Theater and opera houses
Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford
The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts is one of the state’s most important cultural institutions. It was built in 1930 by Dotha Bushnell Hillyer as a monument to her father Dr. Horace Bushnell. The original theater, Mortensen Hall, has 2,800 seats and was built in the style of Georgian architecture. The interior has clear influences from Art Deco. In 2001 the building was expanded by 8,400 m² and now offers with the Maxwell M. and Ruth R. Belding Theater a second stage with 907 seats. The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts is the venue for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Connecticut Opera.
| Contact | 166 Capitol Avenue Hartford, Connecticut 06106 www.bushnell.org |
Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven
The Yale Repertory Theater in the city of New Haven is part of Yale University and was founded in 1966. The theater is housed in the former Calvary Baptist Church, which was built in the Gothic Revival style in 1846. The theater acts as an interface between professional actors and university students.
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| Contact | 1120 Chapel Street New Haven, Connecticut 06510 www.yalerep.org |
Goodspeed Opera House near East Haddam
The Goodspeed Opera House in the city of East Haddam is a very worth seeing theater from 1876. The building is in Victorian style and was built by banker William Goodspeed. Over time, the theater experienced strange uses, such as a military base and a shop. It was not used again in its original function until 1959. Goodspeed Opera House has been on the list of Historic Places since 1971.
| Contact | 6 Main Street East Haddam, Connecticut 06423 www.goodspeed.org |
Museums and exhibitions
Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford
The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford City is not just any museum, it is the oldest public art museum in the entire United States. The museum was built on the property of Daniel Wadsworth from 1842 to 1844. The style of the building can be attributed to the Gothic Revival style and its appearance is reminiscent of a castle. Today, the museum has approximately 18,200 square feet of exhibition space, making it the largest in Connecticut. The museum is particularly well-known for its collection of impressionist painting, but the areas of modern and contemporary art also have special works. In total, the museum’s collection includes over 50,000 exhibits that go back to ancient times and offer works from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.
| Contact | 600 Main Street Hartford, Connecticut 06103 www.thewadsworth.org |
Connecticut Science Center in Hartford
The Connecticut Science Center is a very interesting museum in the city of Hartford, right on the banks of the Connecticut River. The Connecticut Science Center was opened in 2009 and has an exhibition area of approximately 14,300 m². Since the museum mainly deals with the natural sciences, it tries to address visitors with interactive exhibitions. A special feature is the very modern design of the building, as the Connecticut Science Center generates most of the energy itself using a fuel cell.
| Contact | 250 Columbus Blvd Hartford, Connecticut 06103 www.ctsciencecenter.org |
Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea
The Seaport Museum was founded in 1929 and is the largest maritime museum in the United States. The museum is located in the small town of Mystic and is its main attraction. The museum’s collection is famous for the many well-preserved sailing ships. However, the museum not only has ships, but an entire village, which gives the feeling of a fishing village from the 19th century. The village comprises more than 60 original buildings, which were dismantled and meticulously rebuilt at this point. The museum or the village should be known from films, as it often served as a backdrop, for example in Spielberg’s Amistad.
| Contact | 75 Greenmanville Avenue Mystic, Connecticut 06355 www.mysticseaport.org |
Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme
The Florence Griswold Museum in the small town of Old Lyme was opened in 1947. The museum is housed in the former home of Florence Griswold, dating from 1817. During this time an artist colony lived there, mainly Impressionists, some of whom placed their works of art directly on the walls and doors of the building. The museum’s collection includes a total of 157 oil paintings, 31 paper paintings and two sculptures. All artworks have a connection to Connecticut. The Florence Griswold Museum has been on the list of Historic Places since 1975 and the Florence Griswold Museum has even been a National Historic Landmark since 1993.
| Contact | 96 Lyme Street Old Lyme, Connecticut 06371 www.flogris.org |
Leg Corner Rare Book and Manuscript Library in New Haven
The Leg Corner Rare Book and Manuscript Library is a special library of Yale University. The library was founded in 1963 and is largely a gift from the leg family. The library building was designed by Gordon Bunshaft and is the world’s largest archive building for rare books and manuscripts. The highlight of the Beincke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is an original Gutenberg Bible from 1452.
