50 Reasons to Visit

The world’s largest glass museum invites you to see and experience glass in mind-bending new ways. From the unexpected to the mysterious, The Corning Museum of Glass challenges everything you think you know about this amazing material.

Not only are kids welcome, they are welcome to experience the Museum at no cost. With hundreds of things to see and do, there is something for children of all ages—from telescopes and laser beams to glass art that gleams.

Make Your Own Glass experiences are the perfect addition to any visit to the Museum. Try your hand at making your own glass flowers, ornaments, and pendants, or one of the many other options available. Check our online schedule to see what’s available right now, and what’s coming soon.

We love to tell the story of glass, in fact, it's our mission. And the best way to tell a story is to show it. That’s why we offer a variety of free narrated demonstrations every day—from glassblowing to flameworking. Come watch our gaffers show off their skills.

Do you want to help our glassmakers design an object? Catch Bubbleheads, an interactive demonstration where you and your family help decide how the finished character will look. A Bubblehead is a fun little creature who starts out as a humble glass bubble. The live audience chooses colors, features, and expressions to give it its own unique personality, from colorful noses and expressive eyes to wacky hairstyles. 

Blown Away is the first-ever TV competition series featuring the art of glassblowing. A unique display in the Amphitheater Hot Shop reveals the origins of Blown Away and lets you see work by contestants from during the series.

The Corning Museum of Glass has one of the largest museum shops in the country. Seriously, it rivals a small department store. From high-end art glass and exhibit-related items to jewelry and kitchen necessities, it’s all here.

This tree by renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly, can be relied upon to keep its beautiful green color all year long. Made up of hundreds of hand-blown pieces, it stands 15 feet tall! How many pieces can you count?

Did you know we’re open 361 days of the year (362 in a leap year like this one!) so you never need to worry about when we’re open! You can visit any day of the week, 9am – 5pm each day and 9am – 8pm in the summer, and we’ll always be here to greet you with a smile.

That’s right, our Amphitheater Hot Shop features 500 seats and 360° views for catching a glimpse into the fascinating process of glassblowing. Add in 80-inch digital monitors, a state-of-the-art video system, and some of the most talented glassworkers in the business, and you’ll get a much closer look than you ever imagined at this centuries-old craft.

From concrete beams and skylights to a glass, egg-shaped whisper theater, the Museum uses architecture to hold and highlight a series of very different—but connected—collections. Hot and cold glass demonstrations round out the experience, taking visitors from a giant, state-of-the art hot shop with amphitheater seating, to intimate booths and stages for up-close-and-personal discoveries.

Our blog puts thousands of great stories at your fingertips. Hear from our staff as they show you the many ways that glass inspires them. 

To celebrate Corelle’s 50th birthday, the Museum is presenting Dish It! Corelle at 50, an exhibit giving visitors a behind-the-scenes look at objects they likely use each day. View 50 Corelle patterns you know and love; see 40 different shapes of dinnerware; and learn about the people who played important roles in bringing these dishes to your table. 

Our safety guide, Penguin Pierre, is so flipping excited to greet visitors in the Admissions Lobby. Take a selfie with our favorite feathered friend.

A little-known perk of this Museum is that admission passes are good for two consecutive days. Good news for those of you who like to take your time when exploring. Just come back the next day and pick up where you left off.

The Museum is happy to welcome the arrival of electric charging stations for your car. In the Museum's Welcome Center Parking area, you’ll find four recharging stations ready to power up your journey to the Museum and beyond.

Explore the all-new Crystal City Gallery and learn the history of how Corning became one of the premier centers for glass cutting in the United States. With iconic objects from the Museum’s collection alongside new and exciting acquisitions, there is something here for everyone.

Designed by famed Steuben founder Frederick Carder in 1925, these glass slippers look like they jumped right off the pages of a fairy tale story book. Look carefully in our galleries to find even more shoes.

Actually, we have two dresses on display. See life-size castings of intricate drapery by artist Karen LaMonte. Then look closer: beneath the surface of these glass garments are the shapes of the models wearing them.

Watch flameworkers melt and twist borosilicate glass rods into intricate objects over a torch that hovers around 4,000°F. See everything from small-scale sculptural pieces to glass animals, and even glass eyeballs created before your ... well, eyeballs. It’s hot, Hot, HOT!

Join the club and take a selfie with the famous CMoG Hot Spot sculpture in our courtyard. No two pictures ever seem to be alike, as creative guests find new poses in, on, and around the Hot Spot.

The Museum is home to the world’s most in-depth collection of glass, showcasing 3,500 years of artistry and innovation.

What do you get when 50 women hand bead for two years? For artist Liza Lou and a team of Zulu women in Durban, South Africa, it is a mile-long cotton rope covered in 4.5 million glossy black glass beads. Continuous Mile is a show-stopping testament to dedication, patience, and skill found in the hands of a community.

Our giant bowl of stunningly-realistic glass fruit dwarves our smallest visitors—and they love it, citing Still Life with Two Plums as their favorite piece in our collection.

This 20-ton disk is one of the world’s largest pieces of cast glass. But what exactly is it? Designed for a telescope to find distant galaxies, this piece of glass is a giant mirror that was damaged in production and never used. Visit the Innovation Center to learn more.

