Paul L.
Yelp
me: Hello, one, please.
ticket counter person: Is this your first time here?
me: Yes.
ticket counter person: You'll be impressed. Enjoy your visit.
Unlike the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston that sees over one million visitors a year, this smaller but nevertheless encyclopedic museum is trying to crack 200,000 visitors by 2020.
From the outside, the Worcester Art Museum occupies an entire block. It's a large complex that, frankly, looks worn out. Pavement is cracking outside the Lancaster Street entrance and the mundane lobby can dash expectations of what's inside this place. (There are plans to overhaul the entrance and expand the square footage.)
Once past the lobby, I opened the doors into the museum itself. Immediately, an old-timey museum scent rushed into my nasal passages. I'm not exaggerating. One gallery, in particular, had such an overpowering odor that I noticed some visitors enter then depart instantly; it was just too much for them.
Some galleries look they haven't been refreshed since the late 1960s; wall colors and art work labels (including occasional misspellings) are firmly from a few generations ago. With that said, the bones of this museum and its contents easily make up for any of its shortcomings.
WAM is worth a visit from Boston, New York City, and even Los Angeles, too. There are remarkable old masters on the walls. The Renaissance Court is a glorious open space. The Chapter House was the first medieval structure brought to the United States back in 1927. The quality of the sculptures in the Indian galleries is superb. The fresh pre-Columbian gallery has compelling works. Perhaps, most notably, their armor collection is second only to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (although there isn't a lot of it currently on display).
The Mid-20th Century gallery is not strong in depth but what's here is all very good. (WAM, what's up with non-flash photography not being permitted in this gallery? You may be the only museum left in the US that has placed such limits photography-wise on a permanent collection.)
For me, this museum's highlight is easily the 'Worcester hunt mosaic,' a gigantic 6th century Roman floor mosaic that is the largest on display in any North American Museum.
You'll be impressed. Enjoy your visit.