Had a lot of fun at the LEGO exhibit. I will definitely return.

I loved this museum. We hopped on a tour with Joan, she was awesome and it was very informative! Definitely recommend visiting this place.

Excellent collection of Native American art and culture. This is a definite not miss. Whether you are familiar or have no history, you will earn something, be amazed and glad you did. read more

Excellent museum to explore native American culture. Very tastefully done and not so large that it can't be explored in an afternoon. A bit pricey at $15 per adult read more

Highly recommended if you are in the Phoenix area! I am going to visit again, the next time I am in town. read more

My favorite museum in the city. The biggest collection of Kachinas I have ever seen! Don't forget to hit the bookstore as well! Great reads!

I thought the price was steep but within 15min Of entering I was SO pleased. It was so beautiful and the collections were amazing. I loved the videos too...I cried watching "Home" - a must if in town! read more

A colleague and I had a wonderful am tour at the Heard that left us feeling reverent and inspired to know more. The small group of four had so many questions about the personal attributes, daily living and spirituality of the Native Americans whose lives were portrayed in this beautiful museum. Consider spending three or four hours in this informative and relaxing environment. read more

The Heard is a wonderful Phoenix institution that often flies under the radar. I was born & raised in Phoenix so as a child I visited the museum often on school field trips or weekend activities. It's a great place for kids! The museum is also a must-see for visitors to the valley; Their exhibits of indigenous art and culture are unparalleled. When it came time to find a venue for our wedding it was not the first place we thought of but it should have been. The Heard was a beautiful, soulful setting for our ceremony and reception. The architecture and landscape made for numerous photographic opportunities. We had to force ourselves to stop taking pictures and get married already! Julie, the Director of Private Events was great to work with; very supportive. All things considered it was also quite affordable. We had a number of guests traveling to Phoenix for the first time for our wedding so I was thrilled to have a beautiful cultural landmark to show off my hometown. Its central location off the Metro Lightrail connected to all things hip and happening in the valley was also a huge bonus. read more

Best place to see some Native American art and get a good dose of Arizona and Native American culture and history!!

Great museum! But then I'm partial because I'm part Native American. The Kachina dolls were amazing. A must for everyone interested in Indian culture. read more

Love this place, in fact got married there in 1999. It is one of the most extensive collections of Native American artifacts and history that I know of. Goregeous galleries. My one suggestion would be to offer maps of the museum, can get kind of confusing. If you have very young ones I wouldn't take them, this is more in line of an art museum. read more

The Heard Museum is a great place to learn more about Native American culture, tribes and their traditions. It has a tremendous amount of visuals on display along with guided audio stations throughout the museum. It has a variety of exhibits for each tribe residing in Arizona and the surrounding states. One of the best features of the museum is a free tour led by a knowledgeable guide with emphasis on background information on many of the artifacts. Many of the stories told were very interesting and funny. The Heard Museum is not your typical museum where you walk from display to display. While the displays are amazing, they have a terrific "hands-on" portion of the museum where you can learn a variety of words in many different native languages. Recorded stories are told at each station by Native American children relating to some aspect of their culture. It also features many crafts like coloring and braiding, beadwork and tin stenciling. They also have a wonderful collection of Kachina dolls on display from very basic and primitive to extremely intricate in design. However, the interactive portion of the museum, while very fun, needed some attention. There weren't many supplies and many of the hands-on stations were not very clean. Overall, I would highly recommend visiting the Heard Museum. It is a fantastic place to spend an afternoon learning about Native American culture. read more

If you go to one place in Phoenix, make it the Heard Museum. The museum is a fantastic, world class museum, with fabulous Native American art. Beautiful sculpture garden, mission style architecture, pleasant courtyard, fabulous special events, and most importantly, well curated and interesting exhibits. read more

The Heard Museum has the best Native American art museum that I have ever seen. Their collections of pottery, rugs and silver work are outstanding. They have breath taking exhibits. They also host an Indian Fair & Market is spring which I go to annually. Great opportunity to meet and visit with artists. The Heard is a must see when in Phoenix. read more

