There are over 40 museums in the Denver area. This article will let you know a little about some of the larger ones, from the Denver Art Museum to Buffalo Bill's Grave and Museum in Golden, Colorado.  First of all, we'll do a tour of the downtown museums starting and ending at the main city bus terminal at Market and 16th Street.  The city bus is by far the easiest way to get around the downtown area and the fares are reasonable, in fact for most of the downtown area you can ride the 16th Street shuttle for free.

Firehouse #1 Click on Image to Enlarge

If you go south on Tremont Place and, just past 14th Street, you will come to the Denver Firefighter's Museum in historic firehouse #1. There you will find exhibits of fire fighting equipment used from 1863 to the 1940s, such as the steam pumper. The fire station is located at 1326 Tremont Place. It is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday only. They also open for birthday parties at $6.00 per child and $2 per adult. Included in the child's price is a firefighter's hat. And if you  wish you can, go back to the south on Tremont to Colfax and cross the street. Turn left and you will come to the Denver Mint, where you can

Denver Art Museum Click on Image to Enlarge

visit the museum as well as see coins being made and bills printed. The entrance is on the side. The Mint is not far from the Capitol Building.

After you leave the Mint, you can walk south between the Mint and the City and County building then turn left and, in two blocks, you will come to the Denver Art Museum, located at 14th Avenue and Bannock St.. You can't miss it; it looks like a tall, narro w castle in shiny gray tiles.

Note that the building itself is a work of art designed by Italian Architect Gio Ponti. The Museum holds 7 floors of paintings, sculptures and crafts ranging from Pre-Columbian to modern with an emphasis on Western Hemisphere art.  Each floor of the museum has a theme so that if you are interested in only one classification you need not search all over.

• The American West art collection on the 7th floor includes paintings by Bierstadt, Remington, Russell, and others as well as photographs from Henry Jackson.
  
  
• The Sixth floor displays selected works from the extensive Berger Collection of British art, ranging from the 1500's to today.  This floor also displays other works from the last two hundred years, including Monet, O'Keefe, Matisse, Toulouse- Lautrec, Rodin, Degas, Picasso, and Modigliani.
  
  
• On the Fifth floor can be found the only Asian art collection in the Rocky Mountain area, with arts from Japan, China, Tibet, Nepal, Korea, India and other countries in Asia.
  
  
• The 4th floor contains many outstanding examples of Pre-Columbian and Spanish colonial pieces from South, Central and North America.
  
  
• The Native American art collection on the Third floor is one of the largest and best in the country with pieces from over 100 tribes in the U.S. and Canada.
  
  
• That exhibit is continued on the 2nd floor with art from the Northwest Coast Native Americans.  Works from architecture and graphic arts collections, as well as modern furniture, are also displayed on the Second floor.
  
  
• On the first floor of the museum are galleries for temporary exhibits, modern art (including local, regional, national and international painters and sculptors), the shop (where the prices are quite reasonable), the award winning restaurant Palettes and a cafe for your lunch.

Just on the other side of the same block is the Denver History Museum, housed in the historic Byers-Evans house. It is open from 12 to 4 on Tuesday through Saturday.

In the immediate vicinity of the Art Museum are several galleries. If you like black and white photography, the Camera Obscura Gallery at 1309 Bannock Street is well worth a visit. There you will find excellent prints from some of the best photographers of the last century or more. The first floor always contains a temporary exhibit, usually from one photographer. Around the corner from Camera Obscura is the Native American Art Gallery. They carry art and handicrafts.

Conestoga Wagon Click on Image to Enlarge

Downstairs you will find items and dioramas showing the early Indians who lived in the Denver area and exhibits of items from the early mining days right up to fairly modern times, such things as replicas of settler's cabins, agricultural and mining tools and machinery and Victorian furniture. One exhibit includes items from the Tabor family including portraits of Mr. Horace Tabor, his first wife Augusta and Baby Doe. There is a diorama of Denver in 1860, a conestoga wagon from the settlement days, and a cowboy chuck wagon along with a plains Indian teepee.

Back up the stairs you will find several more dioramas as well as items and pictures of the modern era from 1900 to the present. These include videos of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address and Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. In short, this is a museum that you do not want to miss, no matter what else you might want to see in Denver. The museum is open from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday and from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on other days.

Denver Public Library

You can return by going to Tremont Street and up to the 16th Street mall where you can stroll to the West or take the free shuttle back to the bus station.

 South of there is the Denver Children's Museum. Go south on water street and turn left at where the sign points you to the Children's Museum. There is free parking.

The Children's Museum of Denver, is a great place for kids from 2 to 12 years old. It is a hands-on museum with lots of fun things, most of which are also learning tools.