Best Small Museums

Musee du Luxembourg (Paris)
Wallace Collection (London)
National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington DC)
Borghese Gallery (Rome)

To name just a few more of many…

The Alte Pinakothek in Munich is a fantastic smaller museum
The Kroller Muller museum in the Netherland has an incredible private collection
Same with the Guggenheim in Venice
And the Belvedere Museum in Vienna

I'd rather visit any of these more compact museums than any of the massive museums.

The first one that springs to mind is the Chester Beatty (Dublin).

The Homeland Museum in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Another vote for the Kobarid Museum in Slovenia

Musée Marmottan, Monet's home in Paris, nothing like sitting with Monet paintings alone in the basement!
The Hallwyl Museum, Stockholm, an 1890's manor house preserved in original condition.
The Frick Collection, NYC.
Cantor Art Museum with the largest Rodin statue collection outside Paris, most statues are outdoors, Stanford campus, Palo Alto CA.
Anderson Collection, for modern art next door to Cantor on Stanford campus.

The American Pilgrim Museum in Leiden is a treat.

The British Museum is the big one in London but I much prefer the Museum of London which displays the history of London from the first habitation of the region to modern times. It's closed until 2026 though when it reopens in a larger and more modern space.

On a much smaller scale, two pleasant surprises include the Fishbourne Palace in Chichester, England. In the 1960's the floor mosaics from a Roman Palace were uncovered in a field and a museum had been built overtop. In Portsmouth is the Mary Rose Museum. It's the remains of a warship commissioned by Henry the VIII. I've never seen a Museum quite like it with the remains of half the ship on one side of the gallery and a reproduction of the other half showing how it would have looked.

Musée Nissim de Camondo - Paris
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum - Lisbon
Museum of Prehistory - les Eyzies
D-Day Museum - Arromanches

Capitola Historic Museum, Capitola, CA

Florence Nightingale Museum, London ( might not be open anymore)

Sir John Sloanes Museum, London

The Hilbert Museum Of California Art at Chapman University

New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum, Casa Grande CA

The Cinema Museum, London

Lomita Railroad Museum Lomita, CA

Museum of Natural History Morro Bay, CA

Vincent Price Art Museum, E Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, CA

Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney, Nebraska

Los Angeles Fireman’s Museum Hollywood, CA

Freud Museum, London

Leighton House, London

Charles Schultz Museum, Santa Rosa, CA

Filoli Mansion and Gardens, Woodside, CA

Mariposa Museum, Mariposa, CA

The Egyptian Museum, San Jose, CA

Titanic Museum, Belfast

Museo de Gallo, Havana, Cuba

Forest Lawn Cemetery Museum, LA

The Beat Museum, San Francisco

Surf Museum, Santa Cruz, CA

Virginia Quilt Museum, Harrisonburg, VA

The Groeninge Museum in Bruges

Let's hear it for the small museums of California, Claudia!
I would add the Legion of Honor Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, the Eastern California Museum in Independence (a huge collection of Native American basketry), and the museum at Manzanar National Historic Site in Inyo County CA. There are so many to choose from...art, technology, science, printing, crafts, maritime ships and artifacts, show business, sports, history........etc., etc., etc. Come visit us! We have small and quirky and fun museums all over the state.
And the ones others have mentioned here intrigue me (although I have been to a few of them). What an interesting thread!
Thank you, Lane!

Well, my own museum. But we're not exactly small.

The Mauritshuis for one. I visited just to be able to see the Girl With a Pearl Earring.

The museums of the Iron Bridge Gorge. Getting to see Abraham Darby's first coke furnace was amazing. I did enjoy Blist Hill, enjoyable to see a variation on the theme of living history museums -- a 19th century version of Colonial Williamsburg.

With that in mind I also really enjoyed the Dutch Openair Museum in Arnhem.

Just landed at LHR and getting ready to head to Chichester for a week. Will be making a return visit to the Mary Rose Museum and the Weald and Downland Museum. Hope to finally make a visit to Petworth House.

And here at home I've always loved the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk.

For California I´d add the Getty Villa Museum in Pacific Palisades.

I like Sorolla Museum in Madrid.

A curious museum is the Fundación Vicente Marín in the tiny village of Bretun, Soria.

Just south of Alkmaar Netherlands Stichting Toverlantaarn Museum Heiloo, the Magic Lantern Museum Heiloo. Magic Lanterns are a Dutch invention and you can learn everything about them there.

The museum is in a museum quarter and there are several other interesting small museums nearby.

The Netherlands has little, very focussed, museums all over the country...

Really small museums: in Fussen and Salisbury, the Cat Museum in Dubrovnik

Norsk Motormuseum in Skånevik (Norway)

I would include the Vasa Museum in Stockholm and the GPO Museum in the historic central post office in Dublin. The small Nikos Kazantzakis Museum in Crete is very interesting as well.

Musée Rodin

Diane, YES for the Rodin Museum! Also, the International Folk Museum in Albuquerque.

