In the late 1920s, three progressive and influential patrons of the arts, Lillie P. Bliss, Mary Quinn Sullivan, and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, perceived a need to challenge the conservative policies of traditional museums and to establish an institution devoted exclusively to modern art. They, along with additional original trustees A. Conger Goodyear, Paul Sachs, Frank Crowninshield, and Josephine Boardman Crane, created The Museum of Modern Art in 1929. Its founding director, Alfred H. Barr, Jr., intended the Museum to be dedicated to helping people understand and enjoy the visual arts of our time, and that it might provide New York with “the greatest museum of modern art in the world.” The public’s response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, and over the course of the next 10 years the Museum moved three times into progressively larger temporary quarters, and in 1939 finally opened the doors of the building it still occupies in midtown Manhattan. Upon his appointment as the first director, Barr submitted an innovative plan for the conception and organization of the Museum that would result in a multi-departmental structure based on varied forms of visual expression. Today, these departments include architecture and design, drawings and prints, film, media and performance, painting and sculpture, and photography. Subsequent expansions took place during the 1950s and 1960s, planned by the architect Philip Johnson, who also designed The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden. In 1984, a major renovation designed by Cesar Pelli doubled the Museum’s gallery space and enhanced visitor facilities. The rich and varied collection of The Museum of Modern Art constitutes one of the most comprehensive and panoramic views into modern art. From an initial gift of eight prints and one drawing, The Museum of Modern Art’s collection has grown to approximately 200,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, media and performance art works, architectural models and drawings, design objects, and films. MoMA also owns approximately two million film stills. The Museum’s Library and Archives contain the leading concentration of research material on modern art in the world, and each of the curatorial departments maintains a study center available to students, scholars, and researchers. MoMA’s Library holds over 320,000 items, including books, artists’ books, periodicals, and extensive individual files on more than 90,000 artists. The Museum Archives contains primary source material related to the history of MoMA and modern and contemporary art. The Museum maintains an active schedule of modern and contemporary art exhibitions addressing a wide range of subject matter, mediums, and time periods, highlighting significant recent developments in the visual arts and new interpretations of major artists and art historical movements. Works of art from its collection are displayed in rotating installations so that the public may regularly expect to find new works on display. Ongoing programs of classic and contemporary films range from retrospectives and historical surveys to introductions of the work of independent and experimental film- and video makers. Visitors also enjoy access to bookstores offering an assortment of publications, and a design store offering objects related to modern and contemporary art and design. The Museum is dedicated to its role as an educational institution and provides a complete program of activities intended to assist both the general public and special segments of the community in approaching and understanding the world of modern and contemporary art. In addition to gallery talks, lectures, and symposia, the Museum offers special activities for parents, teachers, families, students, preschoolers, bilingual visitors, and people with special needs. In addition, the Museum has one of the most active publishing programs of any art museum and has published more than 2,500 editions appearing in 35 languages. Today, The Museum of Modern Art welcome millions of visitors every year. A still larger public is served by MoMA’s national and international programs of circulating exhibitions, loan programs, circulating film and video library, publications, Library and Archives holdings, websites, educational activities, special events, and retail sales.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, is located on the Southern edge of Battery Park City, overlooking the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in lower Manhattan. It's mission is to educate people of all ages and backgrounds about the 20th century Jewish experience before, during, and after the Holocaust. With more than 2,000 photographs, 800 artifacts, and 24 original documentary films, the Museum’s core exhibition combines archival material with modern media to provide a thoughtful and moving chronicle of history, keeping the memory of the past alive and offering hope for the future.

While you don’t need a ticket to enter the Statue of Liberty Museum or Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, tickets are required to board ferries to Liberty and Ellis Islands. All ferry ticketing is run through Statue Cruises, which is the only vendor authorized to provide tickets and transportation to Liberty and Ellis Islands. No other ferry company can give you access to the Islands. Arrive to Ferry Service as early as possible, lines tend to be long in good weather! The Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration is located in the Main Building of the former immigration station complex and tells the moving tales of the 12 million immigrants who entered America through the golden door of Ellis Island. Today, the descendants of those immigrants account for almost half of the American people. From 1892 to 1954, Ellis Island was the largest port of entry and inspection to the United States of America. Inspections of passengers arriving from around the glo be after frequently arduous sea crossings took place here in the Registry Room (or Great Hall), where doctors inspected every immigrant for signs of illness. Ellis Island is a great place to explore American immigration history, and trace family roots, particularly at the American Immigrant Wall of Honor. Watch the award-winning documentary film Island of Hope, Island of Tears, and learn more about the Peopling of America. An Audio Tour through Ellis Island Immigration Museum, retraces the immigrants' first steps through this gateway to the New World. It is available at the museum in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. Public Tours are periodically conducted by Park Rangers.

2 Course Lunch – $26 3 Course Dinner – $42 Twice a year, once at the end of January and again in late August, the most acclaimed restaurants join in the foodies delight – restaurant week! Special special prix-fixe menus are available at affordable prices enticing even the most frugal foodies to explore the offerings of somme of New York's best restaurants! Check-out participating restaurants! Pro tip: The event actually runs for around three weeks, so there is plenty of time to explore all your favorite cuisines. Double Pro tip: Check #nycrestaurantweek on Instagram!

