Newark Museum, Newark (must see)

The Newark Museum is the largest museum in New Jersey. It holds fine collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the ancient world. The Newark Museum's Tibetan galleries are considered among the best in the world. The collection was purchased from Christian missionaries in the early twentieth century. The Tibetan galleries have an in-situ Buddhist altar that the Dalai Lama has consecrated.

In addition to its extensive art collections, The Newark Museum is dedicated to natural science. It includes the Dreyfuss Planetarium and the Victoria Hall of Science which highlights some of the museum's 70,000 specimen Natural Science Collection.

The Alice Ransom Dreyfuss Memorial Garden, located behind the museum, is the setting for community programs, concerts and performances. The garden is also home to a 1784 old stone schoolhouse and Fire Safety Center. The museum was organized in 1909 by master Newark librarian John Cotton Dana. The kernel of the museum was a collection of Japanese prints, silks, and porcelains assembled by a Newark pharmacist. The Museum had a mini-zoo with small animals for some twenty years, until August 2010.