We always return to the Rodin museum and the Cluny, both in Paris.

I would add the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavik.

The Judengasse Museum in Frankfurt. Built on top of the medieval Ghetto ruins, it is all about the Jewish community in Frankfurt from the mid 1100s to 1800s. You can walk into 4 of the cellars, see 2 Mikvahs and pretty much see the whole museum in about an hour unless you listen to every recording and read every text. It is interactive and all text is in English and German. It is one of my favorite museums as it is so unique. Nothing like it anyplace else.

Budapest Pin Ball museum.

In CA:

1. The Japanese-American National Museum, Los Angeles

2. Central Coast Veterans Memorial Museum, San Luis Obispo, the county's military museum, like that of its counterparts in Fresno County and Tuolumne County

In Europe:

1. The Guards Museum, London on the 5 Guards Regiments in the British Army.

2. The Battle of Wagram Museum , Deutsch-Wagram , accessible on the S-Bahn from Vienna

3. Das Samland Museum, Pinneberg bei Hamburg, pertaining to the Samland peninsula in the former East Prussia. battle

4. Das Preußen Museum, Wustrau/Brandenburg, compare and contrast this museum on Prussia with that in Potsdam.

I confess that I have not read all of the responses so my favorites may have (probably have) been mentioned before.

Groeninge and St John's Hospital museums (Bruges)
Bode and Gemaldegalerie museums (Berlin)
Cluny and Carnavalet museums (Paris)
Albertina (Vienna)
Unterlinden (Colmar)
Academia (Florence)
Museum of Skye Life (Skye)
Vasa Museum (Stockholm)
American Swedish Institute and museum (Minneapolis)

1. The Napoleon Museum (Musee napoleonien d'art et histoire militaire), Fontainebleau, France.

2. Das Preußen im Rheinland Museum, (Prussia in the Rhineland), Wesel am Rhein, ....historical coverage on pieces of real estate acquired going back to the 1600s.

3. The Battle of Austerlitz Exhibition and Napoleon Exhibition / Museum in Schloss Austerlitz , Slavkov, Czech Republic. ...a good, balanced and extensive coverage of this decisive event.

I've spent some enjoyable hours at the Museum of the Home (fka the Geffrye Museum) and the Courtauld Gallery, both in London.

If we're talking about small museums, I have to mention the Hasse Alfredsson & Tage Danielsson-museum in Tomelilla, southern Sweden. It has a total floor area of 17 m2!

For slightly larger museums, here are some that I can recommend:

• The Vasa museum, Stockholm, Sweden
• The National Railway museum, Gävle, Sweden. Does a great job of showing not only trains, but also the impact the railway has had on the society.
• Gamla Uppsala museum, Uppsala, Sweden. Great place to visit if you are interested in Viking history.
• The Cathedral Treasury, Uppsala, Sweden
• Museum Gustavianum, Uppsala, Sweden
• The Zorn museum, Mora, Sweden
• Skissernas museum (museum of sketches), Lund, Sweden
• The Norwegian Maritime museum, Oslo, Norway
• The Tycho Brahe museum, Ven, Sweden

Excellent topic--thank you for starting it!

My favorites:

Margit Kovacs Museum in Szentendre, Hungary--she was a ceramicist and sculptor who won many commissions and awards, several of her ceramic murals are in Budapest and the little museum is full of her uniquely interesting statues and other items. I love her work so much I have visited the museum twice.

The Emily Carr House in Victoria, BC--I love her painting and writing, fascinating artist, and her childhood Victorian home has been lovingly cared for.

The Third Man Museum in Vienna--my first trip to Vienna was all things Third Man and this museum is more than just about the movie, many interesting exhibits pertaining to the post war era in Vienna...along with the zither used by Anton Karas to record that fabulous score.

Ethnographic Museum in Krakow--I do love a good ethnographic museum, and this one includes the usual gorgeous embroidered costumes, household items and exhibits on Polish cultural traditions, but the best part is the huge display of hand-painted pisanka eggs.

Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh--perhaps more of a studio/museum--excellent touring exhibits, I recently saw the Scottish Women Artists and then went upstairs to the tapestry studio to view tapestry weaving in progress.

I loved the Westfries Museum in Hoorn, Netherlands was a favorite of mine. It's small but mighty, with so many paintings about 16th century life in Hoorn and thereabouts. There was a lot of variety in the exhibits, so you had a real sense of how these people lived. I would love to go back there.

Nancy, so glad you enjoyed the American Swedish Institute--that is one of my very favorite places in Minneapolis. It's especially wonderful at Christmas time.

+1 or 2 for the Cluny in Paris (I remember sitting in that room with The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries and being filled with awe), as well as for the Carnevallet.

