RINGLING MUSEUM OF ART • VISIT FLORIDA®
(morsemuseum.org). The most fascinating exhibit is a stunning chapel interior Tiffany created for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. The Morse, however, is just one of many museums scattered across the greater Orlando area with several of them offering free admission (orlandoinfo.com). In Daytona Beach, the Museum of Arts & Sciences is one of the best mid-size museums in Florida. Its special features include the largest collection of Cuban art outside of Cuba, an impressive assemblage of American art, extensive Coca-Cola memorabilia and the enormous skeleton of a 130,000-year-old giant ground sloth (moas.org). One of the state’s newest and most exciting openings is the Dalí Museum in West Coast St. Petersburg where a 2,140-piece collection of Salvador Dalí works is the largest outside of Spain (salvadordalimuseum.org).
MUSIC IS IN THE AIR The state’s music and performing arts scene is just as plentiful as its inventory of museums and the options are extensive. Among them, The Florida Theatre in Jacksonville is a grand old lady that dates back to the 1920s era of decadence. Elvis performed there in 1956 and today the theater continues to feature film, musical acts and ballet (floridatheatre.com). Built in 1936, the art deco-style Martin Theatre in Panama City also has a colorful history. In the early years it hosted a string of movie celebrities including actor Clark Gable. Today the renovated theater features a roster of theatrical and live musical performances (martintheatre.com). Once host to Vaudeville and silent film, the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in Miami now presents everything from film to ballet and various musical presentations (gusman center.org). The Enzian Theater near Orlando (enzian.org) is the site of the anShow on Earth, filmed in Sarasota in 1952.
Although it’s the theme-park capital of the
nual Florida Film Festival and Daytona
The museum is filled with related memora-
world, Orlando is not without museums.
Beach’s Peabody Auditorium plays host
bilia as well as the world’s largest model of a
Among them is the Morse Museum, con-
to renowned performing arts groups in-
circus in miniature featuring tiny replicas of
taining the world’s largest collection of Louis
cluding the London Symphony Orchestra
animals and performers (ringling.org).
Comfort
(peabodyauditorium.org).
Tiffany
stained-glass
artistry
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