Housed in the historic Lone Star Brewery (built 1884), the collections of the San Antonio Museum of Art represent a wide variety of cultures. From Greek/Roman to Latin American to Asian, the collections span the globe.
The building features two distinctive towers, now connected by a glass walkway. When the museum was renovated, the builders put the original steel walkway into storage, rather than just throwing it away. It now serves as a pedestrian bridge over the new Museum Reach section of the Riverwalk (see previous post).
My personal favorites: the Dale Chihuly glass sculpture “Persian Ceiling” (located in between the main lobby and special exhibits wing) and the Medicine Buddha Sand Mandala (pictured). Monks usually ritually destroy these stunning creations shortly after completion, to represent impermanence. When a group of Buddhist monks prepared this piece in 2001, the museum obtained special permission from the 14th Dalai Lama to preserve it. It’s one of only four mandalas in the United States. (Funny personal story: this blogger’s son, when younger, looked puzzled when viewing the mandala. What’s the problem, I asked? How did they transport that thing, intact, from Tibet to here on an airplane?! he asks. LOL. Uh, no dear, created here.)
The museum is open Tuesday through Sundays, and admission is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, and $3 for children (4 to 11). Tuesday evenings from 4:00-9:00 pm, admission is free.
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