While in the Milwaukee area we visited the Milwaukee Art Museum. While art museums aren’t usually on our list of things to do in any area, this one was because of a unique
is an interesting shape to the exterior of the building. The outside roof is movable! It has two sections that can be closed or opened, and when they are open they look like a bird spreading it’s wings! Overnight the roof is closed, but at opening time the two sides start to part and move upward, and in about 3 minutes the two sides are spread wide and look like a pair of wings.

The section of the museum that includes the roof was designed and built in 2001 and is called the “Quadracci Pavilion”. The building part of this section reseumbles the prow of a large ship with the roof as sails. It houses some exhibits and a large open space that can be rented for events and weddings.

At noon the roof closes and then reopens, and at closing time they close. It’s mostly for the design, although it does let a lot of light in since the “under-roof” is glass with steel ribs. If the wind hits 24 mpg the wings will automatically close.

The museum itself houses many art exhibits on 4 floors. We enjoyed walking around the museum and found a few pieces that we thought were interesting.

Here are some pictures: