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EXPERIENCE DETROIT
Attractions
& Self-Guided Tours
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Detroit Area
Museums
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World-class museums may not
be what come to mind when planning a trip to Detroit.
You may be surprised to find that Detroit has a rich history and a cultural
fabric unlike that of any other city, and much of it is preserved in a number
of fantastic institutions. From
priceless masterpieces and sculptures at the Detroit Institute of Arts to
hands-on exhibits for the kids at the Detroit Science
Center, Detroit has a museum
for everyone. Browse the list below
and explore the many informative, interactive, and engaging museums of metro Detroit.
Note that several of the
museums are located within proximity of one another in the Cultural Center area of Detroit, while the
others are dispersed around the city and suburbs. However, none of them are more than a short
drive away, so take time to visit all of these fine institutions!
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 Arab
American National Museum
13624 Michigan
Avenue, Dearborn
Website
With the second largest
population in the country, Dearborn is a fitting home for the first and only
museum in the United States devoted to Arab American history and
culture. This fantastic museum
chronicles how Arab Americans have enriched the economic, political, and
cultural landscape of American life.
It is to date the only Smithsonian affiliate in Southeastern Michigan.
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 Charles
H. Wright Museum of African American History
315 East
Warren, Detroit
Website
Dr. Charles
Wright, a Detroit obstetrician and gynecologist, established the City's first
International Afro-American Musuem in 1965.
Three decades and three addresses later, a new Museum of African
American History was opened in the heart of Detroit's Cultural Center. The 120,000 square foot, state-of-the-art
facility is considered one of the largest African American history museums in
the world. The buidling house a core
exhibition called And Still We Rise which takes visitors on a journey through
3.5 million years of courage, deterimination, ingenuity, and spriitual energy
of African Americans as they pursued emancipation and full rights of
citizenship. In addition to And Still
We Rise, the museum showcases a number of other interesting limited-run
exhibittions.
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Cranbrook Art Museum & Institute of
Science
39221 Woodward
Avenue, Bloomfield Hills
Website
Cranbrook is a internationally acclaimed center
of education, art, and science in the northern suburb of Bloomfield Hills. The campus is comprised of a graduate
Academy of Art, contemporary Art Museum, House & Gardens, natural history
museum, Institute of Science, and Pre-K through 12 independent college
preparatory schools. The Art Museum houses the work of
world-renowned architects and sculptors and the Insitute of Science features
eleven permanent galleries, a state-of-the-art planetarium and observatory,
and an outdoor science garden with nature trails. The institution was founded in 1904 by
Detroit philanthropists George and Ellen Booth and was named a National
Historic Monument in 1989.
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 Detroit
Historical Museum
5401 Woodward
Avenue, Detroit
Website
Your exploration into
Detroit's and southeastern Michigan's rich history begins at the Detroit
Historical Museum. The museum traces
the region through over 300 years of history through a number of creative
displays. Of particular interest is
the 8,000 square foot Motor City exhibition focused on automotive heritage
and featuring an actual working auto body drop from the General Motors Clark
Avenue facility.
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 Detroit
Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit
Website
The DIA
has been a hallmark of Detroit culture since its founding in 1885. The museum covers over 600,000 square feet and
houses one of the largest and most diverse collections of multicultural art
in the United States,
including the priceless Vincent van Gogh Self Portrait and the masterpiece
sculpture Nail Figure from Zaire. To top it off, visitors are treated to
Mexican artist Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry fresco cycle, considered
Rivera's most important work in the U.S.
Rivera painted 27 fresco panels, many of them modeled after the Ford Rouge Plant, on the
walls of the large garden court inside the DIA.
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 Michigan
Science Center
5020 John R,
Detroit
Website
In the early 1970s, Detroit
banker and philanthropist Dexter Ferry believed Detroit's youth lacked the
same learning opportunities available in other major cities and led efforts
to establish a major science center in the city. Construction on the original science center
began in 1976 and a major renovation and expansion was completed in
2001. Today's Michigan Science Center
encompasses over 110,000 square feet and offers Michigan's only IMAX Dome Theatre, a state-of-the-art
digital planetarium, and multiple exhibit laboratories and learning
environments. Situated in the heart of
Detroit's Cultural Center, the
Michigan Science Center is the perfect family venue that both educates and
entertains.
