New York State Museum

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The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol.

The museum houses art, artifacts (prehistoric and historic), and ecofacts that reflect New York's cultural, natural, and geological development. Operated by the New York State Education Department's Office of Cultural Education, it is the nation's oldest and largest state museum.

Formerly located in the State Education Building, the museum now occupies the first four floors of the Cultural Education Center, a ten-story, 1,500,000-square-foot (140,000 m2) building that also houses the New York State Archives and New York State Library.

The large majority of the museum's permanent exhibits are located in the voluminous first floor. Several galleries and halls on the first floor house various temporary art exhibitions, as well as temporary scientific, historical and cultural exhibits. Presentations and lectures (such as the weekly Lecture Series) are held in the Museum Theater, located near the West Gallery.