Armoury in Moscow, Russia
Pergamon in Berlin, Germany
Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris, France
Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece
Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Italy

Geigenbaumuseum, Mittenwald, Germany

The Great Tapestry of Scotland Gallery, Galashiels, Scotland

Lapidarium, Prague

Museo TAMO, Ravenna, Italy

I like folk art and toy museums. It’s fun to see the commonality of toys and games across times and cultures. Folk art, unlike “high” art, has a strong representation of women producers, often fiber artists. The skill level of those anonymous artisans can be astonishing.

For folk art, there is a very nice museum on the island of Miyajima, a few minutes ferry ride from Hiroshima. There is also a toy museum in Kurashki, a town close to Osaka.
London has a good toy museum at Bethnal Green, part of the V & A.
We visited a folk art museum on Crete, but I can’t remember in which town. (It wasn’t Chania.). From the enthusiastic attention we were given by the person in charge, I surmised that it didn’t get too many visitors. My favorite piece there was a small embroidery depicting some partisans shooting down a Nazi parachutist. The Benaki Museum, in Athens, has a fabulous assortment of textiles, beautifully decorated household items, and musical instruments.

Some to add:
The Deutsches Museum in Munich...full of technical and mechanical displays. Not really small, but not too huge either.

Rosalyn...The fascinating International Folk Museum in Santa Fe, NM. Chock full of goodies for folk art enthusiasts. It shares Museum Hill with the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Also not to be missed.

And NancyG, yes to the Cluny! I had my first visit there last May. It is a treasure. (And so is the Musee Rodin.)

The Tenement Museum in New York City, and the Museum under the Statue of Liberty also NYC.

The Cluny Museum and the Petit Palais in Paris.

There’s a tiny museum in Lucca in Italy devoted to the emigration of Italians to North America in the late 1800’s.
We came across it by accident and it was fascinating, with many old photographs.
Couldn’t tell you exactly where it is, but within the walls.

The Ferragamo Shoe Museum in Florence; also fascinating.

Palazzo Davanzati in Florence…a re-creation in and of an old historical townhouse.

Museo degli Innocenti in Florence…it also has a cafe on the roof terrace.

The Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh , on the Royal Mile.

Great thread Lane!
Agree with The Rodin Museum in Paris
Adding Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath, UK
Jacque-Mart Andre in Paris
Musical Instrument museum in Phoenix, AZ (not very small though)
Porsche & Mercedes museums in Stuttgart, Germany

Apocalypse Tapestry Museum - Angers, France

Thyssen (Art) Museum - Madrid

And if you are going to the Accademia in Florence to see “David”, be sure to also see the exhibit of historical musical instruments while you are there.

http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/musica.html

National Museum Cardiff (Wales)
EPIC Irish Emigration Museum (Dublin, Ireland)

Carillo Gil in Mexico City for its collection of smaller paintings by Siquieros and Orozco.

The Timkin in Balboa Park, San Diego punches above its weight for its small size and bonus points for being free!

Otto Lilienthal Museum in Anklam Germany: He was an aviation pioneer who developed the basic principles of aircraft aerodynamics still in use today. And also developed pedagogical construction kits for children, so socialy engaged too. Museum is interesting for children too to understand aerodynamics.

Bauhaus Dessau in Germany: Not without reason on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Here I learned the at the time completely new approach about design in general and more specific architecture and how much it has impacted the world we live in today. Certainly has influenced how I look and think about design. Inspiring museum.

MuséoParc Alésia, Burgundy in France: It’s about the decisive siege of a hilltop village won by Julius Caesar. His methods were horrible but also shows his genius. It was very well possible losing the battle and certainly he wouldn’t have survived it and with that the question if the Romans at the time would have lost appetite extending their empire north to the rivers Rhine and Danube. With that a huge impact on European and likely world history too. Exciting to feel connected with such a pivotal moment in history.

If you are ever in Zagreb, you might enjoy the Museum of Broken Relationships.

The Checkpoint Charlie Museum, Berlin. It's a relatively well-known museum, but it isn't terribly big yet tells the story of Cold War Berlin, the escapes from East Berlin and life in a divided Berlin extremely well.

The McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum. It was fascinating to learn about the Windy's City 37 bascule bridges precursors and the reversal of the Chicago River -- it was a major engineering feat to reverse a river.

Mutter Museum, Philadelphia. It was sobering to see human body parts and entire bodies preserved in jars.

Craig and Lane,
The Mutter Museum definitely fits the small museum category, and it fascinated both us and our children when we saw it in the early 1990s. However, it has recently been in the news because there have been serious discussions on the ethics of displaying the many human remains in the collection. I am not sure if you can visit it at the moment. If you can, I would recommend it. (I make no judgment on the current discussions. I see both sides, but don't feel knowledgable enough to pick a side.)

Again, Lane, great topic!

The Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver

if you are going to the Accademia in Florence to see “David”, be sure to also see the exhibit of historical musical instruments

S J is absolutely right! When there last year, I was very surprised to see the 5-stringed upright bass. My brother-in-law is a professional bassist, and he was very interested to learn about one that was hundreds of years old. Lately, many electric basses now come with 5 strings, and he even plays one with 6, but it was unexpected to see a 5-string that old. Ahead of its time, or maybe modern instruments are just catching up. The archaic woodwinds in the far right part of the Accademia are marvelous, too.

While there are many, many Famine Museums in Ireland, the small Skibbereen Heritage Centre is perhaps the best. Skibbereen is about 5 miles in from the far southern coast of Ireland, in County Cork. The museum has 4 rooms, and the displays of artifacts, along with audio recordings and fascinating signboards, plus a short film, provide a profound understanding of what produced the potato famine in Ireland, along with its impact.

Did you know that Irish “Lumper” potatoes, which were almost the sole food source for many Irish peasants, grew particularly well in poor Irish soil, and that they were particularly nutritious, but were also the most susceptible to the blight that first came to Ireland from North America? Ironically, many of the Irish peasants who were starving from no longer having potatoes for sustenance fled to America.

Another vote for the Cluny in Paris, not just for the Medieval works inside, but for the ancient Roman bricks walls outside.

Also, the Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, so much smaller than the Prado or Reina Sophia, has such wonderful art.

I apologize for not reading through the 50 replies, first. Hope these aren’t too many repeats. I didn’t mention the biggest museums.

Mittenwald, Germany - the interesting violin/city history museum
Lyon, France - the Gallo Roman museum; the Lumiere museum
Angers, France - the Revelation Apocalypse tapestry museum within the fortress
Rouen, France - Metalwork Museum, Musée Le Secq des Tournelles (I spent a lot of time here!)
Paris, France - Museum Jacquemart Andre…and many more
Milan, Italy - Museo Poldi Pezzoli
Ravenna, Italy - TAMO museum & Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra
Pienza, Italy - the museum of some scenes of “The Romeo & Juliet” movie by Franco Zeffirelli (some of their outfits & the bed are in the Verona museum)
Cremona, Italy - Stradivari museum, including their small concert on weekends
Mantova, Italy - Palazzo Ducale
Perugia, Italy - Museum Laboratory, Moretti Caselli Studio - a true highlight!

In Charleston, So. Carolina the Old Slave Mart Museum is on the spot of the place where slaves were sold. The museum has an impressive history of the slave trade, and includes audio recordings of interviews with former slaves and children of slaves, some of which were recorded during the 1930's. It is moving and memorable, and not to be missed in Charleston.

Museum on the von Hardenberg Estate, Neuhardenberg/Brandenburg, Germany.....features the family members of this singularly aristocratic family, one of whom in WW2 was part of the Resistance in July 1944, Colonel Carl count von Hardenberg, he survived. Particularly poignant is the photo gallery of those , civilian and military, men and women, involved in the Resistance, no names or any other information given. If the viewer does not recognise the person, he does not know if that individual survived or not.

House of Brandenburg-Prussian History (Haus der Brandenburgisch-Preußischen Geschichte), Potsdam ....compare the focus and coverage of this museum on Prussian history with that in Wustrau/Brandenburg, Germany. One of the exhibitions in this Haus/Museum focuses on daily life in Potsdam during the cold war days. Within walking distance from Potsdam Hbf.

Two from my home state:

Isabella Stewart Garnder Museum. https://www.gardnermuseum.org/

Peabody Essex Museum https://www.pem.org/

I don’t think anyone mentioned the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. It’s a gem!

I'll second the Lugdunum (Gallo-Roman Museum) in Lyon - we were there just a few weeks ago and it is great.

And I'll add the Bayeux Musée to see the famous tapestry. We went twice. It was the highlight for me of the Heart of France tour. Don't skip the film.

1. Illusion Art Museum (Prague)
2. Museum de Xocolata (Barcelona)
3. Museu da Marioneta (Lisbon)

This last post reminded me of the puppet (marionette) museum in Palermo, Sicily. Also an intriguing small museum, if that kind of thing interests you. I found it interesting and fun.

Oh my, this thread is delightful and dangerous! I've added the Wallace Collection to my spring London trip and the Hallwyl Museum for my summer visit to Stockholm. They are both "sister museums" to some of my favorites listed above, including the Isabella Stuart Gardner and Frick museums.

For those who like Art Nouveau, I will add two "small house" museums that I enjoyed this year:

Villa György Ráth (Budapest)
Riga Art Nouveau Center (Riga, Latvia)

In NYC , just up the street from the MET , The Neue Galerie of Austrian and German Art . The principal holding is the celebrated portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer by Klimt . The textural characteristics of the painting can only be seen live , reproductions cannot capture that . One of my favorites , in Stockholm , The Thielska Gallery , is priceless . Also two seconds for The Peabody Essex in Salem , MA , and The Fitzwilliam in Cambridge ( Just spent a whole day there a week ago )

1. House/Museum of Carl Maria von Weber, Eutin/Holstein, Germany.....the museum of Beethoven's contemporary situated in his birth house. Carl Maria von Weber is a key composer in the Romantic movement in Germany.

