Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens

The history of the museum dates back to 1902 when Arthur and Nina Kammer built their estate on Riverside Avenue. In 1906, Arthur and Nina purchased their first work of art - the painting “Along the Shore” by Paul King. Later Nina hired a landscape designer to set up an Italian garden next to the house.

When Arthur Kammer died in 1943, Nina began collecting art in earnest. She went to auctions a lot, participated in various meetings, made agreements with artists. For fifteen years, Nina Kammer assembled a collection of 60 items. And a year before her death, she bequeathed the entire collection and the garden to create a museum. Then Kammer said: “My gifts will do only a little for a big vision”. She hoped that “others will share this vision, and their interest and contribution will help create a center of beauty and culture worthy of the local community.”

After the death of Nina Kammer, her estate and the houses of her relatives located in the neighborhood underwent several changes. Some of them were demolished. The gardens were also redone more than once. Now the building of the modern art museum has been built in this place. The gardens have been expanded. However, part of the house of Nina and Arthur Kammer has been preserved. Now it belongs to the museum. The Museum of Art, then known as the Kammer Gallery, opened on November 11, 1961.

Since its opening, the museum was regularly donated works of art by private collectors. Now it has more than five thousand exhibits. At the same time, those 60 exhibits from which it all began are preserved and are a permanent exhibition of the museum.
In addition to paintings and various statuettes, the museum displays lots of porcelain, which is valuable not only for art but also for the history of the state of Florida. The museum constantly conducts educational courses and programs aimed at studying the history of art and raising the level of knowledge among different segments of the population.