Besser Museum, Michigan, United States
4.5 (93 reviews) Tuesday: 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM Spent 1-2 hours Ranking #4 in Alpena Speciality Museums • Observatories & Planetariums
Wonderful - open during COVID!
Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan is an educational institution dedicated to providing the public with enriching cultural experiences in art, history and science. The Museum’s eight-acre campus offers a modern 42,000 square foot facility containing a collection of over 47,000 artifacts. The Museum houses a full dome planetarium and a two-story Foucault pendulum. Besser Museum also offers the unique opportunity to dig and keep all the Devonian period fossils you find in our outdoor Lafarge Fossil Park exhibit. Besser Museum art exhibits rotate through an extensive collection of fine art with works from local, regional, national, and world renowned artists such as Dali, Cezanne, Renoir, Picasso, Warhol, Rivera, Chihuly, Clewell and more!
Address
491 Johnson St, Alpena, MI 49707-1496
Mobile
Website
http://www.BesserMuseum.org
Working hours
Monday : 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Tuesday : 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Wednesday : 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Thursday : 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Friday : 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Saturday : 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Sunday : 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Current local date and time now
Tuesday, May 14, 2024, 12:00
User Ratings
4.5 based on (93 reviews)
Reviews
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5Sarah P 5:00 PM Apr 10, 2021
Favorite part of the trip.
We visited while on a drive through Alpena. We weren’t expecting much. A $5 per person hodge-podge of art, history, and a planetarium? Strange. I was so wrong. This place is a gem. Husband and I had a blast here. It is exactly a blend of history, art, and science. We did the planetarium show (an extra $5 per person). This is a must-do. The astronomer in residence is knowledgeable, funny, and candid. We watched the “Michigan Skies” show and learned a tiny bit of what we see every night in our home state. It was fascinating. We spent three hours there!
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5Kat H 5:00 PM May 27, 2014
I Remember Viet Nam, do you?
The Besser, as we affectionately refer to the Jesse Besser Museum is not what I grew up thinking a museum is. Practically from the day the doors opened with Bob Haltiner, author, raconteur & knowledgeable historian there to 'talk story', the exhibits and programs just did not fit the 'stodgy mold'. This was a place where you turned a corner to see up close & personal a lifelike forest animal looking back at you. It's a place where the ever changing displays reflect the people & Alpena as seen through the eyes of the Besser Staff. A year ago their special showing of WWII as experienced by people of Alpena drew critical acclaim. They were astonished at the gold mine of information, artifacts, uniforms, equipment & more that were given to them or loaned to them to tell the story through our eyes. Because it was such a success, the Museum Curators decided to honor our Viet Nam Veterans that was to co-inside with the air show Wings Over Alpena. Sequestration & other factors put the kibosh on that. But the Museum went ahead with their plan to honor our veterans of that war. It is well worth the drive to Alpena to attend. They have a website www.bessermuseum.org and you can see other events & happenings there. Every 3rd Saturday is FREE family day. Outside the building is an interactive place where kids can hack away at claiming a trilobyte or other fossil from the Devonian Coral Reef that lies below this sunrise city. The planetarium offers excellent programs as well & there are many other items of interest. On the lawn outside is a HUGE sculpture of a soldier's face & helmet courtesy of Moran Iron Works of Onaway, Michigan. It is just one example of art that abounds in and around the place.
