Walters Art Museum

The Walters is really two men's obsession made public. William Walters, a Baltimore liquor and railroad magnate, began buying art while sitting out the Civil War in Europe. His son Henry carried it much further, buying whole collections at a time, and in 1931 he left the building and everything in it to the city of Baltimore.

What they assembled is remarkably wide, an encyclopedic sweep from Egyptian mummies and Greek bronzes through medieval ivories and illuminated manuscripts to Renaissance painting, Fabergé objects, and Art Nouveau jewellery. Henry in particular loved the small and the exquisite.

The whole permanent collection is free to enter, honouring the terms of the gift.