Brooklyn Museum Guide in New York

The Brooklyn Museum in New York will blow your mind the moment you see it. Its imposing building could well be the official residence of President Joe Biden or the US Congress, but it is one of the best museums in New York, the second most important museum in the city after the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and one of the most emblematic in the USA. Do you want to discover the treasures it holds inside?

As a world-renowned institution, its permanent collection brings together more than one and a half million objects and documents centred on American art. You'll also enjoy its contemporary art collections and, thanks to the jewel in the crown, its Egyptian art collection, you'll travel back in time to discover the world of the pharaohs and feel like Cleopatra and Tutankhamun. Interesting, isn't it?

The best option

Brooklyn Museum Tickets

Skip the queues for direct access to the Brooklyn Museum

Don't waste a minute at the box office to give you time to see one of the country's greatest art centres.

From £0 at Hellotickets

In this post I explain how to get discounted tickets, the best works inside the museum (some of them very curious!) and all the little secrets you need to know to make the most of your visit.

Deciding whether to buy your ticket in advance or at the ticket office can be a dilemma. Personally I recommend that, if you can, you buy it in advance. Here's why. This fine arts building welcomes more than 500,000 people every year and is one of the largest in the country. So you can imagine the long queues and the crowds that form at the door every day, so it's best to avoid the hassle!

Recommended if... you want to get the ticket at the best price and you're overwhelmed by the queues and crowds at the ticket office.

As I said, the smartest thing to do is to buy the priority ticket, which costs €13. The good news is that it's one of the cheapest museums in the Big Apple, unlike the others, which usually cost around €20.

In addition, this price includes a daily guided tour of the museum with a professional. This way, the experience is much more complete and you can focus on the highlights and learn about the history of the works of art, the legend of the Egyptian papyri, and the architecture of the building, among other things.

What is included in this ticket

• Admission to the Brooklyn Museum
• Daily guided tours of the special and permanent collection
• 10% discount in the gift shop, which is never a bad thing
• Free cancellation in case your travel plans change

Nuria's Traveller Tip

If you're going to cross the Brooklyn Bridge during your visit to the museum, it's best to do it first thing in the morning so you can take photos without too many tourists. Enjoy the 1.8 kilometres of the walk!

If you prefer to buy your tickets at the box office, you can also do so, although it will cost you more (about 14 €) and you will lose the benefits of buying your tickets in advance, such as the discount, queue-free access and free cancellation.

Brooklyn Museum prices and discounts

I only recommend you to go to the counter if you are one of the following discount groups:

• Adults - 14 € (general admission and without discount)
• Senior (over 65 years old) - 8,70 €.
• Students over 20 years of age (with ID card) - 8,70 €.
• Disabled visitors (accompanying carer free) - €8,70
• 19 years old and under - Free

Free admission to the Brooklyn Museum on Saturdays starting in Spring 2022

On the first Saturday of every month, the Brooklyn Museum allows free admission and prepares a day that extends into the evening (from 5pm to 11pm) with cultural programming to welcome tourists and New Yorkers who come to the arts centre. This activity has a tradition of more than 20 years and will be resumed in the spring of 2022. Stay tuned!

Nuria's Traveller Tip

If you love flea markets and you're travelling to New York in winter, head to the Winter Flea, a flea market for antiques, crafts and food that opens between November and March. It's very interesting!

The Brooklyn Museum is very well connected and easily accessible by public transport. Located in the heart of the Brooklyn borough, the Brooklyn Museum is located just30 minutes by underground from Manhattan and sits on the Eastern Parkway. It is part of a complex of 19th century parks and gardens, which also includes Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

• Where is it located? 200 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn.
• How to get there: Subway lines B , D , Q , N , R. / By bus on lines B41, B45 and B69. You can also get there by bike and enjoy the green spaces along the way.

Get to Brooklyn by underground

If you are wondering which is the best way to get around the Big Apple and access the museum, the easiest way is to take the underground. The ticket costs approximately €2.60. So you don't break out in a sweat getting around this underground city, here are some basic tips on how to use the New York underground.

• Monday and Tuesday, closed
• Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• First Saturday of each month, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Take note! The Brooklyn Museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and does not have long opening hours. In winter, most days it is only open from 11am to 6pm (except Fridays and Saturdays, when it is open until 8pm). Like all other New York museums, it is closed on December 25th, January 1st and Thanksgiving Day.

My advice is to try to visit the museum during the week because weekdays are the least crowded and avoid Saturdays and Sundays. And remember that museums often change their opening hours depending on the season. So the best thing to do is to check them out on their official website on the day you are going to visit.

