The Chrysler Museum Is Free and That's Barely the Point

One Memorial Place. Free, always, permanently. Over 30,000 works spanning 5,000 years. The building is neoclassical on the Hague inlet and the collection is big enough that every museum charging $25 admission should feel a little embarrassed.

The glass collection is the star — one of the finest in the world, up there with Corning and the V&A. Tiffany lamps, Roman unguentaria, Venetian goblets, contemporary studio glass that bends light in ways that make you question the material. The Perry Glass Studio out back does live glassblowing from a 2,100-degree furnace. It looks casual. It isn't.

The painting galleries are deeper than expected — Veronese, Degas, Pollock, a Zurbarán that stops you cold. Natural light from the skylights changes the paintings throughout the day. The photography collection on the second floor — Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange — carries more emotional weight per square inch than anything else in the building. The room is usually empty.

Norfolk is a Navy town that could define itself entirely by ships. The Chrysler Museum insists there's more to the story.