Ahead of you is the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, one of the finest encyclopedic art museums in the United States — and one that punches well above its weight for a Midwestern city of Kansas City's size. The building itself opened in 1933, funded by the estates of newspaper publisher William Rockhill Nelson and Mary Atkins, a local schoolteacher. Together their bequests created an institution that would acquire works that rival collections in New York and Chicago.
The Nelson-Atkins holds a particularly outstanding collection of Asian art — its Chinese Buddhist sculptures and ancient bronzes are considered among the best outside Asia. The European and American galleries are similarly strong, with works spanning the medieval period through the 20th century. In 2007, architect Steven Holl added the Bloch Building, a series of translucent glass lenses that emerge from the east lawn like illuminated stones — a striking contemporary addition that has itself become an architectural landmark.
Between the old limestone neoclassical building and the glowing Bloch wing, the Nelson-Atkins presents two radically different ideas about what a museum can look like, and both work beautifully.