Notre Dame’s Raclin Murphy Museum of Art opens its doors

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame’s newest campus building opened its doors for the first time Friday evening.

The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art sits right near the corner of Angela Boulevard and Eddy Street on campus, and it’s sure to be the newest draw for visitors.

“When they walk in the Raclin Murphy Museum, they’re just going to gasp or say ‘Wow,’” says Gina Costa, Communications Director for the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art.

Hundreds made their way through the brand-new museum for its grand opening, weaving in and out of its exhibits and appreciating the art adorning the walls.

At three levels and 70,000 square feet, it replaces the University’s former Snite Museum of Art and has much more room to display about a thousand of the museum’s 31,000 pieces of art.

“Typically, a museum has about 3-5% of what they own on view, the Snite was so small we could only have 1%, now we will have at least 3%,” Costa explains.

The exhibits take viewers through several centuries and cultures of art; including galleries dedicated to indigenous art, European and Spanish pieces, and Christian faith, with a chapel dedicated to the Catholic Mother Mary.

“There are world-class artists here,” Costa says. “We’ve got site-specific commissions by some of the world’s most important artists, and they were made just for here.”

Museum leaders say it’s a gateway between the University and the surrounding general area, making campus a new attraction for lovers of art.

“We’re getting people excited from Chicago and Detroit and Indianapolis who want to come up, so we’ve made South Bend and Mishawaka a destination,” shares Costa.

One of the most important things about the museum is that it’s completely free and open to the public.

They will have lots of fun friendly-family events happening this opening weekend, for more information you can visit the museum’s website.