Newark Museum

This is a place my father and grand parents used to visit so taking my family to see it was a great experience. The museum is larger than it appears and has quite and extensive Tibetan collection. The attached Ballentine house has been restored further and the rooms have been decorated in Victorian fashion. While visiting don't forget to see the fire museum and old school house located in the park behind it.

We attended the museum a week ago only to attend the planetarium - which we found about through google. On the planetariums website, it listed admission and timing of the shows. It DID NOT state that you had to purchase a museum admission to attend the planetarium. Therefore the museum, which is free to Newark residents - but we reside in Bergen County, and planetarium visit cost me $45.00 for a 2 hour visit (not including parking). The museum was fine for adults, not so much for children, but definitely not worth the trip to Newark, nor the cost. When I contacted the museum requesting a refund, I was denied my request - even though one of the employees confirmed the planetariums website was not clear on their admission policy. I am by no means insulting their art, as I am not in a position to do so, rather the customer service, the employees and the cost of admission are sub-par. A visit to any of the NYC museums is recommended, if you are not from Newark.

Very educational. The volunteers are wonderful and polite. Very clean, definitely worth a trip.

I came to the Newark Museum for the first time last week, and I've already been back for a second time. The mix of natural history, art, science, and interactive exhibits makes this almost a one stop shop for anything you'd like to see. The art collection is truly impressive, spanning the globe and going back centuries. They have art from some names you may recognize - Andy Warhol, Georgia O'Keeffe, among many others. The current featured exhibition, "The Shape of Light" by Gabriel Dawe, is breathtaking. I've never considered myself to be a huge fan of art, but I enjoyed the art sections quite a bit.

I spent most of my time in other sections that were very interesting, including an Egyptian section, African section, Asian section, and Native American section which all featured many different artifacts and items. There is also a Tibetan Buddhist Altar that was consecrated in 1990 by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and was very eye-opening to learn about.

The part of the museum that really stood out for me was The Ballantine House, which was built in 1885 for the Ballantine family (you may recognize their name from Newark's own Ballantine beer). It's a stunningly beautiful Victorian home that you can walk around and explore each room in, and it's connected to the actual museum and included in admission. I would pay the admission cost to see the house alone.

Overall, I had a great experience and learned a lot. There's no way I could include everything in this review. Knowing that there's a museum of this caliber only 10 minutes from where I live is great, and I'll absolutely be back.

My kids like the planetarium at the Newark Museum. The space is great and the museum is family friendly. It's also great that they allow people to bring in their own food and eat in the cafe.