This unique object needs to be seen to be believed. Acclaimed American artist Larry Bell has used glass as the primary material for his minimalist sculptures for nearly 60 years. Made in the artist’s 78th year, VFZ 1 attests to the enduring appeal of glass in the creative process.

What is almost as iconic as the 200-inch glass disk it sits beside? Our periscope. Climb up, peer into the viewfinder, and turn around to see a 360-degree view of Corning. Fun fact: The Museum’s periscope was provided by the U.S. Navy.

The Museum collection is always changing. From incredibly detailed cameo glass scent bottles to a chandelier powered by butterfly-shaped solar panels, new acquisitions—and exhibitions—mean there’s always something to see on return visits.

The Contemporary Art + Design Galleries are a testament to 21st-century architecture and sustainability, and earned LEED Silver Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Green features include the more than 900 skylights, SORAA LED lighting, and both water and energy conserving design modifications.

Photo: Iwan Baan

Discover how glass forms without any help from humans. It looks a little different than you might think. From obsidian to a sea creature’s skeleton, see glass take some strange and exotic forms.

Sign up for a class at The Studio. Learn about techniques from blowing and flameworking to casting and coldworking. Classes are available for every skill level from beginners to advanced students. So go for it, get your glass on!

GlassApp is an award-winning digital companion for the Contemporary Art + Design Galleries—no downloads required. Simply connect to the FREE Wi-Fi and open your phone’s internet—or use one of our provided iPads—and go to glassapp.cmog.org to learn more about the objects and artists in the galleries.

As you walk through the Museum, see how many faces in glass you can find looking back at you.

See three life-size trees composed entirely of 2,000+ re-purposed drinking glasses. The environmentally-conscious glassmaker, Katherine Gray, culled glasses from many different sources—including a few local shops in Corning—to create her “green” stand of trees. Talk about sustainable art.

You wouldn’t be reading this webpage right now if it weren’t for glass technology created here in Corning—specifically, fiber optics. Every time you tap your smartphone screen, you’re touching glass invented here in Corning. How often do you use your Pyrex measuring cup or casserole dish? Corning again. Our collection covers 35 centuries of stories in glass, but you can also learn how Corning has changed the world through glass innovation.

When you’ve finished your visit or want to break for a trip to Corning’s historic Gaffer District (including The Rockwell Museum), board our free shuttle bus. It travels a continuous 15-minute loop and makes several stops along the way. Board it at any stop to return to the Museum or Visitor Center parking lot.

When you’ve finished your visit or want to break for a trip to Corning’s historic Gaffer District (including The Rockwell Museum), board our free shuttle bus. It travels a continuous 15-minute loop and makes several stops along the way. Board it at any stop to return to the Museum or Visitor Center parking lot.

The Amphitheater Hot Shop has deep glassmaking roots. The Steuben Glass factory once occupied its exact footprint, meaning world-class glass art has been created in that space for more than 60 years.

Photo: Iwan Baan

Picture the most idyllic view you could want from your home. This one of the Hudson River was so spectacular, Louis C. Tiffany was commissioned to capture it in a stained glass window. Transport yourself to spring on the Hudson—complete with flowering hollyhocks, trumpet creepers, and clematis flowers—when you take a photo in front of this Museum favorite.

Support the world's best glass museum and enjoy the benefits of membership, including free admission, discounts in the Museum Shops, and much more. Our membership levels offer you the perfect way to choose the benefits that are important to you.

Corning is also home to The Rockwell Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, which houses an incredible collection of art about the American experience. Pottery, paintings, and textiles are just a few of the things on view. If you want to visit both museums, purchase a combo ticket.

Attending lectures is not just for college students. The Museum often brings informative, interactive lectures to our community. Lectures are always free and open to the public so you can pop in for an hour to listen in as experts discuss everything from art and history, to cider tastings, and what it takes to be a working artist. It’s a like a podcast ... but in person.

And we know it will. That’s because this Museum provides free RV parking. So add us to your vacation plans, or just make a comfortable stop on your way through the region.

Try to decipher the mysteries behind a royal family’s portraits and belongings in glass—including how those colors and shapes were realized at the dawn of glassmaking in the 15th century BC.

When you step into the lobby and see the Dale Chihuly’s 15-foot Fern Green Tower, you’ll realize The Corning Museum of Glass is a world-class facility. But you can skip the cab rides and long lines associated with big-city museums: CMoG is nestled in charming Corning, N.Y.—a historic and easily accessible gem of the Finger Lakes Region.

We offer free Wi-Fi so you can be #connected without worry. Running low on battery power? Stop at one of our campus-wide charging stations for a little extra juice.

We all have a milk-white casserole dish or two that we use for favorite family recipes. Did you know this heat-resistant glass, a glass ceramic, was the result of a complete accident? At CMoG, you can learn the story and see a tower of these casserole dishes. Try to guess how many are stacked high to the ceiling.

The Corning Museum of Glass is located in renowned Finger Lakes Wine Country, filled with world-class wineries, craft breweries, cideries, and distilleries. Discover why readers of Budget Travel magazine named it the most beautiful wine region in the world. You’ll want to sip and savor the flavors of Wine Country during your extended visit.

Photo credit: Finger Lakes Wine Country