Museum Hill

The city of Santa Fe New Mexico is full of wonderful museums, shops and galleries all located in the compact area around the plaza in the city.  However, there is one set of museums a little further from the city center and well worth the trip to see.  It's a place known as Museum Hill.  You know you have arrived when you see this massive bronze sculpture by Reynaldo Rivera.  It's called Journey's End and it depicts a scene that would have been very common when settlers were arriving in Santa Fe.  It sits at the entrance to Museum Hill with offices of the National Park Service right behind it.

Three of the four museums that make up Museum Hill are clustered around a central plaza and the fourth museum is a little further away on it's own hilltop.  The three museums at this location sit around a central plaza that displays art works from various artists.  The sculpture above is called Peaceful Warrior by Estella Loretto.  Behind the sculpture is the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art on the right and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture to the left.

Also on that central plaza is a restaurant and a perfect place for lunch between exploring the museums.

The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture highlights artistic and cultural achievements of the diverse native peoples of the southwest.  On one end of the museum is the Arnold and Doris Roland Sculpture Garden.

On the other side of the museum is the Laboratory of Anthropology which is part of the museum and is a research level library dedicated to protecting and preserving archaeological records and cultural anthropology of the indigenous cultures of New Mexico, the greater southwest, Mexico and Central America.  Entering the library is by appointment only but the building itself is a Santa Fe style work of art.

At the other end of the plaza is the Museum of International Folk Art.  The purpose of that museum is to foster understanding of the traditional arts and to illuminate human creativity.

At the other location on Museum Hill is the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.  I posted about this museum last September.  Last summer was my first visit to this museum and it quickly became a favorite of mine.

A visit to Museum Hill is well worth the short drive out of the city center.  There is so much to see, you could spend a whole day there enjoying it all.