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Austin's Museums, Weird Attractions & the Blanton Art Museum

Austin's cultural institutions (the museums and attractions that reveal the city's depth beyond the live music and food scenes): the Blanton Museum of Art (the finest art museum in Texas, on the UT campus), the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum (the most comprehensive Texas history museum), the Elisabet Ney Museum (the studio-museum of the 19th-century German sculptor), the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, and the Cathedral of Junk (the privately constructed sculpture in South Austin made from discarded objects) together represent the full range of Austin's cultural character.

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1
Blanton Museum of Art — Ellsworth Kelly Chapel
The Blanton on UT campus holds 18,000 works and the landmark Ellsworth Kelly 'Austin' chapel (2018) — 14 colored glass panels flooding a limestone building with changing light in the artist's final, most spiritual work.
2
Bullock Texas State History Museum
The Bullock Museum's three floors trace Texas from prehistoric cultures through the Space Age, anchored by the enormous bronze Lone Star sculpture at the entrance and an IMAX theater showing Texas-themed films.
3
Cathedral of Junk — Vince Hannemann's Backyard
Artist Vince Hannemann has assembled a 60-ton sculpture from discarded objects in his South Austin backyard since 1988 — towers, tunnels, and rooms built from TV sets, bicycle wheels, and circuit boards. Free to visit by appointment.
4
Museum of the Weird on 6th Street
The Museum of the Weird celebrates Austin's 'Keep Austin Weird' identity with genuine curiosities, a two-headed calf, a shrunken head collection, and recreations of classic sideshow acts in a 6th Street storefront.
5
Barton Springs Pool — Natural Swimming
Barton Springs Pool is a 3-acre natural pool fed by underground springs maintaining 68°F year-round. Opened 1917, it remains the social and spiritual center of Austin's outdoor culture — diving boards, grassy banks, and Barton Creek.
6
Hope Outdoor Gallery — Legal Graffiti Park
Hope Outdoor Gallery (HOPE) on Baylor Street is Austin's official street art park — a three-story concrete structure entirely covered in legal murals, renewed constantly by local and international artists, free to visit daily.