New York City is known as the cultural epicenter of the western world. There are more artists here than can be found in nearly any other city in the world. As such, it stands to reason that there would be many different museums and libraries here. There are some museums and libraries that are almost a necessity in the itinerary of any visit to New York City.

The Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museum is one of the most famous museums in the world and is renowned as one of the most significant buildings in New York City. The New York City branch of the Guggenheim, in Manhattan, is only one of many branches around the world. They carry everything here from film exhibits to modern art exhibits. The Guggenheim opened in 1959 and was designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is located in midtown Manhattan. The museum is a major contributor to modern art and is credited as one of the most important modern art museums in the world. It maintains an enormous collection of works from a large variety of media. This is not limited to simply modern art photography and paintings. There is also a very large collection of modern architectural designs housed here. The museum has exhibited artwork by Salvadore Dali, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Vincent van Gogh, and many other famous artists.

The Whitney Museum of American Art
“The Whitney” is a museum located on Madison Avenue that specializes in 20th and 21st century American art. It tries to only carry works by artists that are still living. The Whitney was established in 1929 by famed sculptor Gertrude Whitney. Its emphasis on recent art by living artists has made the Whitney a great place for unknown artists to get their work seen.

The New York Public Library
Many people consider the New York Public Library to be one of the most beautiful buildings in New York City. Its Gothic style of architecture makes it a very popular architectural study piece for students. It is the second largest library in the country behind the Library of Congress. The first Gutenberg Bible in the Americas was enshrined here very early on in its history. The library itself was not established until the late 1800’s when the Astor and Lennox libraries were merged into one.

The Morgan Library and Museum
The Morgan Library is a research library located in New York City on Madison Avenue. It was originally intended to be a private research facility that housed many different rare and precious manuscripts. The library was turned into a public facility in 1924 by John Morgan, Jr. The museum is centered around the many rare manuscripts housed at the facility. The Morgan Library and Museum was named a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

The Elmer Bobst Library
The Bobst Library is the main campus library of New York University. It is located at Washington Square South and is a fairly unremarkable building that resembles a box. The library was built in 1972 from a design by Richard Foster and Philip Johnson and is one of the largest academic libraries in the country. It is by far the largest academic library in the city of New York. The library contains nearly 3.5 million different volumes of books on every subject imaginable. It is estimated that over 6500 individual users visit the library on any given day.

Museum of the City of New York
This museum is centered around both art and historical museum exhibitions. It was founded in 1923 and its original purpose was to present the history of New York City to the citizens of the city. Most of the artistic pieces that it has on exhibit are related in some way to the history of New York City. This could be anything from portraits of famous residents to paintings of famous events in New York City History. The building it currently occupies was designed by Joseph Freedlander and was completed in 1930. The museum contains a number of historical items such as furniture from the home of John D. Rockefeller.