Here in Old Town, the low, sand-colored walls in front of you belong to the Albuquerque Museum, once known as the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. Operated by the City of Albuquerque Department of Arts & Culture, the museum is dedicated to preserving the art of the American Southwest and the history of Albuquerque and the Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. Inside you will encounter permanent installations and special exhibitions — national and international in origin — that explore art of the Southwest and its global influences, and that together interpret 400 years of Albuquerque history.
The building has its own story: the museum opened as the Museum of Albuquerque in 1967, first operating out of a temporary location in the recently vacated Old Albuquerque Municipal Airport Building. In 1975 voters approved a bond issue to build a new, permanent home on the site of a former truck terminal in Old Town. That new building, designed by local architect Antoine Predock, opened in 1979, and later a major expansion was designed by Rohde May Keller McNamara Architecture.
Predock's 1979 façade meets the Old Town streetscape, with 400 years of Albuquerque history waiting inside.