Ask yourself: what draws over 67,000 works of art into this Eden Park building? This institution was founded in 1881 as the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection now numbers over 67,000 works that span 6,000 years of human history, making it one of the Midwest’s most comprehensive holdings.
Museum founders once debated Burnet Woods, Eden Park, and downtown’s Washington Park as sites, until Charles West, the major early donor, cast his votes in favor of Eden Park and sealed its final location. The Romanesque-revival building here, designed by Cincinnati architect James W. McLaughlin, opened in 1886. Over its 140-year history a series of additions and renovations have considerably altered the building.
In 2003 a major addition, The Cincinnati Wing, was added to house a permanent exhibit of art created for Cincinnati or by Cincinnati artists since 1788; it brings fifteen new galleries, 18,000 square feet (1,700 m2) of space, and 400 objects into view. Among the notable large works are the Odoardo Fantacchiotti angels. This Romanesque-revival building has welcomed art since 1886, and Eden Park spreads out below for you to wander.