Museums

Open the second Sunday of the month, one to four, with a second open house on the fourth Sunday from April through October. No charge; tours by request the rest of the time.

Encyclopedic art from five millennia — a Rembrandt, the jade mountain, the period rooms — and general admission is always free. One of the country's great museums, in Whittier.

The state art museum's downtown St. Paul galleries, focused on Minnesota and regional artists. Free.

An 1892 town hall at Penn and Old Shakopee Road, the Historical Society's home since 1964. Free, Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday afternoons. The Tom Burnett material is here.

Free to walk into, Tuesday to Saturday, in the Stans house on Fuller Street. Donations welcome but not asked for at the door.

Frank Gehry's rippling steel building over the river on the U of M campus, with a sharp modern and contemporary collection. Always free.

An exhibit hall and county archive in downtown Anoka. Hours shift with the season — through the autumn ghost-tour run it opens Thursday to Saturday afternoons and into the evening.

An 1891 farm the Maplewood Area Historical Society keeps working — craft fairs each spring and autumn, candlemaking classes, and a German St Nikolaustag in December. Tours are by appointment, so ring first.

The county's own museum and archive in Waconia, open weekdays 9 to 4.30 and Saturday mornings — the place to go for anything west-metro before the suburbs arrived.

Tuesday, Friday and Saturday afternoons, one to four. Chaska's own collection — and it closes when Eastern Carver County Schools close, so check in bad weather.

In the grounds at Arneson Acres, so you can pair it with the gardens. Displays on the Edina Mill and the dig that went looking for it, plus the school history. Tuesdays 11 to 1 and Saturday mornings.

Saturdays 11 to 3, and small enough to see properly in one. The standing exhibit runs through the Ewald Bros. dairy, the old high school and the garden club — and there is a firefighter's kit children can put on.

An 1896 brick schoolhouse and a Swedish immigrant log home on the same plot, out past Scandia. Friday to Sunday afternoons in season.

A neighborhood-scale look at Minneapolis and Hennepin County history, in a 1919 mansion near Mia. Suggested donation.

On Holyoke Avenue in downtown Lakeville, open Monday and Thursday mornings. Visits outside those hours are by appointment — ring ahead rather than turning up.

The old state-prison warden's house on Main Street, shown by guided tour only — Thursday to Sunday, on the hour from one o'clock to four.

The county society's year-round home on Greeley Street, Tuesday to Saturday 10 to 4 — the one of its three sites that stays open through the winter.

Nordic art and culture in the 1908 Turnblad Mansion, with a châteauesque interior, rotating exhibits, and the FIKA café. Paid.

The U's natural history museum on the St. Paul campus — the famous wildlife dioramas, a Touch and See lab, and a digital planetarium. Paid; free on Sundays.

An 1850s pioneer and Dakota-life farm museum in Falcon Heights — a one-room schoolhouse, heritage animals, and a tipi, run by the Ramsey County Historical Society. Paid; open the warm months.

The 1820s stone fort at the river confluence, with a year-round visitor center and costumed history in the warm months. Paid (Minnesota Historical Society).

The 1891 Summit Avenue mansion of railroad magnate James J. Hill — 36,000 square feet of Gilded Age stone and oak, by guided tour. Paid (Minnesota Historical Society).

Built into the ruins of the Washburn A Mill on the riverfront — the Flour Tower ride, the baking lab, and a rooftop river view. Paid (Minnesota Historical Society).

Four floors of hands-on play for little kids in downtown St. Paul — the climbing Scramble, art studios, and water tables. Paid.

The state's story, told well — hands-on history, the WWII and weather exhibits, and a research library. Paid; free Tuesday evenings.

A working 1907 railroad roundhouse and turntable in St. Paul — locomotives, a caboose, and weekend train rides. Paid.

A working 1860s farm on the Mississippi run by the Historical Society — animals, gardens, staff doing the actual work in period, and nature trails through restored prairie. $12 adults, $8 for 5–17.

A St. Louis Park museum of radio and TV history — a working broadcast studio, vintage sets, and hands-on electronics. Paid.

The big one on the St. Paul riverfront — dinosaurs, an Omnitheater dome, the anatomy hall, and a Mississippi overlook. Paid; timed tickets on busy weekends.

A quirky museum of electricity and magnetism in a lakeside mansion on Bde Maka Ska — a Frankenstein's lab, invention benches, and Earl Bakken's pacemaker story. Paid.

A riverside village of historic buildings on the Minnesota in Shakopee, staffed in costume — a Three Rivers heritage site with a big winter holiday-lights event. Paid.

The only North American museum devoted to Russian art, in a former Spanish-style church in south Minneapolis. Paid; rotating exhibitions.

An engineering museum for 5-to-12s where everything is meant to be handled — build it, test it, knock it down. $14, under-2s free, ten minutes from the Mall of America.

A giant O-scale model railroad in St. Paul's Bandana Square — trains running through a miniature 1930s–50s Twin Cities, plus a toddler play area. Paid.

Contemporary art beside the Sculpture Garden and its Spoonbridge and Cherry. Galleries are paid — free Thursday evenings and the first Saturday each month; the Sculpture Garden is always free.

Aircraft in a hangar at Flying Cloud, in through Gate H. A full-size Spirit of St. Louis film prop sits at the centre of it. Weekends 11 to 3, $12 adults and $5 for kids, one child free per adult.