Lightner Museum

Address:75 King St.
St. Augustine, Florida
Tel: (904) 824-2874

Come and be dazzled at the Lightner Museum, dedicated to the arts of America's "Gilded Age." The museum features clothing, furnishings, mechanical musical instruments and other artifacts that give visitors a glimpse into 19th century daily life. The Lightner Museum's collection includes beautiful examples of cut glass, Victorian art glass and the stained glass work of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Check out the giant malachite urn and pedestal from the palace of the Russian czar!

The Lightner Museum is housed in the former Hotel Alcazar, built in 1887 in the Spanish Renaissance style. Railroad magnate Henry M. Flagler commissioned architects Carrere and Hastings to design the Alcazar and the Ponce de Leon Hotel across the street. The two young architects later designed the New York Public Library and the U.S. Senate office building.

If exploring the museum has given you an appetite, you can have lunch at the Café Alcazar, located directly behind the museum in the hotel's former indoor swimming pool. Stop by the museum store and see if its eclectic collection of books, jewelry, ornaments, reproduction antiques, children's games and gifts will tempt you into taking a little bit of the Lightner home with you!

The Lightner Museum is located in historic downtown St. Augustine, Florida. It is 20 minutes from I-95, one hour from Jacksonville and Daytona Beach, and two hours from Disney World, Epcot Center and Cape Canaveral.

Relics of America's Gilded Age are elegantly exhibited on the museum's three floors. Costumes, furnishings, mechanical musical instruments and other artifacts give you a glimpse into 19th century daily life. The Lightner collection includes beautiful examples of cut glass, Victorian art glass and the stained glass work of Louis Comfort Tiffany.