The Palace of Fine Arts

The Palace of Fine Arts was constructed for the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.  The Exposition celebrated both the completion of the Panama Canal, the uplifting of San Francisco after the devastating 1906 earthquake, and the progress to that point.  It is situated in San Francisco’s MarinaDistrict near the Golden GateBridge and is home to the Exploratorium, which was previously known to be the exhibition hall to house Impressionist art during the Panama Pacific Exposition.

The Palace of Fine Arts was intended to last for one year during the Panama Pacific Exposition before being destroyed.  Because of that, the original column and rotunda were built with wood and staff for an easy breakdown.  Bernard Maybeck, an architect from Berkeley, was appointed as the designer of the Palace of Fine Arts.  He based its architecture through Roman and Greek architectural inspirations.

Later in the year, before the Palace of Fine Arts was schedule to be demolished, over 30,000 signatures were collected along with donations of over $300,000 to keep and restore the Palace with longer lasting materials.  With this, the Fine Arts Restoration Day was held in support of those against the destruction of the Palace of Fine Arts.  Walter S. Johnson, a philanthropist who fundraised to save the Palace for restoration and added original colonnades, was one of the major reasons the Palace of Fine Arts is still standing today.

The lagoon mirrors the surface and provides a more aesthetically pleasing design.  It is frequently visited by migrating fowl such as ducks, geese, and swan, but is also home to frogs and turtles.  The park enveloping the Palace of Fine Arts Gallery has been named in honor of the philanthropist Walter S. Johnson and the Theater houses up to 1,000 people in a continental-style arrangement.  Because of its majestic beauty, weddings are held in the Rotunda by couples across the globe.  Personally, my family and my husband’s family were too large to host our wedding there – so my hubby and I snagged our photographer at the end of our wedding reception so we could snap a few wedding shots there!

Another series of restorations were completed in 2009 to seismically retrofit the structure, improve pathways, and restore the dome.  Now, the Palace of Fine Arts is open to locals and tourists alike.  The Palace of Fine Arts Theater is home to concerts, lectures, tributes, film events, and much more.  The Exploratorium that is housed at the Palace of Fine Arts is a science museum that holds a wide variety of exhibits that is geared toward the hands-on experience.  For tourists who are on a budget in such an expensive city, I suggest checking out the Exploratorium on the first Wednesday of the month where groups of 9 or less are admitted for free (groups of 10 or more will need to make a reservation on free days).

For more information on the Palace of Fine Arts, visit the official websites of The Palace of Fine Arts and The Exploratorium.