2. Museum of the War of 1870 and of the Annexation (Musee de la Guerre de 1870 et de l'Annexion), Gravelotte/Lorraine, France.....focuses on what the French call as the "War of 1870" and the ensuing absorption of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany. The site of this museum is obvious, Gravelotte was the most ferocious and costly battle in that war.

In no particular order:

Gemäldegalerie — Berlin
The Fitzwilliam Museum — Cambridge, England
Mauermuseum (Checkpoint Charlie Museum) — Berlin
The Frick Collection — NYC
National Museum Cardiff — Cardiff, Wales
The Portland Museum of Art — Portland, ME
The Wallace Collection — London, England
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum — Kansas City, MO
National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum — Cooperstown, NY
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum — Boston
Farnsworth Art Museum — Rockland, ME
Wadsworth Atheneum — Hartford, CT
Walters Art Gallery — Baltimore, MD
National Railway Museum — York, England

I never imagined when I posted this that I'd get such a huge response. I loved hearing about all your favorites.

Two Edinburgh museums I forgot to mention and didn't see in anyone's responses:

• Gladstone's Land
• Georgian House

And one more I forgot about:

• Museum of Miniature Books (Baku)

I can't believe the World Famous Gopher Hole Museum hadn't been mentioned.... link to the photo gallery.

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x5374709706cc09f7%3A0x9436029311b1aa2!3m1!7e131!4s!5sWorld%20Famous%20Gopher%20Hole%20Museum!15sCgIgAQ&hl=en-US&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipPk5nj0xSHDLaMIWb1tUHdHsc-xO_qiND82kitQ&viewerState=ga

This past Friday made a return visit to the Mary Rose Museum and Saturday returned to the Weald and Downland Museum.

Mary Rose is just an amazing museum. Great melding of the history, archaeology, and sciences. The archaeology and the material culture is pretty important in my own work, and we've worn out a few copies of the books "Before the Mast. So it's always worth the effort to see the artifacts up close. I'm impressed by their education staff as well. I ended up being able to handle a section of nearly 500 year old anchor rope, a stone cannon ball, and put my hands on the barrel of a forged wrought iron (eeeeeeee) cannon barrel.

Now I'm getting ready to head over to the Wallace Collection.

VAP - With the Mary Rose Museum you mean the one in Portsmouth, UK?

Some 25 years ago I visited the H.M.S. Victory in Portsmouth in the UK and enjoyed the guided tour listening to al those things worth knowing about this historic ship. Didn’t had the time to visit the Mary Rose there, hopefully next time. Would be nice to combine it with a visit to the SS Great Britain in Bristol.

As a teenager I was fond of everything that had to do with sailing ships of yesteryear, especially the tall ships. Passionate fan of the Onedin Line with Peter Gilmore, Jane Seymour, Howard Lang etc. and that famous theme tune of Khachaturian, Spartacus. So excited having the opportunity then to visit the Cutty Sark in Greenwich near London, memorable visit it was.

Yes, the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, England.

Did the Wallace Collection today. Thank God for the 512 gb storage and 100x zoom on the camera. So many photos of the arms and armor with some amazing construction details.

I would love to say the Barnes Foundation in Philly, but I have not been to the new museum, just the small home-based original setting in a garden in the burbs.

Just remembered another one: The Pavek Museum in St Louis Park, MN (a suburb of Minneapolis). It's definitely a 'niche' museum - from Wikipedia: "The Pavek Museum is a museum in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, that has one of the world's most significant collections of vintage radio and television equipment." Maybe sounds boring unless you're an electronics nerd but really it was fascinating.

1. The RAF Museum (Royal Air Force Museum), London (Tube: Colindale). Not only British planes are displayed in this museum.

2. Mémorial du Débarquement et de la Liberation en Provence, (Memorial on the landing and of the liberation in Provence), Toulon , France.... somewhat taxing getting here. Historical focus is on the Allied landings in Southern France 5 weeks after D-Day, attention given also on the role played by the Free French forces in this operation.

3. Voelkerschlachtmuseum (Museum on the Battle of the Nations/Leipzig in 1813), Leipzig, Germany. This small museum is adjacent to the Battle of the Nations monument focusing on the decisive and unmistakable Allied battlefield victory over Napoleon in the War of Liberation.

4. Das Preußen Museum in Westfalen (Prussian Museum in Westphalia), Minden an der Weser, Germany.

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki, Museum of the Seminole Indian, Clewiston, Florida

Museum of the Plains Indian, Browning, Montana

Museum Speelklok, Utrecht, Netherlands

Belgian Comic Strip Center, Brussels, Belgium

Nishijin Textile Center, Kyoto, Japan

Origami Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan

The Biblioteca Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History - especially the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants.
The Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford.
The Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College.

Trotter,
So glad someone else has seen the Harvard Museum glass plant display. It is a wonderful exhibit! I recommend anyone visiting the Boston area to make it a point to go there (besides, it is so cool to wander around Harvard, and MIT has a good little science/tech museum on its campus).

Not really small, but hardly known:

Château de Valençey in the French Loire Valley, once home to Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, one of the most remarkable characters in French history. Once bishop of Autun he became diplomat under several regimes including the one of Napoleon. Lovely museum nowadays and certainly like to visit it again.

Château de Breteuil south of Versailles. Still owned by the Breteuil family and packed with interesting history, like the involvement in Marie-Antoinette’s diamond necklace affaire. You can see a replica on display during a guided tour.

Mucha Museum in Prague

Ringling Museum complex in Sarasota, FL (includes medieval arat and special exhibits, fun/huge miniature circus model , and a Venice Italy inspired mansion of John and Mable Ringling.)

Viscaya House and Gardens Miami, Florida Italian villa (architecture and furnishings) and gardens.

Museo San Marco, Florence. Especially the upstairs, with the frescoes Fra Angelico painted in the monastic cells, and his ‘Annunciation’ at the top of the stairs.

The Contrada museums in Siena. The only one I saw was that of the Onda Contrada, but there are several more.

The Maison Satie in Honfleur - part museum, part immersion experience.

The Rock 'n' Soul Museum, Memphis, TN...excellent museum on the evolution of rock 'n' roll behind the cultural and sociological back-drop.

Institute of Texas Cultures....a very good comprehensive museum connected to the Uni. of TX focusing on the role played by numerous nationalities and ethnic groups in Texas history...Native Americans, African-Americans, French, Spanish, Mexican, Japanese, German, Polish, Chinese, Norwegian, etc, etc. , San Antonio.

Landesmuseum Westpreußen....on the former West Prussia until 1919, Warendorf bei Münster/Westf., Germany.

The post on best things to do in Europe reminds me of another wonderful small museum…the Tile Museum (name?) in Lisbon. Spectacular display of tile history in Portugal. Attached to a tiled church. Can get there by bus, about a mile from the train station and cruise port a block from the coast.

These are my random favorite/notable small/smaller museums:

• Design Museum - Copenhagen, Denmark
• Finn Juhl House - Charlottenland, Denmark
• Louisiana Museum of Modern Art - Humlebaek, Denmark
• Cluny Museum - Paris, France
• Dali House Museum - Cadaques, Spain
• William Morris Gallery/Lloyd Park House - London, England
• Museum of Disgusting Food - Malmö, Sweden
• Moderna Museet - Stockholm, Sweden
• Tändsticksmuseet (Match Museum) - Jönköping, Sweden
• National Museum of Health & Science (formerly Walter Reed Army Medical Museum) - Silver Spring, MD, USA
• Hirshhorn Museum - Washington, D.C., USA
• Grey Art Gallery, NYU - NYC, NY, USA (re-opens in 2024)
• Ellis Island and National Immigration Museum - NYC, NY, USA

Nice topic!

Here's another to add - just visited it a few days ago:

Ephesus Museum - Selçuk, Turkey

If going to Avignon anyway, the Museum of Stone, Musee Lapidaire, is very interesting and free. Its in what, isn't a church any more. Which I found, to be just as interesting as the antiquities as to why it wasn't a church anymore.

The Science Museum in Florence is not that well visited. But it has these most beautiful armillary spheres, trying to prove the Heliocentric idea wrong. They are beautiful in craftsmanship, even if they are wrong: They are still beautiful. And they have a few things Galileo used in his observations, Including his middle finger.

If you ever end up in Seattle, the MOHAI (Museum of History and Innovation) is in a beautiful spot and has a lot of history of the region, and the MOPOP is the coolest "museum" I have ever been to, including the Louvre and British museum. Obviously not comparing the same things, but still 100% worth a visit!

It’s a very long thread so I’ve slightly lost track. I wanted to share some love for the very moving Foundling Museum in London.

Most cities in the UK will have a museum that’s a kind of ragbag of interesting stuff, often including a local partial dinosaur skeleton plus other surprises.

The big industrial cities are often good on Pre-Raphaelites.

Leicester City Museum/Gallery has a surprising collection of Picasso ceramics, bequeathed by Richard Attenborough, and an equally surprising specialist collection of German Expressionist painting.

Plymouth has a museum/art gallery called the Box that has everything from a recreated mammoth to some great ship figureheads and a fascinating exhibition about the city’s port and naval base.

Portsmouth’s City Museum has a Conan Doyle collection.

The list goes on - and most of these are free. So it’s always worth visiting and finding surprising treasures.

Not a true museum, but the Irish Hunger Memorial in lower Manhattan is definitely worth visiting. Informative and poignant with stones from all 32 counties of Ireland.

How I have enjoyed reading the recommendations in this thread! I see that the Cluny in Paris is mentioned a few times....deservedly so! I am gratified to find several that I have been lucky enough to visit.

