Museums - Polk Museum of Art

The Polk Museum of Art functions as a cultural art center for the general public, essentially educational and aesthetic in purpose, whose primary goal is to stimulate awareness and appreciation of the arts through the acquisition and care of a permanent collection as well as through exhibitions, workshops, lectures, classes, tours and performing events. The museum was founded by the Junior Welfare League as the all-volunteer Imperial Youth Museum in 1966. In 1968, the first professional director was employed, and in 1969, the museum was renamed Polk Public Museum to reflect the broadened emphasis on art, history, and science. The current facility was formally dedicated in September 1988, and plans for expansion are currently in the works.
The Polk’s collection contains a wide range of artistic objects, from 2,500-year-old vessels made by the Chavin culture in what is now Peru, to contemporary artworks. The pre-Columbian art collection features artifacts from many cultural groups in present-day Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru. Hallmark objects are a male effigy figure from the Remojades area of Veracruz, a polychrome jaguar vessel from Costa Rica, and a Moche effigy.