St. Augustine Lightner Museum

Highlights:

• A vast collection of 19th-century decorative and fine art

• Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

• Collection inspired museum store

• Dine at the Cafe Alcazar in a historic swimming pool

The Lightner Museum is housed in the former Alcazar Hotel, built by Henry Flagler in 1888. In 1948 Otto C. Lightner, the Chicago publisher and editor of Hobbies magazine, converted the empty hotel into a museum to contain his vast collection of decorative and fine arts, artifacts, and other antiques.

The five floors display furnishings, paintings, Victorian art glass, cut and blown glass, and natural history specimens. Other highlights include Oriental art, art nouveau works, and a Victorian Village portraying 19th-century life. The museum's collections are displayed within the hotel's entertainment center, where the spa level and ballroom were located and can still be seen. The former swimming pool, which was the World's Largest Indoor Swimming pool of the day, is the site of the Cafe Alcazar. The museum is self-guided with docents available to answer questions. Nineteenth-century mechanical musical instruments are demonstrated daily at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Upcoming Exhibitions:

Tom Schifanella: Faces of the Alcazar
October 29th-March 7, 2022

Faces of the Alcazar presents a compelling glimpse of life behind-the-scenes at Henry Flagler’s Alcazar Hotel. Through large-format photographs, the exhibition documents fragmentary clippings from early-20th century motion picture magazines pasted to the walls of the Alcazar staff quarters by the immigrant staff who lived and worked at the hotel. The crumbling magazine remnants remain a haunting visual record of the dreams and aspirations of the forgotten individuals who served the wealthy visitors wintering in St. Augustine at the dawn of the 20th century.

Picturing a Nation: American Art from the Lightner Museum
October 29-September 30, 2022

Picturing a Nation is a major reinstallation of American paintings and sculpture from the Lightner Museum’s permanent collection. From America’s great vistas and natural wonders, to intimate scenes of St. Augustine, Picturing a Nation presents a vibrant vision of America on a local and national scale through late-19th and early 20th century American art.

The Lightner Museum Store offers an eclectic collection of books, jewelry, ornaments, notecards, reproduction antiques, children's games and gifts.