KC...Yes to the Timkin in Balboa Park, San Diego. And in Balboa Park there are 17 other museums/sites, many of which are free. Some of the best are the Mingei Museum of International Folk Art, the San Diego Air and Space Museum (not free), and the Museum of Photographic Arts. You could spend several days just in Balboa Park, visiting the varied array of museums and gardens. (And top it off with a Shakespeare play at the replica Old Globe Theater, or a Sunday organ concert at the world's largest outdoor pipe organ!)

Continental and Mary...I so agree with you about the Isabela Stewart Gardner Museum. Aside from its superb collections, it has such a lovely small garden to take some repose. A do not miss when visiting Boston!

There is an Ice Museum in West Chester Pa about 30 miles.from.Philadelphia. Has toys, vehicles, ice chests, refrigerators etc. Who would have thought of a museum dedicated to ice but it is worth it!!!!

Wonderful Topic! A few more, here

Europe (two or three of these are medium-sized):
Oxford Museum of Natural History
Zagreb - Museum of Naive Art
Gallerie dell'Accademia - Venice
Fundacio Joan Miro - Barcelona

US:
Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena)
Kimbell Art Museum (Ft. Worth)

Agree on many above ... Mucha Museum in Prague, Isabella Gardner Stewart in Boston, Sir John Soane's Museum (House) in London and the Thyssen (medium sized) in Madrid are gems.

There's one museum often overlooked here in Williamsburg the Muscarelle Museum of Art on the campus of William and Mary. They're in a construction phase that'll triple their size.

Must say WOW!

Great topic. Outstanding replies. In reviewing all the responses I’m adding the following.

The California Route 66 Museum in Victorville, CA
Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine, CA
Freud Museum London
The Quiet Man Museum in Cong Ireland. Fans of the John Wayne Maureen O’Hara film would throughly enjoy it.

Claudia we loved the museum in Cong. I seem to.remember her green dress from Quiet Man movie was there.. Yes small.but well worth it although two couples outside didn't want to spend the money to enter. Was thinking you spent thousands to get there and wouldn't spend the fifty cent entry ? Yes it was only that much to enter. Small museums are fantastic and so are national parks and aboretums. Great topic.

These are all in lovely little Luxembourg:
• National Museum of Military History in Diekirch
While not necessarily small, perhaps lessor known and so well curated. It’s on 5 floors and has many dioramas with figures in uniform, as well as many vehicles. So much stuff was left behind from the war and was collected and now presented in this museum. Wikipedia has a good description here. This landed on my itinerary earlier this year thanks to being mentioned here on the forum in another post.
• Family of Man Exhibit at Clervaux Castle
• Musée Dräi Eechelen - a small interesting museum within Fort Thüngen.
• European Museum in Schengen - tiny and out of the way, but informative for those who may be interested in the Schengen agreement (as I was).

Doria Pamphilj is located in Rome. This former palace has an amazing art collection. The museum is not on the must see sites of places to go, so it was not crowded. A terrific experience. An audio guide is included in the price of admission.

On the topic of railway museums, two of which I am familiar with, that in CA, obviously, and one I visited in Austria...quite by accident.

1. California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, CA

2. Eisenbahnmuseum, Deutsch-Wagram.

I came upon this since it is situated at the S-Bahn stop, going to Wagram from Vienna to visit the other historical museum located there., ca. 40 min. walk from the station.

It's under the Pompeii umbrella but it is a stand-alone that is one train stop north of Pompeii. The Villa of Oplontis is well worth a trip for a couple of hours to beat the heat and the crowds at Pompeii.

Marmotten and Petit Palais in Paris

Leopold in Vienna

Thyssen in Madrid

Dori Pamphili in Rome (especially if you liked the Isabel Stewart Gardner museum in Boston)

Isabel Stewart Gardner in Boston

I discovered a new one last week on a road trip: the Museo Leonora Carrington in Xilitla, San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Carrington (1917-2011) was a British artist who lived as an expat in Mexico. The entire museum is dedicated to her sculpture.

https://www.leonoracarringtonmuseo.org/

It seems there is also a museum of her work in the state capital, also named San Luis Potosí.

If you like surrealist sculpture, check out the website even if you won't make it to Xilitla.

Two more that I missed the first time around . Both in New York City - The Morgan Library and Museum https://www.themorgan.org/ and The New York Historical Society - https://www.nyhistory.org/

I just thought of another - it's actually 8 others. Any of the Karpeles Manuscript Museums. They're located in Tacoma, WA, Santa Barbara, CA, Pittsburgh, PA, Duluth, MN, Gloversville, NY, Buffalo, NY, St. Augustine, FL, and Lake Mary, FL. https://www.karpeles.com/
The manuscripts rotate through the 8 museums.

Lane, I missed your thread the first go around.

