☰Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Founded by Daniel Wadsworth in 1842, the Wadsworth Atheneum is the oldest continuously operating public art museum in the United States. Its collection of more than 50,000 works spans five centuries: Hudson River School landscapes, baroque old masters, impressionist paintings, ancient Egyptian bronzes, and a strong collection of American decorative arts. The building itself is worth seeing — a rambling Gothic Revival structure that grew through several additions across the 19th and 20th centuries.