The Albuquerque Museum, formerly known as the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, is a public

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. The museum is located in the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

area and is operated by the City of Albuquerque Department of Arts & Culture. The Albuquerque Museum is dedicated to preserving the art of the American Southwest and the history of Albuquerque and the Middle

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

Valley of

. The museum also contributes significantly to the cultural and educational programs in the city of Albuquerque. The museum features art of the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

and its global influences, as well as 400 years of

history with permanent installations and special exhibitions of national and international origin.

History

The museum opened as the Museum of Albuquerque in 1967, operating out of a temporary location in the recently vacated

Old Albuquerque Municipal Airport Building The Old Albuquerque Municipal Airport Building at 2920 Yale Blvd. SE. in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a Pueblo Revival building built in 1939. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It is a two-story flat-roofed buildin ...

. In 1975, voters approved a

bond issue In finance, a bond is a type of security under which the issuer (debtor) owes the holder (creditor) a debt, and is obliged – depending on the terms – to repay the principal (i.e. amount borrowed) of the bond at the maturity date as well as i ...

to fund construction of a new, permanent location on the site of a former truck terminal in

. The building was designed by local architect

Antoine Predock Antoine Predock ( ; born 1936 in Lebanon, Missouri) is an American architect based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is the principal of Antoine Predock Architect PC, the studio he founded in 1967. Predock first gained national attention with the La ...

and opened in 1979. A major expansion designed by Rohde May Keller McNamara Architecture (RMKM) was completed in 2005.

Exhibits

Blumenschein-Star Road and White Sun 1920

The museum's permanent exhibits are dedicated to art in New Mexico, and the history of Albuquerque include early maps,

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

armor, weavings, and other artifacts of colonial life in New Mexico. The museum also hosts changing exhibits, a massive photo archive, art galleries, and maintains an outdoor

sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by a ...

on the grounds. The museum's collections include 10,000 artworks, 35,000 historical objects, and 130,000 photographs in the photo archive.

Permanent exhibits

The museum has three permanent exhibits: *''Common Ground: Art in New Mexico'' *''Only in Albuquerque'' *''Sculpture Garden'' (the City of Albuquerque provides a

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

guide to the Garden)

Casa San Ysidro

The Albuquerque Museum also operates tours for a late 18th-century house in

Corrales, New Mexico Corrales is a village in Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States. First farmed by Tiquex Pueblo people, chosen due to its proximity to the Rio Grande, as documented by Hispano farmers of Nuevo México in the late 1500s. Despite being a part ...

called Casa San Ysidro. The house features a recreation of a 19th-century rancho, including a family chapel, a central plazuela and an enclosed corral area.

References

External links