Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is defined by its building, a four-story structure designed to resemble a fifteenth-century Venetian palace. While the exterior appears unpretentious, the interior centers on a glass-roofed courtyard filled with flowers and greenery, modeled after the palaces the founder, Isabella Stewart Gardner, frequented during her travels in Venice. She opened this space, originally known as Fenway Court, in nineteen oh three to house her extensive collection of over two thousand five hundred works, including paintings, textiles, and furniture.