of the interpretation.
Begin in the Alaska exhibition, then use one contemporary artwork to challenge the historical story you just encountered. Planetarium programs and special exhibitions may use separate schedules; the museum is larger than its downtown footprint first suggests. The rewarding visit is the one that connects Alaska exhibition with Arctic Studies Center, then tests that reading against the place itself.
- Opened
- 1968
- Focus
- North and circumpolar world
- Setting
- Downtown Anchorage
Quick guide
- Start with
- Begin in the Alaska exhibition, then use one contemporary artwork to challenge the historical story you just encountered.
- Look closely at
- Compare Alaska exhibition with Arctic Studies Center; their relationship carries the central story.
Know before you go
- Start with
- Begin in the Alaska exhibition, then use one contemporary artwork to challenge the historical story you just encountered.
- Look closely at
- Compare Alaska exhibition with Arctic Studies Center; their relationship carries the central story.
- Connect the story
- Art, science, history, Indigenous knowledge, and the Arctic Studies Center meet without reducing Alaska to wilderness scenery. Changing commissions make contemporary Anchorage part of the interpretation.
- Plan around
- Allow 1½–3 hours. Planetarium programs and special exhibitions may use separate schedules; the museum is larger than its downtown footprint first suggests.
Good to know
Planetarium programs and special exhibitions may use separate schedules; the museum is larger than its downtown footprint first suggests.
Notice these
- Alaska exhibition
- Arctic Studies Center
- glass expansion