4344 Shaw Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63110
314-577-5100
Admission to Museum is free. Admission to Garden is $6 for ages 13+ for local residents and $12 for ages 13+ for general admission. Parking is free for all.
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/donate/garden-for-the-world/henry-shaws-museum.aspx
Opened May 1918
Henry Shaw opened the Missouri Botanical Garden to the public in 1959 and, in the same year, built the iconic Museum Building to serve as the scientific heart of his new botanical garden. It is one of only five original structures in the Garden built by Shaw. The museum was designed for Shaw by his friend, prominent St. Louis architect George I. Barnett, to house the Garden's original library, herbarium, and natural history specimens. The building was closed to the public in 1982. In 2010 Garden leaders began working to raise the funds needed to restore the structure and reopen it as an exhibit space. The 2018 restoration includes a new addition to the left that houses modern facilities.
Made of Missouri limestone and locally made bricks, many of the original features remain, including tile floors, built-in bookcases, and woodwork.
The botanical ceiling mural in the open two-story gallery was painted by Leon Pomarede, a French landscape painter who immigrated to St. Louis in 1830. His mural has been recreated to include the original plants, as well as other species found growing throughout the Garden.
The lower level of this gallery will have rotating exhibits. Currently some of the display cases have what they refer to as "A Few of Our Favorite Things. Each object represents the close connection between people and plants, demonstrating how plants shape human cultures around the world. Many of these objects were collected by Garden ethnobotanists who travel the world studying the interactions between people and plants."
There are several items from Tibet. The displays include information about the effect of climate change on plants in Tibet.
Yak Butter Tea Cups
Incense Burner
Hand Prayer Wheel
Trips to Madagascar brought back this Rice Winnowing Plate (raffia) and Market Basket (sedge).
Wooden Lunch Box
Chicken Crate made from vahimpika
and Sugar Cane Press
From Tonga in Africa came this Tapa Cloth made from compressed mulberry tree fibers plus a wooden mallet.
This display is about the use of wild plants in the life of the people of Ireland. The items below are made from sycamore, bog oak timber and rush.
An Irish turf spade (slane) and peat turf.
A Strawboy Costume worn on St. Stephen's Day in Ireland (December 26) is made of oak straw.
In South America, ethnobotanists studied use of palms and other useful plants. The loom and woven bags were made from chambira.
A wooden drum from South America.
The upper level of the two-story gallery also has display cases but is not open to visitors.
In some of the cases porcelain birds and flowers are on display.
Shaw himself commissioned portraits of botanists found in his personal library and then hung the nine portraits from the second-story railing. Today's paintings are reproductions of these. Pierre Magnol was a French botanist.
During the museum's most recent restoration and renovation, three additional portraits were discovered as ceiling murals in the south gallery. These portraits feature the likenesses of the most important botanists to Henry Shaw.
This gallery has on display busts of two of the botanists. Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish scientist.
George Engelmann was a St. Louis-based German American botanist. (There is no bust on display of the third botanist, Asa Gray, the most important American botanist of the 19th century.)
Looking out the window in the South Gallery one sees the Observatory and the 1850 Shoenberg Administrative Building.
On the lower level of the museum the room has been modernized and is currently used as an art gallery. On display are some of the important paintings and works on paper collected by Garden founder Henry Shaw and successive leaders of the Garden.
One is first greeted by this 1885 oil painting of Henry Shaw. Like many of the pictures in this gallery, the artist is unknown.
This is the oldest piece on display, coming from the fifteenth century. This page from a Christian prayer book is decorated with pansies at the top.
Beyond the Wall is an oil painting by Italian Filippo Palizzo, painted about 1871.
Figures Before an Inn is a Dutch oil painting from about the 18th century.
Four Plates Illustrating Mushrooms is a lithograph on paper by Polish-German botanist Walter Migula (about 1910).
Rose Garden is a watercolor on paper painted by American artist, Nicky Bottger (1918-2001)
This museum is in the award-winning Missouri Botanical Garden which is entered through the Ridgway Center.
Walking to and from the museum we passed many parts of the Garden including the Climatron.
And the Japanese Garden
Every time one visits the garden different plants are in bloom and we were blessed to be there when the azaleas were in mostly full-bloom.
You saw them most everywhere you walked.
The hostas, too, were growing towards full-size.
Pansies were still blooming in different beds.
In this bed, the pansies were surrounded by lettuce.
Hanging gardens had started to bloom.
This hanging basket of the monkeyflower was particularly beautiful.
Very few tulips were still in bloom.
There were a few double tulips.
While we were there Garden workers were digging out and discarding most of the spent tulips.
Not far from the Museum is this unique stumpery garden.
And no trip to the Garden is complete without a mention of the beautiful art work on display there. There are several Chihuly pieces owned by the Garden including this large one that greets you as you enter the Ridgway Center.
There are many sculptures such as this Bell Tree
and Stubb's Supper, 1998 by Frank Stella.
There are many fountains
Six Dancing Geese
The Garden has an extremely large gift shop that sells the usual clothing, jewelry, gifts, housewares, toys, etc. as well as lots of plants!
We ate lunch at Union Loafers which is walking distance from the Garden. (OK, we drove!)
It is a cafe and a bread bakery and the cheese bread is absolutely outstanding.
So were their salads, soups, and sandwiches!
Ham and Cheddar sandwich with their Little Gem Salad.
Turkey and Swiss sandwich with their Kale and Garbanzo Soup.
Yummy Apple and Blue Cheese Salad with Chicken and Rice Soup and bread.
And their Rare Roast Beef on Ciabatta
Comments: Scheduled to open last December, this building was full of surprises which put the museum opening off until April 26. This was followed by ten days of special ticket passes so when we went on May 9, it was the third day that the museum was truly open to just walk in and see! It was also a free admission-to-the-garden morning but despite the crowds and the newness we had the museum mostly to ourselves.
The building inside is absolutely beautiful and it is worth the time to stop and see it for its beauty. There are several large posters explaining the building and the restoration, some of which I copied in the above information! The history is very interesting. There was also a docent there with a notebook full of answers. Unfortunately it takes at least two, preferably three docents, to help with visitors because of the two floors. We were only able to see the lower level because the curator arrived and took the time to let us in. As we were leaving a second docent arrived which was good.
We were disappointed that the large-gallery balcony is off limits due to safety concerns and hope that they find a way to handle these concerns that would allow visitors to go upstairs and see the beautiful porcelain birds and flowers.
We learned from the curator that she was only hired two months ago. Add that to the surprises in the restoration, we now understand why so many of the cases are empty. They are obviously finding their way yet with the museum. My understanding is that in a few months they will have the displays more complete and maybe that will be an even better time to visit.
Last week the Garden was listed as the Number 3 garden in the USA by USA Today and it is easy to see why. It is always beautiful and this week was no exception. We are so lucky to have this gem in St. Louis.
The restaurant was great! My Apple and Blue Cheese Salad was superb and some of us would have bought some Cheese Bread to take home if the bakery line had not been so long! It is a small restaurant with seating indoors and out and is very popular. Fortunately we got their shortly after it opened at 11:00.
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