The University of Texas at Austin boasts some of the most unique, historic and innovative facilities found anywhere in the world. As those around the globe celebrate Museum Week (June 5–11), UT is joining the celebration by highlighting our museums and cultural institutions across the Forty Acres and beyond.
Discover, learn more and plan your next visit:
Blanton Museum of Art
With the largest and most comprehensive collection of art in Central Texas, the Blanton Museum of Art serves as a front door to UT, a landmark for the city of Austin and a major resource to the community.
The Blanton achieved its latest feat on May 13 with the unveiling of its new grounds. Outdoor stages designed for speaking events and live music performances sit just outside the main building along with one of the few spaces in the world dedicated solely to sound art in the Butler Sound Gallery, and, in alignment with Museum Week’s environmental theme, 12 three-story canopy sculptures capturing and filtering rainwater to native plants on a cloudy day and casting a dappled effect on the grounds when the sun shines.
The museum hosts a year-round schedule of traveling exhibitions. Its permanent collection of more than 21,000 works includes European paintings, an encyclopedic collection of prints and drawings and modern and contemporary American art. It also received one of the world’s largest private collections of Chicano and Latino art this spring.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- 200 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Austin, TX 78712
- Tuesday–Friday & Sunday — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday — 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Admission is always free for UT students, faculty and staff, children 5 and under and K–12 teachers with a valid ID. As a Blue Star Museum, the Blanton offers free admission to active-duty military personnel and family members from Armed Forces Day to Labor Day. Admission is free to all every Tuesday.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum
Where can you peek into the Oval Office or behind the wheel of a Presidential limousine? Right on the UT campus.
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum houses 45 million pages of historical documents, 650,000 photos, and 5,000 hours of recordings from the political career of the 36th U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson, including about 643 hours of his recorded telephone conversations. The space also features a comprehensive look at the life and career of Lady Bird Johnson, the influential First Lady and a leading environmentalist, from her childhood artifacts to her dresses worn on the campaign trail.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- 2313 Red River St. Austin, TX 78705
- Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the last visitors admitted at 4 p.m.
- Students, faculty and staff receive free admission with a UT ID. Active-duty military personnel and family members may also visit for free. The next free day to the public is Juneteenth.
Harry Ransom Center
Step inside UT’s Harry Ransom Center and take your mind on an adventure through the original works of Frida Kahlo, one of just 20 complete copies of the Gutenberg Bible and the earliest surviving photograph produced in the camera obscura.
As an internationally renowned humanities research library and museum, the Ransom Center deepens guests’ understanding and appreciation of literature, photography, film, art and the performing arts.
With collections including nearly 100,000 works of art, 1 million books, 5 million photographs and more than 42 million manuscripts, the Ransom Center provides unique insight into the creative process of some of the world’s finest writers and artists.
More highlights from the Ransom Center’s collections include Robert De Niro’s archive of scripts, notes, costumes, and props; E. E. Cummings’s wooden paint box; manuscript drafts by Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing; Jack Kerouac’s notebook documenting his writing of On the Road; the Gernsheim Collection, containing some of the world’s finest examples of photographic art and science; some of Albert Einstein’s unpublished notes and calculations for his work on general relativity; and Gabriel García Márquez’s manuscripts, correspondence and notebooks.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- 300 West 21st St. Austin, TX 78712
- Tuesday–Friday — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday–Sunday — Noon to 5 p.m.
- The Reading and Viewing Room is available Monday–Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Admission is free.
Briscoe Center for American History
Echoing stories of the people, places, events and ideas that have shaped us, treasures at the Briscoe Center for American History give visitors a unique look at the history of the U.S., Texas and even the University.
One of the nation’s leading research centers for historical study, the Briscoe Center’s archives, libraries, museums, and historic buildings are part of UT’s commitment to collecting, preserving and making available the evidence of the past.
Galvanizing filmmakers, the collections have been the inspiration for documentaries such as “When I Rise,” “American Rhapsody: Briscoe Center for American History” and “Cactus Jack: The Political Legacy of John Nance Garner.”
Its current exhibition, “Present/Past: The Robert Polidori Photographic Archive,” showcases the work of one of the world’s most acclaimed architectural photographers of human habitats and environments.
In addition to its presence on UT’s campus, the Briscoe Center operates the Briscoe-Garner Museum in Uvalde, Texas; the Sam Rayburn Museum in Bonham, Texas; and Winedale, a research collection of nineteenth-century structures, material culture and decorative arts located near Round Top, Texas.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- 2300 Red River St. Austin, TX 78712-1426. Sid Richardson Hall, Unit 2.