| Contact | 121 Wall Street New Haven, Connecticut 06511 www.beinecke.library.yale.edu |
Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven
The Peabody Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum and research facility of Yale University. The museum was founded by George Peabody in 1866. In 1876 the museum was opened to the public. The museum’s collection is outstanding, ranging from dinosaur fossils to ancient Egyptian exhibits to the exhibition on the history of the Indians of North America. The buildings of the museum are also extremely worth seeing. Those in New Haven shouldn’t miss the Peabody Museum of Natural History.
| Contact | 170 Whitney Avenue New Haven, Connecticut 06511 www.peabody.yale.edu |
Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven
The Yale University Art Gallery is an important university art museum in the city of New Haven. The Yale University Art Gallery was founded in 1832 and is the oldest art museum in a university. Since 1953, the Yale University Art Gallery has been located in a new main building that breaks with the other building traditions of the university campus. The Yale University Art Gallery’s collection includes over 185,000 works from African art, American decorative art, American paintings and sculptures, ancient art, pre-Columbian art, Asian art, European art, and modern and contemporary art. These include works by Hieronymus Bosch, Claude Monet, Claude Lorrain and George Stubbs.
| Contact | 1111 Chapel Street New Haven, CT 06520 www.artgallery.yale.edu |
Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford
The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford City was the former home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pseudonym Mark Twain, and is now a museum that deals with Twain’s life in Hartford. Twain moved into the house in 1874, previously he lived in Missouri, and lived here until 1891. The house was built in 1874 and can be attributed to the Gothic Revival style. While Mark Twain lived here, the works Bummel durch Europa, The Prince and the Begelknabe, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Yankee at the court of King Arthur, Life on the Mississippi and The Gilded Age: A Tale were created of Today. The building has been a National Historic Landmark since 1962.
| Contact | 351 Farmington Avenue Hartford, Connecticut 06105 www.marktwainhouse.org |
Connecticut River Museum in Essex
The Connecticut River Museum in the city of Essex is a museum of the region’s naval history. The museum, which has existed since 1975, is housed in a historic warehouse from 1878. The highlight of the museum’s collection is probably the replica of the turtle. It is the oldest submarine in the United States.
| Contact | 67 Main Street Essex, Connecticut 06426 www.ctrivermuseum.org |
Shore Line Trolley Museum in New Haven The
Shore Line Trolley Museum in New Haven is the oldest and largest tram museum in the United States. The museum was founded in 1900 and nowadays offers a large collection of historical trams. It is also possible to take trips on the historic railways over a distance of approx. 2.4 km.
| Contact | 17 River Street East Haven, Connecticut 06512 www.shorelinetrolley.com/stm/ |
Brant Foundation Art Study Center in Greenwich
This museum was founded in Greenwich by New York entrepreneur Peter Brant, one of the world’s most successful private collectors of contemporary art. It is located in an earlier stone barn from 1902 and shows works by Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Urs Fischer, Larry Clark or Mike Kelley on an area of around 900m².
| Contact | 941 North Street Greenwich, Connecticut 06831 www.brantfoundation.org |
Monuments and memorials
Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven
Grove Street Cemetery is located on the Yale University campus in the city of New Haven. The cemetery dates back to 1796 and Grove Street Cemetery is the oldest planned private cemetery in the world. Today, the cemetery covers an area of 73,000 m² and is the final resting place of many important Yale graduates such as Lyman Beecher, Henry W. Edwards, Charles Goodyear and Eli Whitney. In addition to the gravestones, there are numerous monuments in the cemetery to do justice to the importance of historical figures.
| Contact | 227 Grove Street New Haven, Connecticut 06511 www.grovestreetcemetery.org |
Soldiers and Sailors Monument near New Haven
The Soldiers and Sailors Monument near the city of New Haven is located on the top of East Rock (112 m) and can also be seen from a great distance. The monument was built in 1887 to commemorate the victims of the Revolutionary War, the British-American War, the Mexican-American War, and the American Civil War. The monument is 34 m high and 87 steps lead the visitor to the top of the tower.
