Who Dat?

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Photo by smoorenburg.

With a Saints Super Bowl victory in the books, a bet made between the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art has been settled. The prize? IMA will be sending their Fifth Plague of Egypt by Joseph Mallord William Turner to NOMA.

The Turner, however, is only the latest in treasures to be found among the Big Easy’s cultural offerings. After stopping in at NOMA, here are some of the museums you should check out on your next stop in New Orleans.

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is home to the most comprehensive collection of Southern art in the world, cataloging the region’s history and visual culture starting from the early 1700s. Current exhibits include New Southern Photography and the Andrews-Humphrey Gallery shows art is a family affair. April 22 marks the opening of Where They At?, an exhibit exploring “New Orleans bounce and hip hop in words and pictures.”

Animal Kingdom: Walk through a 30-foot Caribbean Reef tunnel or see if spotting a white alligator really brings good luck at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. If you’re more interested in land-based creatures, head to the Audubon Zoo. Animals have called this site home since the 1884 World Exposition. Current residents include King Rex and King Zulu (white tigers and brothers), performing sea lions and elephants, and a Komodo dragon.

National World War II Museum is the United States’ official WWII museum. Higgins boats (made in New Orleans), Spitfire planes, and Sherman tanks join exhibits about life on the home front and plenty of information about D-Day and the events leading up to it. A must see for history buffs.

Mardi Gras is more than just a wild party. Explore some of the history behind the celebration at the Backstreet Cultural Museum, where the city’s largest collection of Mardi Gras Indian costumes are housed. The museum, built in an old funeral home, also explores other unique New Orleans traditions like Jazz Funerals and Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs.

Again, this is just a sampling of museums and cultural institutions in the Crescent City. No matter what sites you visit, just remember “laissez les bon temps rouler.”

One Response to “Who Dat?”

  1. Grace on February 8th, 2010

    Dreams *do* Come True! If you’ve missed our Dreams Come True: Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from the Walt Disney Studio exhibition because of weekend football fever, you still have until March 14.

    http://www.noma.org/dreams

    Thank you for the kudos! We are looking forward to our friends at IMA, Colts fans, Saints fans and all football and art lovers visiting the New Orleans Museum of Art to see all our masterpieces on display. Especially the Turner.

    New Orleans has so many cultural treasures. Take time to visit all our museums at http://www.neworleansmuseums.com.

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