Timken Museum of Art

The Timken Museum of Art is a small, modern box among the Spanish-revival halls of San Diego's Balboa Park, and locals call it the jewel box for good reason. It was built in 1965 by the Putnam Foundation, set up by two collecting sisters, Amy and Anne Putnam, and it has been free to enter since it opened.

For its size the quality is startling. On its walls hang European old masters, among them the only Rembrandt in San Diego, alongside American painting and a rare gallery of Russian icons, glowing panels of saints laid on gold.

You can see the whole thing in an hour, which is much of its charm in a park full of far larger museums.