One of the things I love about living in New Jersey is that we’re close to all the fun things to do in the big cities like New York and Philadelphia. However, you don’t have to leave the Garden State to enjoy arts and culture. In fact, New Jersey is home to a number of fine art museums, including the Princeton University Art Museum which bears the distinction of being named one of the best small-town museums in America by Fodor’s Travel.

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The Princeton University Art Museum’s collections include over 92,000 works of art, ranging from ancient art to contemporary art. Works of art from all around the world can be found here. The expansive collection includes bronze statuettes and colorful mosaic pavements from ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, mummies and pottery work from ancient Egypt, and metalwork and glazed tiles from ancient Syria, Egypt, Iran, and other centers of Muslim civilization.

Asian art from Japan, Korea, China, and Southeast Asia are on view in the lower galleries, with a wide variety of works in various media on display including pottery, jade carvings, lacquerware, metalware, sculpture, woodblock prints, paintings, folding screens, and calligraphy work. Ancient art of the Mayans, as well as Native Americans can be found in the “Art of the Ancient Americas” collection.

The upper galleries of the Princeton University Art Museum display European and American Art ranging from the 13th century through contemporary art, encompassing a vast array of media including early Renaissance paintings, stained glass windows dating to the Middle Ages, Impressionist works by Claude Monet, photography by Ansel Adams and Wynn Bullock, pop art by Andy Warhol, textile work by Polly Apfelbaum, modern sculpture, and an extensive collection of American portraiture and landscape painting.

The Princeton University Art Museum offers other things to do besides strolling the galleries and viewing the magnificent collections. The museum hosts numerous events including gallery talks, lectures, and tours. There are also things to do for families with children, including Family Fun Days and Art for Families activities that include a self-guided, interactive tour followed by a related art project. The museum offers downloadable guides to each gallery that are designed to help children have fun while learning about the objects in the museum collections. Children receive a passport to the museum at the entrance and receive a stamp in the appropriate area of the passport on completion of the activities in the gallery guides.

The Princeton University Art Museum is located in central New Jersey on the Princeton University campus in McCormick Hall. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday and admission is free. Visit the museum online for hours, directions, and a current schedule of things to do.

Other things to do in the Princeton NJ area include:

• Washington Crossing State Park
• New Jersey State Museum
• The Old Barracks Museum
• Grounds for Sculpture
• Morven Museum and Garden
• Princeton Battlefield State Park
• Rockingham House

Featured Photo Credit: Kathy Dempsey via Flickr

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