In the warm weather Lakeside facility offers loads of family friendly activities. Paddle with the swans and ducks with a boat rental; tour the park on bike by renting from an eclectic fleet ranging from traditional two wheels to a four-wheeled, 6-person Double Surrey; Get your groove on roller skating to mix of pop hits; finally cool off at the Splash Pad a 20 fountain sprinkler park designed for children under 12. For the older crowd check out Lola Star's Dreamland Roller Disco - an evening party every Friday that runs from 7:30 - 10:30. The Bluestone Café onsite with great food and cold drink (including beer and wine), or feel free to bring your own food and relax at one of the many outdoor tables available. Located in the Southeast quadrant of the park, with lovely views, and easily accessible by public transportation. Open from October to March. Please check website for schedule updates.

The Brooklyn Museum is the second largest art museum in New York City and one of the largest in the United States. One of the premier art institutions in the world, its permanent collection includes more than one and a half million objects, from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art, and represents almost every culture. It is housed in a 560,000 square foot, Beaux-Arts building that welcomes approximately half a million visitors each year. Located in Central Brooklyn, a half-hour from midtown Manhattan with its own subway stop, the Museum is set on Eastern Parkway and one block from Grand Army Plaza in a complex of 19th-century parks and gardens that also contains Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Wildlife Center. The mission of the Brooklyn Museum is to act as a bridge between the rich artistic heritage of world cultures, as embodied in its collections, and the unique experience of each visitor. Dedicated to the primacy of the visitor experience; committed to excellence in every aspect of its collections and programs; and drawing on both new and traditional tools of communication, interpretation and presentation, the Museum aims to serve its diverse publics as a dynamic, innovative and welcoming center for learning through the visual arts. The Museum's permanent collections include: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art The Museum's collection of ancient Egyptian art is generally acknowledged to be one of the finest in the world. Many of the works on view are presented in a major reinstallation of more than 500 objects on the third floor of the renovated Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing. It includes a chronological presentation ranging from 1350 B.C. during the reign of Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, through the regime of Cleopatra VII. It includes such diverse objects as elaborate cosmetic containers and pieces of jewelry of the New Kingdom in alabaster, wood, ivory, faience, and gold, important Dynasty XXV reliefs of the major deities Amun, Mut, and Khonsu, as well as the world famous Brooklyn Black Head of the Ptolemaic Period. Another portion of the galleries contains a thematic exhibition of almost 200 objects entitled Temples, Tombs, and the Egyptian Universe. Arts of Africa, the Pacific, and the Americas The first museum in America to display African objects as art, Brooklyn's collection, particularly strong in works from central Africa, is one of the largest and most important in this country. Recently the galleries were expanded and reinstalled with 250 works of art, including several pieces that have never before been on public view. Also displayed are a carved ivory gong from the Edo people of Benin and an 18th-century wooden figure of King Mishe MiShyaang maMbul of the Kuba people of Zaire, both of which are the only objects of their kind in the United States. Masks, statues, jewelry, and household objects are also displayed. The Arts of the Pacific collection includes works from Polynesia, Melanesia, and Indonesia. An important reinstallation of more than 50 objects from Melanesia, which features masks, shields, and statuary, recently opened. The Arts of the America portion of this collection includes some of the most important Andean textiles in the world, including the famous Paracas Textile that dates to between 200 and 100 B.C. Other notable works include a 15th-century Aztec stone jaguar, and a new presentation of Peruvian art including textiles , ceramics, and gold objects. The Arts of Asia The Asian art collection contains some of the most comprehensive and diverse holdings in the New York Metropolitan area. The department began in 1903 under the aegis of the Museum's first curator of ethnology, Stewart Culin. The core of the collection was the result of grand expeditions early in the 20th century to East and South Asia. Since then the collection has grown to include Asian cultures such as Cambodia, China, India, Iran, Japan, Thailand, Tibet, and Turkey. The collection of Korean art is one of the most important in the United States. The collection of art from Iran's Qajar dynasty (1790s to 1924) is the only serious collection of its kind on display in America. Painting, Sculpture, Prints, Drawings, and Photography The Brooklyn Museum's collection of Painting and Sculpture includes European and American works from the 14th century to the present day. The collection of American paintings is considered one of the finest in the United States. Highlights from the 18th century include famous portraits of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart and Charles Willson Peale. Among the 19th-century artists represented are Thomas Cole, Frederick Church, Albert Bierstadt, George Caleb Bingham, Eastman Johnson, John Singer Sargent, George Inness, and Winslow Homer. 20th-century artists in the collection include Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Stuart Davis, Alex Katz, Mark Rothko, Richard Diebenkorn, and Louise Bourgeois. Decorative Arts, Costumes and Textiles The Museum's collection of decorative arts is considered one of the most important in the country. A pioneer in the installation of period rooms, the Museum now has 28 on exhibition, ranging from a 17th-century Brooklyn Dutch farmhouse to a 20th-century art deco library designed by Alavoine of Paris and New York. Among the period rooms are a 19th-century Moorish Room, originally a part of John D. Rockefeller's Manhattan mansion, and a mid-19th century parlor and library, taken from a home in Saratoga Springs, New York, replete with a complete set of Noah's art animals. Other objects, among them silver, ceramics, and furniture are also displayed. The Museum's holdings of costumes and textiles, which includes one of the country's finest collections of 19th-century American and English costumes, as well as the work of 20th-century American designers and French couture, are included in the Decorative Arts department. Because of conservation concerns this wide and varied portion is only occasionally on public view.