Museums in New York City

Discover 54 unusual museums in New York City.

Brooklyn, New York

The Bone Museum

This museum dedicated to the history of the medical bone trade and human osteology.

Framed items.

Brooklyn, New York

BAM Hamm Archives

A collection of playbills, photographs, and other memorabilia from the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

A miniature NYC skyline at the Skyscraper Museum

New York, New York

Skyscraper Museum

An institution dedicated to the towering buildings that make up skylines in New York City and around the world.

Every tour begins in the basement, featuring a bar decorated in Russian vodka labels.

Staten Island, New York

Booze History Museum

Crammed into several rooms of a Staten Island home, this museum is a vodka-soaked paean to the pleasures of drinking.

'Dwellings' seen at eye level

New York, New York

'Dwellings' at the Breuer Building

This miniature village stays behind in the Breuer Building, even as the museums around it come and go.

West Terrace

New York, New York

West Terrace at the Cloisters

This hidden oasis features a stunning view of the Hudson River and the Palisades from a castle-like museum.

A machine for making fortune cookies on display.

Brooklyn, New York

Museum of Food and Drink

Here, exhibits come with a side of edible history.

Bartow-Pell Mansion.

Bronx, New York

Bartow-Pell Mansion

This old estate is a remnant of when the Bronx was a popular summer destination for wealthy New Yorkers.

The mummified beef shoulder, likely of Prince Amenemhat.

New York, New York

Ancient Egyptian Beef Shoulder

Even for Egyptian royalty, the afterlife was bring-your-own-beef.

Closeup of one of the rhinos.

New York, New York

Indian Rhinoceros Diorama

An eerie diorama that captures the majestic nature of a few prehistoric-looking beasts.

Conference House, Staten Island, New York City.

Staten Island, New York

Conference House

During the American Revolution, this mansion hosted failed peace talks between the British and Americans.

New York, New York

Poster House Museum

The first museum in the United States dedicated entirely to posters.

Closeup of the elephant herd.

New York, New York

African Elephants Diorama

This magnificent herd of stampeding elephants has been frozen in time for over a century.

The desert scene.

New York, New York

Libyan Desert Diorama

This poignant display is now a memorial to these regionally extinct species.

Mountain gorilla at the American Museum of Natural History.

New York, New York

Gorilla Diorama

Creating this diorama spurred naturalist Carl Akeley to begin advocating to protect the apes.

Hall of North American Mammals

New York, New York

Hall of North American Mammals

Outstanding taxidermy dioramas showcase the grandeur of the continent's wildlife with spooky realism.