This place was beautiful. Took my dad and baby here for a quiet morning. We really enjoyed our time. Everyone was helpful and kind. My favorite exhibit was the boarding school. Wonderful experience! read more

A fantastic art museum occupying a network of beautiful, Spanish-style buildings, the Heard Museum enjoys a wide selection of Native American art, both traditional and contemporary. They feature an extensive Pueblo pottery collection, some very beautiful Navajo rugs, and a vast collection of Hopi kachinas. One of the contemporary exhibits is a glass sculpture that is created to mimic a traditional Southwestern fence made of ocotillo branches. The museum grounds are beautiful and rather extensive. In the courtyard, you can enjoy an excellent lunch at the museum's cafe while listening to the soothing sounds of the museum's main water feature. I do think that the Native American crafts on sale in the gift shop are a little overpriced, as I have seen similar items of the same high quality sold elsewhere for less. However, I would have no problem making a worthwhile purchase here, seeing that it would go to support a truly excellent art museum. The Heard Museum is a must-see. read more

Not kid friendly! Their words, not mine. We arrived at this beautiful park like location in downtown Phoenix expecting to be transported. Unfortunately after crossing the breathtaking grounds and arriving at the museum entrance we were told pretty much point blank by the young lady behind the ticket counter that the museum was not currently providing any kid friendly exhibits and that the one child oriented pavilion was at this time closed. Basically turning me and my two year old daughter away from the museum. Too bad, I had read about all of the fun to be had here, but maybe in a few years. Also, as a note, upon entrance we were politely but pretty bluntly told that our diaper bag would not be allowed in the galleries. I guess we made this trek from the South valley for nothing. read more

This year and last year have been my favorite times at the Heard. They dedicate a good portion of the museum to Frida's amazing work, along with great music and activities. read more

I am so happy we went to the Heard museum. This was an excellent experience for both my husband and I. We truly appreciated the museums architectural style and their focus and dedication on the preservation and detailed representation indigenous/native lifestyle and customs. There was quite a bit of information within this museum that we thought it was useful to go to split our time. We spent three hours and then came back in the afternoon and spent another hour or so. There are cultural items such as clothing, pottery, artwork, and other items that gave us great insight into the culture and customs. One of the great things that I like in any museum is when they focus on the harsher times, brutal moments, and sad parts. This is what truly makes one focus on history of any group. We throughly enjoyed our experience and thought the price we paid for our tickets were fair based on the wealth of knowledge and information we discovered in this museum. I would highly recommend visiting this museum and taking your time to make your way through it - even if you have to break it up into 2 viewings over the course of the day. Highly recommended! read more

I was on a short time limit. I arrived, and got a seat. I waited about five minutes, no water- no acknowledgement. Waited some more, looking at the expensive menu but thinking, this is cool- nice location, good stuff. I finally made a phone call, and my waitress arrived then- and walked away, I later found because I was on the phone. I waited about five more minutes and she did not return. Still not even a glass of water. I left disappointed from the service while I watched everyone else get attention. And speaking on their phones. No service, no money spent. So I went back to my training with little acknowledgement, even from the hostess- so before returning back to the training with some vendor machine pretzels and soda, I took some pictures of the beautiful Native American Veteran memorial. Otherwise, I was unimpressed completely and felt the staff was paying attention to others and ignoring newcomers. read more

Thanksgiving meal. My family ventured out and enjoyed a magnificent Thanksgiving meal. The museum created a wonderful menu that covered foods from the different territories of the Untied States Native American traditions. Extremely rich and flavorful food, excellent service, reasonable price/person. There was Native American Music live to entertain the guests. The museum and gift shop remained open and was a great way to walk off the delicious meal. I plan on making this a tradition. read more