Local Arizona favorites are
*Heard Museum, Phoenix — Southwest Native American art and artifacts
*Hall of Flames, Phoenix — fire truck museum
*Desert Caballeros Museum, Wickenburg — Western art

Europe favorites are
*Musee Nissim de Camondo, Paris — antique furniture and art
*Cluny Museum, Paris
*Musee du Palais Lascaris, Nice — antique musical instruments
*Munich Residenz Royal Treasury, Munich
*Carlo Goldini House, Venice — tiny collection of 1700’s marionettes
*Christmas Museum, Salzburg — Christmas ornaments

Great topic! Thanks Lane!
Some of my faves:

Morikami museum , Delray Beach, FL-Japanese culture and history, with beautiful gardens and walking trails and art museum.

If in Vermont, these are delightful:

Shelburne Museum , Shelburne, VT- an eclectic collection of art and buildings, unique to Vermont and American history

…and not far from there is Shelburne Farms, a Vanderbilt/Webb estate with landscape designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed Central Park in NY. There is a working farm, extensive walking trails, cheese making, spectacular views.

If in Burlington, VT, you might try The Fleming Museum, on the University of Vermont campus. Rotating art exhibits by contemporary and historic artists, and curiosities, like an actual Egyptian mummy.

Hildene, Manchester, VT, the summer home of Robert and Mary Lincoln (Robert was Abraham’s son), is fascinating, with artifacts and extensive grounds with a working farm, gorgeous views and even a Pullman train car.

Big museums sometimes have less known aspects-I love the Art Institute of Chicago’s blockbuster works but the gems are the dioramas(miniatures) downstairs.

Another fave is Milwaukee Art Museum with a building that moves like a giant ship.

Sometimes you think real interesting museums are far away from home, so I never payed attention to the Bizarium in Sluis 20km from my home in the Netherlands. It’s a remarkable cabinet of human creativity with the focus on bizar inventions. But as they are a product of the creative “trial and error” proces of invention they are not so bizar as it looks at first sight. And so certainly worth a closer look. In 2020 it was on the list to be nominated European Museum of the Year because of it’s unique collection and the way it is set up. The museum is now temporarily closed, no idea for how long but I wil certainly visit it as soon as it's doors are open again.

https://bizarium.com/en/

The D-Day Story in Portsmouth, England.
The Paley Center for Media (formerly Museum of Television and Radio), New York, NY

45th Infantry Division Museum, Oklahoma City. includes collection of Bill Mauldin WW2 comics
Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron, Nebraska. Tells the story of the Indians and their interaction with the mountain men

Narren Museum, Gengenbach, Germany - collection of Fasnachrpt ( carnival ) masks
Town museum, Schiltach, Germany. Best laid out small museum I have ever visited

Museo De La Filatelia (stamp museum) in Oaxaca city, Mexico
Museo La Esquina (toy museum) in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

The Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon is a wonderful museum. The Coast Guard Life Saving exhibits are great!
The British Library in London has the Magna Carta and one of the oldest Bibles printed on the Gutenberg press. Even though it is not technically a museum it has interesting displays and it is free.

Sorry, what's the name of the two Cold War/Stasis museums in Berlin? Those are both really good. If I had to pick one I like the one that's more in the city, where it has actual Cold War, era apartments etc built into the museum.

I've been to that one twice and it was very interesting both times. But unfortunately, and maybe ask per usual, the details are escaping me.

You can help out. Thanks!

Some favorites:
Massachusetts-The Whaling Museum in New Bedford. They also do a once a year read a thon of Herman Melville's iconic Moby Dick.
Melville sailed on whaleship out of New Bedford Harbor in 1841

New Hampshire-Wright Museum of WW2 in Wolfeboro. Honoring veterans. Located on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, Nice to visit on a rainy summer lake day

Canada-Cape Breton-Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site

Canada-Cape Breton Island-The Miners Museum is located in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. The main building of the museum contains an exhibit area dedicated to the history of coal mining in Cape Breton. Underneath the museum is the Ocean Deeps Colliery which is a coal mine that visitors can tour with retired miners as guides.

The Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, VA.

The Maritime Museum in Beaufort, NC.

Mystic Seaport Museum, Connecticut. Nice open air museum about navigation from yesteryear.

We just returned from Oahu. The Bishop Museum in Honolulu is a spectacular collection of the history of the Pacific islanders, from Tahiti to Hawaii and many island groups in between. The artifacts are wonderful, with thorough yet fascinating histories. And the purpose-built building is beautiful and on lovely grounds. We spent three and a half hours there, not counting time out for lunch at the cafe, and only left because we were spent, and beginning to overload. If you are on Oahu, aside from seeing the USS Arizona Memorial, this is the one don't-miss!

The Gardner Museum in Boston has to be near the top of any small art gallery list. Insane collection and fascinating story surrounding the theft

I really liked the small museum at Delphi in Greece (actually liked all the museums in Greece).
And the archeology museum in Dublin was really neat.
The first few rooms of the National Portrait Gallery in London (all those Plantangenets and Tudors).