- Monday–Friday — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- The Reading Room is available Monday–Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Admission is free.
Landmarks Public Art Program
Landmarks, UT’s public art program powered by the College of Fine Arts, features an ever-growing collection of almost 50 works of modern and contemporary art. Journey across campus and you’ll find that there’s always another work to discover. With award winning works by some of the most prominent artists today, including Nancy Rubins, Simone Leigh, James Turrell, Ann Hamilton and others, there’s something for everyone.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- Landmarks’ outdoor art is always available and free to the public.
- Works located indoors can be visited during each facility’s regular operating hours.
- Tour the collection with the free mobile app, available at landmarkstours.org or join an in-person tour the first Sunday of every month.
Even more UT spaces to explore:
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Founded by Lady Bird Johnson as the National Wildflower Research Center on her 70th birthday in 1982, the Wildflower Center is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the preservation and re-establishment of native plants in natural and planned landscapes. Its 284 acres are a mix of cultivated gardens, an arboretum, managed natural areas and wildlands that straddle the Edwards Plateau and Texas Blackland Prairies ecoregions. The center was renamed in honor of the First Lady on her 85th birthday in 1997.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- 4801 La Crosse Ave. Austin, TX 78739
- Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the last visitors admitted at 4 p.m.
- July–August hours — 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Students, faculty and staff receive free admission with a UT ID.
Texas Memorial Museum
A staple of UT’s campus since 1939, the Texas Memorial Museum was the state’s first natural history museum, with it being transferred to the University in 1959. While the museum is temporarily closed for renovations, it’s set to be re-opened in the fall of 2023 with a revitalization of foundational exhibits, installation of new exhibits and features and improved spaces allowing for hosted events.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- 2400 Trinity St. Austin, TX 78712-1621
- Re-opening fall 2023.
Marine Science Institute
The Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, Texas, is the oldest and most significant marine research facility on the Texas coast. There are multiple ways to explore the institute’s work through its education and outreach efforts, including the newly opened Patton Center for Marine Science Education, the Bay Education Center in Rockport, Texas, and its offered tours of the Wetland Education Center and the Amos Rehabilitation Keep.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- Patton Center (855 East Cotter Ave. Port Aransas, TX 78373. Tuesday–Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
- Bay Education Center (121 Seabreeze Dr. Rockport, TX 78382. Tuesday–Saturday — 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
- Wetland Education Center (855 East Cotter Ave. Port Aransas, TX 78373. Guided tours are available Tuesday and Thursday at 9 a.m., and the trails are always open for self-guided walks.)
- Amos Rehabilitation Keep (855 East Cotter Ave. Port Aransas, TX 78373. Admission is only permitted through guided tours, available Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m.)
- Admission is free for all exhibits and guided tours.
Art Galleries at Black Studies
Art Galleries at Black Studies is the sole on-campus entity dedicated to showcasing the art of Africa and the African Diaspora. AGBS includes two principal galleries and six project spaces with over 1,300 objects in an effort to preserve, interpret, exhibit, and otherwise make accessible modern and contemporary art and cultural materials for the benefit of a variety of audiences.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- Christian-Green Gallery (201 East 21st St. Austin, TX 78712. Second floor of Jester Center A232. Wednesday–Friday — Noon to 5 p.m.)
- The Idea Lab (210 West 24th St. Austin, TX 78712. Gordon-White Building 2.204. Tuesday–Friday — Noon to 5 p.m.)
- Art Galleries at Black Studies is closed for summer and will re-open fall 2023.
Visual Arts Center
Founded in 2010, the College of Fine Arts’ Visual Arts Center showcases the work of emerging artists and UT students through exhibits and public programs within its five distinct gallery spaces. The space previously served as the original home of the Blanton Museum of Art, from its dedication as the University Art Museum in 1963 to its move across campus in 2006.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- 2300 Trinity St. Austin, TX 78712
- The Visual Arts Center is closed for summer and will re-open fall 2023.
H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports
The Stark Center features collections related to physical culture and sports from around the world, including a library containing thousands of books and magazines related to sports, fitness, nutrition and alternative medicine; an archive with films, photography and the personal papers of prominent athletes, coaches, writers and educators; and an exhibit space featuring The Joe and Betty Weider Museum of Physical Culture.
Hours, Location and Admission:
- 403 DeLoss Dodds Way, Austin, TX 78712. North End Zone 5.700.
- Monday–Friday — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Admission is free.
