The Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, located in Boston, is such a unique and incredible experience.

The Tragic History that Bore the Museum we all Love:

Isabella was a New-York born woman who married John Gardener in 1860. After struggling with fertility, they bore a son who passed away before the age of two. To deal with their grief, they began traveling the world, largely Europe and Asia. When they returned, Isabella started attending Harvard to study Art History and Italian Literature. It was here where she met Bernard Berenson who later became her art advisor. Together, they created one of the most important art collections in the world. John and Isabella wanted to create a museum together. The couple were both affluent and privileged in their community. When John suddenly died in 1898, Isabella was determined to make that dream a reality. In 1899, the construction of the museum began and in 1903, the museum was open to the public. In 1924, Isabella died and made clear instructions to not make any changes to the Museum displays. Learn more here: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog

Cost:

Entry is $22 and tickets are required.

However, there are discounts available if you apply; those under 17 years old and whom are members can visit for free. Tickets for those 65 or older are $20 and students with a valid current student ID are $15. Once you purchase your ticket, you will get an email with you ticket. I saved mine to my Google wallet and they scanned it once I got there.

Parking:

There is parking in the area- if you can find a metered spot (good luck!) it’s just a couple dollars per hour. The MFA is close by (less than a 10 minute walk) and has a parking lot that you can use. The catch? It’s incredibly expensive (perhaps my own opinion):

1 hour or less: $12 or $8 for members

1-2 hours: $24 or $16 for members

2-5 hours: $32 or $21 for members

5-6 hours: $36 or $24 for members

6+ hours: $48 or $42 for members

And just to clarify, these are MFA members, not Isabella Gardener Museums as this is the MFA parking lot.

When you enter, you will go straight forwards to the coat room, and the entrance to the main museum is in between the two staircases, next to the cafe and gift shop. That’s where you’ll scan your tickets and walk down a glass corridor. You are immediately met with a stunning indoor courtyard:

Around the courtyard, there are several cloisters and rooms, housing statues, paintings and other artifacts. The Spanish Cloister, East, North and West Cloister, Chinese Loggia, as well as the yellow, blue and Macknight Room.

The knights are located between the Macknight and Blue Room. When I got there, there was a LONG line to the Blue room, but here’s a tip! If you go to the other entrance (near the knights), the guard may let you in at the other end (which will likely be quicker than standing behind the 15 people on the other end).

The second floor houses the Tapestry room, early Italian Room, Dutch Room as well as others, such as the Little Salon, Short Gallery, Raphael Room, and more. Let me just say. Huge props to the guards, yet also- I hope they get paid well because personally- I couldn’t do it! I think I would get stir crazy…

As you can see, these rooms are in no way scarce, but rather filled with different items, artifacts and pieces of art. You also may notice the religious symbolism in many of these objects, as Isabella, herself was Episcopalian, a denomination of Christianity.

The photo from the second left on the bottom depicted different scenes and stories from the Bible, the zoomed-in version on the far left, being the Last Supper, which I thought was really neat. I have never seen anything like that, usually I see scripture represented individually/separately.

The third floor is the last floor open to the public, yet the museum itself has four total floors. The third floor houses the Veronese Room, Titian Room, Chapel, Gothic Room, Long Gallery and Third Floor Passage. The third floor did feel a little smaller than some of the others, I don’t know how accurate that actually was though.

Do I recommend the Isabella Gardener Museum?

I absolutely do! I thought this museum was spectacular and so neat. I think one thing that makes this museum extra special is the history behind the museum. It’s not a state museum or national museum, it’s one that was created based on grief and healing by a woman in the early 1900s. The cost is very affordable, and like I briefly shared- they do have both a gift shop and a place to eat.

Website: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/

Address: 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gardnermuseum

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gardnermuseum

Hours: I usually don’t add hours to my adventure posts, but given the hours are different than your typical open hours, I thought to add it.

Monday: 11-5pm

Tuesday: CLOSED

Wednesday: 11-5pm

Thursday: 11-9pm

Friday: 11-5pm

Saturday: 10-5pm

Sunday: 10-5pm

**Please note the bolded times above as some of the hours are different by one hour and it can be confusing if you’re skimming it.**

Cheers Friends & Travelers!

~ Backroad Butterflies ~