The Heard Museum is a very interesting experience and is like no other ordinary museum. This is due to the fact that so much history and culture are jammed into one, rather small place. The entirety of not only Arizona Native American culture and history but also that of many other areas in the Americas is confined in one small area. The physical building that the museum is contained may be large but each exhibit is rather small. This leads to some parts of the museum being very in depth, while others don't even scratch the surface of the vast history. All of the exhibits and displays are displayed rather well but didn't really compel me in any manner. The drive from where I live was a very hectic one due to construction and a severe lack of signs to guide me there. During my visit the employees were very helpful and caring about my experience. Lacking a lot of knowledge about Native American culture I had countless questions and the staff did their very best to try to answer them. Not to knick pick but the entire place did have a rather awful odor but I think that was just because of some of the older displays. One exhibit did stand out in particular. The display depicted how the modernized world has changed the Native culture and how the United States government is constantly conflicting with the views with some tribes. The best way I can sum up my visit was a pleasant experience but it did have its drawbacks. Some of the exhibits and displays were rather boring and lacked depth. Meanwhile the ones that did stand out were extraordinary and made me much more curious about America's history. Some of the negatives would have to be scent of the museum, the trip over there, and it at times was incredibly boring. It was a mediocre experience at best and if I was going to go back I would certainly want to bring company with me. Overall the Heard Museum is not a bad experience but if you are planning on going make sure to be prepared for some dull moments. read more

I really enjoyed the Heard Museum. I thought that it was a great place to go and see authentic Native American art. I liked the fact that it along with contemporary native art, it also had pots, and baskets that were over a thousand years old which was pretty incredible to me. They also had a nice collection of dolls, as well as some nice rugs. Alot of people like the boarding school exhibit, although i was unable to go see it, i would like to go back and check it out. The only downside is that some children may find it a bit boring, as there is not much interactive space that i saw, so it may be tough to keep small children interested if they are not into art. There was a room with some interactive things but it was a relatively small portion of the museum. Overall it is a very cool place to visit and i would recommend it. read more

Had a very nice time here!! It had a very nice atmosphere inside and a beautiful outside courtyard with two small restaurants that had very good food!! Everything was reasonably priced, would definitely return. read more

The best place in Arizona to see Kachina dolls. It's in a beautiful setting and they have lots of fun festivals.

The Heard Museum had a wonderful way of explaining the Native American culture. I really enjoyed the boarding school explanation which I was not aware of in my lifetime. The gift shop was amazing and we had a wonderful talk with one of the buyers. Also enjoyed the Fred Harvey exhibit. read more

Had lunch there this week with some colleagues. It was very peaceful eating outside with the running water and the music for Veterans day this week. The food was delicious and the art show had some beautiful paintings. read more

Interesting art museum with some good stuff by native Americans and others. Although the focus is on art and culture of the southwest, there are small displays from other parts of the world. We have been there before but what drew us back is a Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit related to her landscape and katsina doll work. Unfortunately that is not her best work though it was still interesting. There is always something new. We will never be regular visitors but it is worth going at least once a year. The cafe adds to the experience. The gift shop and the book shop are pretty good too. read more

Love this place, in fact got married there in 1999. It is one of the most extensive collections of Native American artifacts and history that I know of. Goregeous galleries. My one suggestion would be to offer maps of the museum, can get kind of confusing. If you have very young ones I wouldn't take them, this is more in line of an art museum. read more

very nice museum. you would need two days to experience the whole museum. the art,documentories,kids area. very nice they have kid friendly room. I suggest take the tour with the older gentelman. take the tour it only goes for 45 minutes. each time. Museum can do better on that tours. more detail &in depth like the older gentalman with a great humorous personility. very nice place. now the bad part the cafe is overpriced & food isnt the best. I suggest. bring your own lunch at the outside tables. you can eat outside and watch the water fall in front of you. very relaxing. read more

Beautiful collection of Native American artifacts. New exhibit on Indian schools is heartbreaking. Gorgeous collection of Hopi pottery and katsina dolls. Very up to date on new tribal names, correct spellings/pronunciations, and current art/jewelry. Enter from the rear of the building - parking lot side. Needs better signage in courtyard and exterior areas. read more