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Dossin Great Lakes Museum
100 Strand Drive, Belle Isle, Detroit
Website
Discover Detroit's maritime history at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum
located on Belle Isle in the Detroit River.
The museum tells the story of boats, sailors and cargoes on America's
inland seas. Dossin visitors can take the helm of a Great Lakes freighter or
admire the carved oak and stained glass of an early passenger steamer's grand
salon or visit one of the three changing exhibit galleries.
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 Henry
Ford Museum
20900 Oakwood
Blvd., Dearborn
Website
The Henry Ford Museum, along
with the other attractions on the campus of The Henry Ford, provides an unparalleled
chronicle of American life and of the people and ideas that changed lives
through innovation. The museum houses
an array of exhibits showcasing the results of American genius at work. In addition to one of the finest automotive
history collections in the country,
exhibits include the world's most accurate replica of the Wright
brothers' Flyer, the only remaining prototype of the Dymaxion house, and John
F. Kennedy's fateful Dallas limousine.
Time permitting, visit Greenfield
Village, the Benson
Ford Library, IMAX theater, and
the Automotive Hall of Fame (all are located adjacent to the museum). See the Experience Detroit Automotive Heritage Tours
page for more information.
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Holocaust Memorial Center
28123 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills
Website
Ground was broken on the
original Holocaust Memorial Center in 1981 on the campus of the Jewish
Community Campus in the northwest suburbs of Detroit. The institution was the first of its kind
in the United States and drew visitors from all over the world. With the opening of the new Holocaust
Memorial Center in 2004, the institution now houses two core exhibitions --
the Museum of European Jewish Heritage and the International Institute of the
Righteous. Your experience starts
before you even enter the facility with exterior architecture designed to
resemble the walls of a concentration camp.
Do not miss this awe-inspiring experience.
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 Motown Historical
Museum
2648 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit
Website
In 1959, upstart Detroit
songwriter and record producer Berry Gordy Jr. purchased a humble two story
home, moving his family into one half and setting up a studio in the
other. He christened it "Hitsville U.S.A." and from
this building grew Motown from a startup business to what became by the
mid-70s the largest independent record company in the world. The Motown Historical Museum includes
models of eight houses on West Grand Boulevard acquired by the company to
house its growing operations until it moved its offices to a high-rise in
downtown Detroit in 1968. Among the many
displays, visitors are treated to a tour of the studio where Motown greats
such as Martha
Reeves and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the
Miracles, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Diana
Ross and the Supremes, and the Jackson Five actually recorded their hits.
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 Yankee Air Museum
47884 D
Street, Belleville, MI
Website
The Yankee Air Museum is
housed at Willow Run Airport, built by Ford Motor Company in 1941 to serve as
an airfield for its B-24 Bomber Plant.
This was the first aircraft manufacturing plant to use Ford’s mass
production techniques, employing 42,000 and producing a B-24 every 59
minutes. Led by a group of enthusiasts
known as the Yankee Air Force, efforts to build a museum that preserves
southeastern Michigan’s aviation history began in 1981. The Yankee Air Museum displays an
impressive collection of aircraft including a B-24 Bomber, B-17 Flying
Fortress, and B-25 Mitchell among others.
Those not satisfied with just looking can actually book a flight in
one of these aircraft! The less
adventurous can explore the 47,000 square foot facility filled with permanent
and rotating aviation and historical displays, restoration projects, a retail
store and a movie theater.
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Related
Tours
African
American Heritage
Arts & Culture Main
Page
Automotive
Heritage Tours
Belle Isle
Bloomfield
Hills, Cranbrook, & the Village of Franklin
Cultural Center
Music Heritage
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