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Boston's Best Permanent Exhibits

In Boston, there are several museums covering just about every topic you could dream up. This gives visitors and residents many exhibits that they can depend on to be there whenever they want to see them. Among these permanent exhibits are the most beautiful, monumental, educational and beloved collections and displays in the entire city. Once an individual tries them, it is easy to see why no one wants them to go anywhere.
The Glass Flowers
The Glass Flowers (Photo credit: Harvard.edu)

The Glass Flowers
Harvard Museum of Natural History
26 Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-3045
www.hmnh.harvard.edu

The Glass Flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History is an amazing array of anatomically correct glass flowers. Some show cut sections of various flowers and some are whole. As works of art, these pieces by Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka are exquisite. As teaching materials, they are unrivaled by anything short of flowers themselves. The flowers are known all over the world, were made in Germany and have been at Harvard for nearly a century.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
(credit: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum)

The Permanent Collection
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
280 Fenway
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 566-1401
www.gardnermuseum.org

The permanent collection at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is one of the most impressive formerly personal collections in the world. It contains numerous pieces picturing the collector herself by artists like John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn. It includes Bellinis, Botticellis, Rembrandts, Manets and much more. Visitors will find themselves surrounded by works of art in the setting of what was once a magnificent home owned by Gardner. She left it to the city, along with the collection, upon her death.

triceratops
(Photo from MOS.org)

Colossal Fossil: Triceratops Cliff
Museum of Science, Boston
1 Science Park
Boston, MA 02114
(617) 723-2500
www.mos.org

Triceratops Cliff is home to a nearly full fossil of a triceratops from the Dakota Badlands. Its discovery dates back only to 2004. However, the material that became this fossil is, of course, roughly 65 million years old. It is one of only four discovered and put on display on the planet. The exhibit also has some other interesting pieces, including a model of the triceratops fossil.

Related: Boston's Best Exhibits to Visit This Summer

evolution
(Photo from Harvard.edu)

Evolution
Harvard Museum of Natural History
26 Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-3045
www.hmnh.harvard.edu

Also at the Harvard Museum of Natural History is a fantastic exhibit dedicated to evolution. Part of the exhibit is a glimpse into the flora and fauna that sparked Charles Darwin's imagination and led to his massive works on natural selection. Also included are displays describing and showing the processes of evolution. Even better are the glimpses into the work being done on the topic at Harvard University. Anyone who has ever been interested in how this controversial process works will enjoy this permanent exhibit.

JFKWHP-ST-A13-60-62
(Photo Credit: Cecil Stoughton. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston)

The Space Race
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
220 William T Morrissey Blvd.
Columbia Point, MA 02125
(617) 514-1600
www.jfklibrary.org

One of the most significant aspects of John F. Kennedy's time as president was his dedication to the space race. The president was responsible for setting the moon in the country's sights in 1961. In 1969, humans landed on the moon, largely thanks to Kennedy's efforts, which are memorialized along with the major accomplishments science made along the way at this permanent exhibit at the J.F.K. Library and Museum. Sadly, J.F.K. did not live to see his dreams come true. Visitors can learn about his journey in other areas of the museum.

Related: Must-See Photography Exhibits in Boston

Shelly Barclay is a professional freelance writer and amateur author. She writes on a variety of topics from food to mysteries. She loves to share the culture and rich history of her birthplace and home, Boston, with the rest of the world. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.

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