The Walters Art Museum

Don't be afraid of High Culture, embrace it. The Walters Art Museum is located in Baltimore's historic Mount Vernon Cultural District. In 1931, Henry Walters (1848-1931) bequeathed his gallery and his collection of 22,000 works of art to his native city "for the benefit of the public." The Walters bequest is still considered among the greatest acts of cultural philanthropy in our nation's history. William Walters (1819-94), Henry's father, had assembled a splendid collection of 19th-century art and Asian art, and under his son's auspices the collection was transformed into one of the finest of all American private collections. Henry Walters' interests ranged from ancient Egypt to art nouveau.