Austin's culture runs deeper than its guitar amps: a Gutenberg Bible and the world's first photograph sit twenty minutes from Mexic-Arte's Day of the Dead altars, while Ellsworth Kelly's final work glows on the Blanton lawn in coloured light.
UT's museum holds 21,000 works — Latin American art, Renaissance drawings, and Kelly's 2,715-square-foot stone chapel with coloured glass windows, his only building. Open Tue–Sun 10:00, closed Mondays; Thursdays are free.
A humanities archive with one of 21 surviving complete Gutenberg Bibles and the world's first photograph, Niépce's 1826 heliograph, plus Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace. Galleries free, Tue–Sun.
An 1888 sunset-red granite dome that stands 308 feet, taller than the US Capitol. Free 30-minute tours run hourly; the 1993 underground extension buries four storeys of offices beneath the lawn with light wells.
A 1916 Italianate villa on 14 acres of Colorado River peninsula, now a sculpture park with Charles Umlauf, Tom Friedman and Ai Weiwei's Iron Tree among the live oaks. Grounds open until 17:00 most days.
Three floors tracing Texas from Caddo mounds to Apollo, built around the recovered hull of La Belle, La Salle's 1686 shipwreck. The IMAX is the largest screen in Texas. Open daily 10:00–17:00.
Charles Umlauf donated his home, studio and 168 works to the city in 1985. Bronze and terracotta figures sit under oaks on a shaded hillside above Barton Springs, with a small indoor gallery of his tools.
Texas's official Mexican and Mexican-American fine art museum, founded 1984 in a downtown storefront. Rotating exhibitions of Chicano printmaking plus the annual Día de los Muertos altars and Viva la Vida parade each October.
Built from the recycled steel and concrete of the 1959 Palmer Auditorium, home to Austin Symphony, Ballet Austin and Austin Opera. Dell Hall seats 2,442; the terrace frames the downtown skyline across Lady Bird Lake.
A working fine-art printmaking studio since 1989, where master printers collaborate with artists on etchings, lithographs and woodcuts. The Springdale Road gallery shows editions; the presses run behind glass.
The first Black neighbourhood museum in Texas, opened 1980 in East Austin. Permanent galleries on Juneteenth, Austin's segregated 1928 city plan, and local Black families, plus a 134-seat theatre and dance studio.
The 1892 limestone studio-castle of the German sculptor who carved Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston for the US Capitol. Her plaster models still fill the Formosa studio in Hyde Park. Wed–Sun 12:00–17:00.
A 100-seat listening room since 1979 where Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith and Alison Krauss played early sets. Talking during songs gets you shushed; the stage is a folk and singer-songwriter institution rather than a bar.