A true Midwestern gem
By Jacob N, 07/24/07
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a medium-sized art museum (though probably large for a city Minneapolis's size or even a metro area the size of the Twin Cities) that you could easily spend a day exploring, provided you don't get museum burn-out.
Although there's everything from armor to African money weights to furniture, the highlight is probably the museum's excellent and extensive Asian collection. Some really cool pieces include a 3,000 year old Chinese ceremonial cup shaped like an owl; a gigantic jade mountain scene carving with several poets, who can be seen collating texts and drinking wine; and a complete 1700's-era living room shipped in from China.
The museum is completely free, as is parking, so it's undoubtedly an excellent value. The audio guide, while cheap ($4 I think), had rather poor narrations in my opinion, at least compared to the excellent long ones at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