The Heard Museum is not what I ever expected. There exhibits are very informative of each tribe in Arizona state and some other tribes in the United States. Each tribe has put a theme that fits into their culture. Shows how each tribe is different from each other and unique in their own way. I really liked the Fear of the Red Planet and the Boarding Schools. Steve Yazzie did a very good interpretation of the Relocation and Removal of the Native Americans. It also shows how the American culture and Mexican culture influenced the Indians in Arizona. The other exhibit that touched my heart was the boarding school. It gives the emotions of how the children felt when they went to school with other kids and able to communicate because of language barrier. They were also in the process of being assimilated to the American culture so they could forget their own. read more

When a person is looking for information on Southwest Native American Tribes, there is one place they should visit; the Heard Museum. I recently had the opportunity to attend the museum with my group for my American Indian Studies class. We had a tour guide give us a tour of the museum. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about all the different tribes and what makes each tribe unique. The tour guide was also very personable, and was very easy to talk to. She also welcomed questions which was very refreshing. The museum offered vast amounts of information on all the different tribes. It was nice to be able to learn so much about each tribe. On a negative aspect sometimes the information and displays at some points felt overwhelming. Perhaps they could spread out the information and displays so people wouldn't get swamped all at once with information. One of the major aspects that might need some attention in the Heard Museum is perhaps the direction of the museum. I should probably clarify what I mean by direction as not to confuse anyone. When I say "direction" I don't mean change the mission or purpose the Heard Museum has been doing. What I mean by direction is perhaps a more clear and concise way of navigating through the museum. My group was able to explore the museum more freely after the tour was over, and we often found ourselves lost. We would be walking and one moment we are learning about the Navajo tribe, and then all of a sudden we are in the Apache tribe area, and we didn't know how we got there, or how we transitioned there. There were also a couple of spots in the museum that we didn't know what the purpose was or if we were even allowed in the room. One specific example would be the story telling room. The room is somewhat hidden, and there is no information inside the room, and I almost felt like I was trespassing by just being in the room. Overall the museum was a great experience and I would greatly recommend to anyone to take the time to visit. The museum has great tour guides that have a multitude of information and are very personable. There is also a very nice gift shop and a restaurant as well. I would suggest putting aside at least two hours to fully enjoy and take in everything that the Heard Museum has to offer. read more

This was my first time going to the Heard Museum, and what i got was not what i expected. The very first thta cmae to mind when first arriving there is how stunning and professional everything looks. There were many amazing exhibits, and the items too see really taught you about the history of the southwestern Indian. The guide was also very good, her knowledge really gave one an insight about the life of an indian. The only negative was that many of the the items in the exhibits seem ver repetitive, examples of this are the jewelry, the dolls and the Pottery. But still overall experience was good. read more

I am currently a senior in high school at Basha High. My English teacher assigned us a project where we had to go out and experience another culture, a culture that we knew little about or nothing at all. This project was assigned to us to make us as students realize just how many cultures are out there in this world and how many of those cultures make up America. I chose to go to the Heard Museum in down town Phoenix. I wanted to learn something I could relate directly to in my life and to where I live. The Heard Museum would make that perfect connection considering it is all about Native American from the South West. I felt like this would be a great place to go because Arizona has such a large population of Native Americans and has casinos and Indian reservation land and holds a lot of history on them. The Heard Museum is a wonderful museum it is one of those must see museums weather you are traveling through Arizona or you live in Arizona. It took me two and a half hours to walk through the entire museum. It was filled with many different Indian Tribes and had great quality information about each tribe and how they originated and survived off the land, and how each tribe had a different style of living and each had their own unique ways of having shelter. I have lived in Arizona all my life and I wish I knew about this museum a lot sooner. Each tribe had their own section in the museum and it tells a story about their life and how their lives changed as everything else around them changed. The most unique thing that I encountered well walking through the museum was how the Native American cherished their hair and never cut it; they would just let it grow and grow. When the time in error came around that schools started being mandatory for children to attend the schools made the Native American boys cut their hair off. It was real unique to see the barber chair and the long black hair lying on the floor. My favorite part about learning about this culture was how they were so blessed to even have the smallest things. Something that also stood out to me while touring the Heard Museum was reading and actually seeing saddles and bridles Native Americans once used to ride their horses; I had always thought they rode their horses bare back without any saddles. I would recommend this museum to anyone who wants to learn about the Native American culture, it is very detailed and goes in depth about them and even to people seeking more history about Arizona and the people who lived here before us. It was truly breath taking to look at all the pottery they made by hand with only using clay and how they created the designs into the clay. There were real actual baskets there that had once been woven by hand, which were just remarkable to look at. What amazed me the most was their eye and technique for making jewelry; it was absolutely fabulous. There was a ton of handmade jewelry all over the museum. They used turquoise and created something beautiful out of it. I know I had a good learning experience at the Heard Museum and all their staff were very kind and helpful and answered any questions I had. I would recommend the Phoenix Heard Museum to anybody who has an opened mind and is interested in the Native American Culture. It was a fun learning experience and was affordable and if you're a student make sure you bring your School ID with you, students get a discount. read more

