Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

About

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts sits at 200 N Arthur Ashe Boulevard in Richmond and holds more than 50,000 works spanning most of the world's major cultures. General admission is always free and the museum is open all 365 days of the year, though hours vary by day: 10 am to 5 pm Saturday through Tuesday and 10 am to 9 pm Wednesday through Friday, as of 2026. Some special exhibitions charge a separate ticket price; members get in free.

Beyond the galleries, the campus includes the Robins Sculpture Garden, the Pauley Center, the Studio School, the Freeman Library, a museum shop, and three places to eat: Best Café, Amuse Restaurant, and Floris at VMFA. Visitors can join a walk-in tour of the permanent collection on a fixed daily schedule or follow a QR-code audio tour on their own. The museum also runs classes and events for children as young as three months through teens, plus programs for adults and educators.

Parking is in a covered deck reached from N Arthur Ashe Boulevard or from the corner of Sheppard Street and Stuart Avenue. As of 2026 it costs $6 a day for non-members and is free for VMFA members. Free street parking sometimes turns up on the surrounding blocks, and the closest GRTC bus stop is on Grove Avenue on route 77.

Some galleries are closed off and on through 2026 while VMFA works through a large expansion and renovation project, so it is worth checking the museum's collections page before planning a visit around a specific work. The Virginia Museum of History & Culture sits at the corner of Kensington Avenue near the museum's own driveway, making the two an easy pairing for one day in Richmond's Museum District.

Accessibility

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is wheelchair accessible. VMFA states that its main building, the Robins Sculpture Garden, the Pauley Center, the Studio School, the Robinson House Virginia Tourism Center, all elevators, and all restrooms are wheelchair accessible, though some galleries are temporarily closed for an expansion project through 2026.

Drivers with a disability parking permit can use free accessible spaces on the north side of the main building, next to the Robinson House Virginia Tourism Center, or the entry level of the covered parking deck. The deck's entry level has a flat pathway straight to the main entrance, and every level above it is reachable by elevator. A separate drop-off area sits next to the main entrance, off N Arthur Ashe Boulevard.

Free manual and motorized wheelchairs are kept at Coat Check inside the main entrance, first-come first-served, with no reservation needed. Ask a security officer if you need one on arrival.

For sensory needs, ask Visitor Services for a sensory bag (noise-reducing headphones, fidget toys, a sensory map) or a Hidden Disabilities Sunflower lanyard, and pick up the museum's accessibility guide for quieter, less crowded rooms. Blind and low-vision visitors can use large-print exhibition labels or the Audio Description tours covering select works in the permanent collection. Deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors get closed captions on in-gallery and online videos and printed transcripts for exhibition videos; sign language interpreters for guided group tours need four weeks' notice through Tour Services.

Service dogs are welcome throughout the museum, though pets and emotional support animals are not. For anything not covered here, call Visitor Services at 804.340.1405 or email [email protected] before you go.

Checked by Accessible America, August 2026. Report a change

More accessible places in Virginia

• Richmond Raceway Complex (Richmond)
• Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park (Fredericksburg)
• Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (Appomattox)
• Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial (Arlington)
• Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park (Middletown)
• Colonial National Historical Park (Yorktown)

Photo credits

• Exterior of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts with a statue and ramp leading to the entrance: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, CC BY-SA 4.0 (source)
• A curving accessible ramp with handrails leads to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts entrance: Morgan Riley, Midlothian, Virginia, CC BY 3.0 (source)
• Entrance of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts with glass doors and museum signage on the facade: Kiraface, CC BY-SA 4.0 (source)