Museums and Exhibits

Be sure to utilize Columbia’s Museum Passport for free student access to over 30 museums all over the city and to visit Columbia University's Arts Initiative and Columbia University's School of the Arts Miller Theater for more opportunities. Below are additional museums and exhibits that, while not covered by the Columbia Passport Program, are still certainly of interest!

  • The 9/11 Memorial and Museum: The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is the principal memorial and museum commemorating the attacks on September 11, 2001 and the World Trade Center bombing of 1993.
  • The Whitney Museum of American Art: The Whitney Museum is a New York City art museum with a focus on 20th and 21st Century American art.
  • The Frick Museum: The Frick Collection, an art museum located in the Henry Clay Frick House on the Upper East Side, is one of the pre-eminent small art museums in the United States, with a high-quality collection of old master paintings and fine furniture housed in six galleries within the former residence.
  • The Guggenheim Museum: The Guggenheim is an art museum located in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan serving as the permanent home of a continuously expanding collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art, also featuring special exhibitions throughout the year. 
  • The Lower East Side Tenement Museum: The Tenement Museum, located at 97 Orchard Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, promotes tolerance and historical perspective on the immigrant experience. 
  • The American Museum of Natural History: One of the world’s preeminent scientific and cultural institutions, the AMoNH has advanced its global mission to discover, interpret, and disseminate information about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe through a wide-ranging program of scientific research, education, and exhibition.
  • The Ellis Island Immigration Museum: The Immigration Museum 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.