Museums

Rancho de Las Golondrinas (The Ranch of the Swallows)
(505) 471-2261 | www.golondrinas.org

A depiction of life in New Mexico in the 1800's, Ranch de Las Golondrinas living history museum is a great place to learn about New Mexico and its history. The village is full of Churro Sheep, chickens as well as goats.

""The Ranch of the Swallows". This historic rancho, now a living history museum, dates from the early 1700s and was an important paraje or stopping point along the famous Camino Real, the Royal Road from Mexico City to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Experience the life of another time in a location unlike any other in America".
                     Rancho de Las Golondrinas

Santa Fe Children's Museum
1050 Old Pecos Trail. Next to the Armory of Arts
(505) 989-8359 | www.santafechildrensmuseum.org
10-5 Thurs-Sat Noon-5 Sunday, open Wed. in summer closed Mon.

The Santa fe Childrens Museum is an excellent spot to spend the day with the kids. Lots of fun interactive play as well as arts and crafts and great outdoor spaces. Meet Peacjes the snake or make the worlds largest bubbles, the Santa Fe childrens Museum is a great place for young and old alike. Great Spot for Birthday Parties, the Childrens Museum has a private room as well as a great climbing wall.

Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works Proudly supports the Childrens Museum.

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology
710 Camino Lejo
(505) 827-6344 | www.miaclab.org

The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe, New Mexico, tells the stories of the Native American people of the Southwest from pre-historic through contemporary times. Its changing exhibitions draw from an unparalleled collection of Native American art and material culture representing the Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, and other indigenous cultures of the Southwest.

Presenting the diverse stories that illuminate the art and history of Native America through two millennia. Housed in a large new wing, the exhibit "Here, Now and Always" tells the story of the Native American presence in the Southwest with more than 1,300 objects and a multimedia production created during the eight-year period the museum spent in collaboration with Native American elders, artists, scholars, teachers, builders and writers. These consultants worked with a team of Indian and non-Indian museum curators and designers to develop an exhibit that combines the actual voices of contemporary American Indians with ancient artifacts. The architectural design helps bring centuries of culture and tradition to life.

The exhibit uses stone and silver, clay and wool, feast days, fairs and family stories to tell of the enduring communities of the Southwest. To orient visitors, it incorporates the landscape itself, mesas and settlements, plazas and sacred peaks. Visitors proceed by theme through the galleries. You can visit a pueblo kitchen, an Apache wickiup, a Navajo hogan, a 1930s trading post and a contemporary vendor's booth at a tribal feast day celebration. The stories in "Here, Now and Always" are told on video tape by 24 American Indians. It is very important for children to see and hear as much as they can absorb of the story of those who have lived on and cared for the earth before us.

Museum of International Folk Art
706 Camino Lejo
827-6350

Houses the world's largest collection of traditional folk art from around the world. The Hispanic Heritage Wing features Spanish Colonial folk art and an interactive computer program in its "Familia y Fe/Family and Faith" exhibit. The finely crafted displays delineate the central position of extended family relationships and the Catholic faith in northern New Mexico's Hispanic culture. The exhibit also underlines the resourcefulness of the pioneer families who lived for more than a century in tremendous isolation from manufactured goods, European medicine and formal education.

This museum holds the world's largest collection of international folk art. In the "Multiple Visions: A Common Bond" exhibit, for example, you'll find objects from more than 100 countries displayed in fascinating dioramas. Toys from 19th-century Europe, Chinese prints, embroidered Indian mandalas, Mexican Day of the Dead mementos and examples of early 20th-century Americana are among the treasures. This exhibit alone displays more than 10,000 pieces of folk art, all donated by the Girard Foundation Collection

The Planetarium
Santa Fe Community College, 6401 Richards Ave.
438-1777, 438-1677
Tickets are $3.50 for adults, $2 for children 12 and younger and for seniors 65 and older and for SFCC students with a current ID. Tickets go on sale a half-hour before showtime.

The Planetarium, one of the city's newer, out-of-the-way attractions, offers a changing schedule of productions intended to give the audience a better feeling for the night sky. The Celestial Highlights program the first Thursday of each month provides an introduction to the stars and constellations that will be visible for the next 30 days. Showtime is 7 PM. The planetarium, on the upper level in the west wing of the Community College, also offers family programs each Saturday at 10:30 AM and a different program on Fridays, usually with showings at 6:30 and 8 PM. Recent productions included Sesame Street characters and a report on the findings of the Magellan spacecraft