Did you know that in ancient times the Egyptians believed that in order for a deceased woman to be reborn she had to briefly become a man? You'll discover this and other interesting facts in the exhibition 'Beyond a Woman: Gender Transformation in Ancient Egypt, which includes such fascinating objects as a mummy's mask and the impressive sarcophagus of the Lady of the House.

Meanwhile, the Ancient Egyptian Art exhibition features such impressive treasures as a gilded wooden statuette of Amunhotep III, a relief from the tomb of a man named Akhty-hotep and a female terracotta statuette created more than 5,000 years ago. Yes, you read that right, five thousand years!

List of permanent exhibitions

• Arts of Asia
• American Art
• The Brooklyn Della Robbia
• Ancient Egyptian Art
• Beyond a Woman: Gender Transformation in Ancient Egypt
• Assyrian art
• Design: 1880s to the present
• Judy Chicago's dinner party

Brooklyn Museum Temporary Exhibitions

The special exhibitions here are of a high standard. Among the temporary exhibitions is 'Andy Warhol: Revelation', which explores until 19 June 2022 his most unknown facet: the artist's relationship with religion and its influence on his works of art. And the fact is that the creator of pop art was a faithful believer, who would have thought!

Another of the most visited and stylish exhibitions is 'Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams', which traces the pioneering history of the House of Dior and includes more than two hundred haute couture garments, as well as photographs, sketches and vintage perfume bottles. Elegance in its purest form!

Nuria's Traveller Tip

One of the museum's Egyptian gems is a papyrus from the Book of the Dead, one of the most important religious texts of the New Kingdom - and my favourite part! The 'Mummy Chamber', a special section that explores the rituals involved in mummification.

The Brooklyn Museum's shop is very colourful and offers everything from puzzles for children to shirts and home décor. They also have a ' Made in Brooklyn' section dedicated to products made by local Brooklyn artists.

However, it was not my favourite shop. One of the shops that impressed me the most in New York was the Museum of the City of New York with its amazing collection of Sesame Street puppets - an iconic series from my childhood!

In Brooklyn, my favourite thing was definitely the Brooklyn Museum's street market (The Market), which takes place every Sunday (from 10:30am to 5:30pm) in the open air in front of the museum. A small flea market selling handmade goods, you can find everything from jewellery to handmade shoes. All the objects have an interesting story behind them. Come and discover it, it's worth it!

After your visit to the pine library, one of the best things to do in Brooklyn is to take a stroll through the Brooklyn Flea Market every Saturday from 10AM to 5PM from April to October. It's a vintage flea market featuring a variety of goods (clothing, furniture, books, costume jewellery and crafts) lovingly displayed by over 150 local vendors and artisans.

You can also take advantage of your cultural visit to explore the borough of Brooklyn, especially the famous Brooklyn Bridge. You've seen it a thousand times in movies and on TV, but crossing it is an unforgettable and magical experience. You don't know how impressive it is until you cross it, an image that will stick in your memory as a traveller forever! Here are the top 10 things to do and see in Brooklyn.

If you are travelling to New York with children you should know that the Brooklyn Museum organises activities on the first Saturday of every month also for children. There are free half-hour art sessions led by teaching artists for the little ones. For example, in one of the classes they built a miniature roller coaster. Are you up for this creative plan with your family?

However, we all know that museums can be exhausting. And for them, even more so. If you are currently imagining your child running around the museum like a madman, don't worry, because the institution has prepared some simple tips for visiting the museum as a family.

Practical tips for visiting a museum with children:

• Choose a time of day for the field trip that is best for your children and their energy levels.
• The most important rule to teach them is not to touch the art or display cases.
• Be flexible. If your children get tired or restless, be prepared for a plan B, such as going to the cafeteria or the shop to look at the children's toys.
• In the galleries, you can ask them questions, such as "How is this painting different from the last one?" to invite them to think, or play "I see, I see".
• After the visit, you can ask questions such as "what did you like best?" or "what would you like to visit again?"

If all that art has whetted your appetite and your stomach starts to growl, stop for a light bite at The Norm restaurant, whose architecture is inspired by the museum's secret and mysterious labyrinths.

The menu, created by Great Performances, features local produce and global flavours that reflect the different cultures and diversity of Brooklyn. Dishes include smoked salmon with fennel and tomato (for €19), grilled veal fillet with caramelised onion (for €25) and for vegetarians, a sautéed mushroom salad with warm citrus and house vinaigrette (about €8). Finger-licking good!

On the other hand, if you want to enjoy a different and urban gastronomic plan, I suggest, as a good "tripita advisor" that I am, that you go to the Food Truck BkM, which offers a selection of fresh food, snacks and drinks to enjoy the sculpture garden of the museum with a little bit of shade. The food truck opens with the arrival of the good weather. And if you get hungry, don't worry, here are the best places to eat in Brooklyn.

Bon appétit!