10 Best Museums in Minneapolis

The Minneapolis Institute of Art houses a vast collection of art from the sculpture of ancient times through to Renaissance masters and into the modern day. Here you can see the stunning color use of masters like Matisse and Monet, and see the intricate details of ancient Roman sculptors. You can see artwork from all over the world from Africa to North America, and even artifacts that date back 40,000 years. Other unique exhibits include a genuine mummy. You can take a guided tour or explore on your own.

The museum, informally called MIA by locals, is a fun and vibrant look at art throughout history. It's only 7 minutes south of central downtown.

The Bakken Museum on the scenic shores of Lake Calhoun is situated in a mansion and offers a stunning look at the history of electricity across the country and world. The museum is strictly focused on science and offers many exhibits that are hands-on and interactive to be both educational and thrilling for adults and kids alike. The exhibits here include Ben Franklin and the apocryphal story of his discovery of electricity, magnets and how they are related to electricity, and other all-ages-accessible exhibits.

The museum's mission is to inspire a passion for education, innovation, and progress to make the world a better place for everyone. It's located 15 minutes southwest of downtown.

The Mill City Museum is a quirky and unusual museum dedicated entirely to the history of the flour industry located in the reconstructed ruins of an old grain mill. When it was in operation, the flour mill was the biggest of its kind in the entire world. It sits right on the shores of the Mississippi, whose currents were important to the mill's operations. As you explore the exhibits here, you'll learn all about the way the flour industry, the Mississippi, and the city of Minneapolis are connected and in many ways grew together.

After you explore, you can spend some time admiring the Mississippi as it flows past outside. It's also right in the heart of downtown.

The Minnesota History Center is a library and museum offering artifacts, exhibits, documents, and information about the history of the state, and it also hosts events. In addition, the museum hosts regular rotating exhibits focusing on art, sculpture, and targeted events in history. You can learn about Minnesota's role in World War II, see a replica 1930s soda fountain, watch historic film clips in a vaudeville theater, and learn about the famed Findley tornado. Many of the exhibits here are hands-on and interactive, so you can actually walk back in time through history.

From seeing a sod home to learning about buffalo, this is as close to a time machine as you can find. It's 15 minutes east of town.

The Walker Art Center is among the most visited museums of contemporary art in the nation, offering all manner of art from classical paintings to abstract modern sculpture. The building itself is a work of art, and many come here just to admire its architecture. The grounds outside feature an iconic sculpture garden, which is home to a famed sculpture called Spoonbridge and Cherry. Inside, you'll see artwork in a wide variety of media including drawings, photography, and even live performances by poets, authors, musicians, performance artists, and theatrical companies.

Exhibits are spread among 11 galleries inside and 11 acres outside. This fun, interesting, and educational museum is only 8 minutes west of downtown.

The American Swedish Institute offers a chance to see the Scandinavian cultural influences on Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota housed in a castle-like structure. The mansion that houses it was built in the early 20th century and is itself a gorgeous example of early-century architecture. Inside, you can explore music, artifacts, and information of all sorts about the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of early travelers to Minnesota and how their Scandinavian roots have shaped this state. You can see live performances, listen to folk music, and even shop for Nordic gifts.

If you're hungry after your exploration, an onsite restaurant allows you to sample Nordic cuisine. The museum is just 8 minutes south of central downtown.

The Bell Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Minnesota allows you to explore dioramas that showcase the entire natural history of the world. Exhibits here range from dinosaur bones to the skeleton of an otter, geological displays to exhibits focused on the rainforests of South America. You can learn all about dozens of different species of birds or the sciences of archeology and anthropology as you explore how human cultures developed all over the world, and what the artifacts they leave behind can tell us.

This exciting museum offers near-endless opportunities for education and engagement. It's located just about 10 minutes to the northeast of downtown Minneapolis.

The Minnesota Transportation Museum allows you to explore the entire history of transportation in this state from early trains to streetcars and beyond. The museum was created to preserve a historic streetcar and today hosts streetcars, classic buses, trains, and many other vehicles and artifacts from throughout transportation history. Many of the vehicles are open, so you can actually go inside, explore, and even sit behind the controls of a cable car, the wheel of a bus, or the control room of a steam locomotive engine.

This museum is a bit unusual in its laser focus on public transport, but it's become a famed local landmark and major visitor attraction. It's 17 minutes east of downtown in St. Paul.

The Science Museum of Minnesota offers a broad look at science and natural history, including full dinosaur skeletons and a giant screen Omnimax theater. Exhibits here include permanent and rotating exhibits. Permanent exhibitions include dinosaurs, collectibles and toys, a hands-on experimentation gallery, an exhibit on the human body, a light gallery, exhibits on race, mathematics, sports, the Mississippi river, virtual reality and many other diverse elements of the world that we all share. Rotating exhibitions change all the time, meaning you can visit this museum many times and see something new each time.

This museum is technically in St. Paul, not Minneapolis. Still, it's a mere 14 minutes to the east of downtown.

The Weisman Art Museum offers a dramatic, educational, and family-friendly experience of art and creation with more than 25,000 works on display in its permanent collection. The works you'll see here include American modernism, Korean furniture, Mimbres pottery, and ceramics from all over the world. In fact, the building itself is a work of modern art, and was designed by famed architect Frank O. Gehry. The stoneware collection alone offers over 80 pieces dating as far back as 935 BCE. You can also view dozens of pieces of folk arts and crafts dating back hundreds of years.

The museum is dedicated to discovery, transformation, and critical thinking. It's located in the heart of downtown Minneapolis.