The Heard Museum is essentially an art museum with some minor historical and cultural touches. The museum is very modern, clean, and well maintained. Exhibits range from cases containing baskets, jewelry, kachina dolls, and sculptures to small cultural booths of different arizona tribes. There are some strange contradictions, however, such as the museum showcasing 1000 year old pottery directly next to modern pottery pieces by Native American Artists. There was also a temporary POP! exhibit of pop art by Native Americans that was cool but seemed a bit out of place. While many of the modern pieces are well done, they seem out of place in a museum. As a history buff I was disappointed to see a lack of stories and events behind the artifacts. (Other than the white man stole our land.) At certain points it seemed the museum didn't know what it wanted to be. Is it an art museum? A cultural center? A message museum? It seemed like an awkward combination of all three. The truly fascinating artifacts may be hard to locate, but they are worth looking for. From the Apache playing cards from the 1700's to the exhibit showcasing artifacts from other Native groups (like Hawaiians and Africans), there are some very intriguing things to spot in the museum. There was a strange exhibit upstairs showing the "horrors" of boarding schools. I personally do not enjoy being guilt tripped for actions I did not commit. Other than that it is a very tasteful museum that will satisfy your craving for all things Native American. History lovers will not be very satisfied, but art lovers will find themselves in a paradise of creativity. If you are interested in Native American culture you will enjoy this museum. read more

I went to the Heard Museum for an American Indian Studies class I'm in and I thought that it was all very interesting and there was a lot to learn. When I first arrived, I joined in my class tour and I thought that our tour guide was very knowledge in all different Native American tribes and he really helped everyone with their questions. This museum is full of culture and history for all different Native tribes and it was a little overwhelming in some areas. For example, the "We Are Arizona" section of the museum has so much information in one room, that I didn't have time to look at it all. But in the same room, there is a mural, by Steven Yazzie, painted along the edges of the room, and this is a must see of the museum. It portrays a whole bunch of different hardships that Natives have gone through and it really makes you think about it all and how much Natives have been through. But all in all, the Heard is definitely a place I would recommend to people who want to learn more about American Indians and there culture. read more

The displays were very informational on Southwest tribes. The technological aspects were also a great learning tool, and helps you see other views on some issues. Such as the Colorado River Tribes, it explains the conflict between modern development and tribes; how tribal lands are taken and renovated for businesses. The videos capture personal effects of the 'progress' and how tribes have to deal with the changes. The Mural was very interesting as well, because it expressed the feelings of the indigenous communities of historical and modern events. I enjoyed the interactive touch to some displays, such as how there were sections for children to make things like hats or baskets. I highly recommend visitors to stroll through the boarding school display areas; it sheds light on some facts that were hidden from general public about the educational system for Native kids. There are also modern art from the tribes which is great because it shows that Native tribes are still alive and rich in heritage to this day. read more