DK Travel : San Antonio and Austin : Museums & Galleries

Buckhorn Saloon and Museum

The Buckhorn started as a saloon in 1881, with a standing offer to exchange a shot of beer or whiskey for animal antlers. During Prohibition, it became a museum, and now displays an amazing collection of horns and stuffed animals. You can still have a beer or soda at the original bar.
Fort Sam Houston

The outstanding US Army Medical Department Museum traces the history of military medicine from 1775 to the present, with exhibits featuring medical instruments, uniforms, and transport vehicles such as a horse-drawn ambulance, and a railroad hospital car. The small Fort Sam Houston Museum chronicles the history of the US Army in San Antonio from 1845, when the post occupied the Alamo, until the present. Exhibits feature army equipment, Rough Riders, and military aviation (see Fort Sam Houston ).
Institute of Texan Cultures

Built as the Texas pavilion for the 1968 HemisFair , this museum pays tribute to the 26 cultural groups that settled in Texas. Docents, who describe life on the range, can be found at the chuck wagon and at the 1914 post office.
Museo Americano Smithsonian

This vividly hued building in colors of lime and rose tells the story of the Latino experience in America through photography, music, art, and biographical profiles of famous people such as Nobel Laureate Mario Molina. This national center for Latino arts displays Smithsonian exhibits.
Museum of Western Art

The rich cultural heritage of the American West is showcased through the artworks of contemporary and past masters. Rotating exhibits present the authentic land of hardworking cowboys, proud Native Americans, adventurous explorers, and famous ranches. Heroic life-size bronze statues are scattered across the museum grounds, recreating the eras of both the authentic and the contemporary American West.
National Museum of the Pacific War

This is the nation’s only museum dedicated to the Pacific Theater of World War II and home town hero Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the Allied forces in Central Pacific (see National Museum of the Pacific War ).
San Antonio Museum of Art

One of the most impressive art museums in Texas, housed in the historic Lone Star Brewery, is best known for the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art, with a collection that includes 4,000 years of pre-Columbian, Spanish Colonial, and modern art (see San Antonio Museum of Art ).
The McNay Art Museum

This spectacular Spanish Colonial Revival-style mansion houses a permanent collection of 16,000 works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Well-known European artists such as Rodin, Renoir, Cézanne, Picasso, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Klee, as well as American masters Homer, Whistler, O’Keeffe, Weber, and Hopper, are featured here (see The McNay Art Museum ).
USS Lexington

This floating museum, the 16-deck World War II aircraft carrier USS Lexington, offers four self-guiding tours of the ship that pass through the vessel’s 100,000 sq ft 9,290 sq m and 11 decks. Visitors can explore the stairways and passageways used by crewmen to access the main flight deck, hangar deck, and other sections of the 910 ft 277 m carrier.
Witte Museum

This exceptional family museum specializes in history, science, and culture with outstanding permanent and changing displays. The captivating Walk Across Texas exhibit provides a look at the animals and plants that thrive in the many terrains and eco-climates of the state. The noted HEB Science Treehouse is an outstanding children’s museum with many interactive exhibits (see Witte Museum ).