DESTINATION:

Downtown St. Petersburg

Florida's Cultural Theme Park!

The Florida International Museum is centered in the cultural heart of Downtown St. Petersburg adjacent to the newly opened $40 million entertainment complex called BayWalk. In fact, six other museums, plus over two dozen galleries, a thriving restaurant district and some of the best antiques shopping around have turned downtown St. Petersburg into Florida's Cultural Theme Park.

The Florida International Museum opened in January 1995 and has been visited by over 2.3 million people in just five exhibitions making it Florida's premier museum for blockbuster exhibitions.
All the museums in Downtown St. Petersburg are connected via a trolley service called the Looper. These include the Salvador Dali Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Pier Aquarium, St. Petersburg History Museum, Great Explorations - The Hands on Museum and the Florida Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
Downtown is also home to Florida Craftsman Gallery's state headquarters and the recently expanded Arts Center. American Stage, Tampa Bay's only resident professional acting troupe, also makes downtown St. Petersburg home. Working artists have plenty of studio space, which sometimes is open to the public at Salt Creek Artworks and ArtSpace. The Bayfront Center, Mahaffey Theater and the Palladium also provide venues for performing arts.

There is so much art in downtown St. Petersburg that the local merchants association promotes the downtown as the QuARTer. Lovely waterfront parks abound with The Pier, a festival marketplace, at its center. The Pier features restaurants, shops and fishing.

Other notable museums, all within easy driving distance from St. Petersburg, include Sarasota's famous Ringling Museum complex and Circus Galleries. To the east lies Tampa with the Tampa Museum of Art, Henry B. Plant Museum, Museum of Science and Industry and many other fine art galleries. To the north, Clearwater is home to the Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo, and Tarpon Springs to the Leepa Rattner Museum.

Throughout the Bay Area, there are performing arts centers, including Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, the Center in Tampa, the Asolo Theater and Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota. The Florida Orchestra, Florida Ballet and the Florida Opera all perform throughout the Tampa Bay area.

Naturally, beaches surround the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area with over 35 miles of white sandy beaches, and two of the top ten beaches in the world. It can't be beat for a vacation filled with sun, sand and culture. Major league sports are represented in the area with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays making Tropicana Field, in Downtown St. Petersburg, their home. And, if all that is not enough, Orlando's major attractions are a short 90 minutes away.

For information about the museum's exhibitions please call
1-800-777-9882.
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The Florida International Museum is a non-profit educational institution supported, in part, by the Florida Arts Council, State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs, and the City of St. Petersburg. Other major sponsors include Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc., Florida Power, Pinellas County, Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club, and the St. Petersburg Times