Witte Museum

Dubbed the center where nature, science, and culture meet, the Witte Museum sits at the heart of the River Walk. Originally established in 1926, this 10-acre museum offers guests a comprehensive look at a more than 3-century span of history, and it is also the city's largest. You are able to interact with the exhibits and have fun while you learn!

Priding itself on providing guests with authentic immersive experiences, there is no shortage of exhibits and activities to keep you entertained. You can be taken back to cowboy days with the Robert and Helen C. Kleberg South Texas Heritage Center. You can dive into the H-E-B Body Adventure, which features 4 different floors of interactive adventures all pertaining to the human body and wellness. You can also dig through sand to find dinosaur bones, or just read about how the Texans made the city what it is today.

The best part? The Witte Museum is constantly switching out some exhibits to better suit the season and provide guests with a different experience each time they visit. All of the exhibits are as interesting as they are informative, making this the perfect addition to your stay. 

A Few Notable Exhibits

• H-E-B Body Adventure
  Learn about your body and how to keep it healthy as you explore through this exhibit. You will see real preserved human specimens and interact with a life-size touchscreen anatomy table.
• Survival: The Exhibition 
  Explore the thrill of survival and exploration as you go through this interactive exhibit. Gain an appreciation of the natural world as you try to figure out how humans survive in the harshest environments. 
• Naylor Family Dinosaur Gallery
  This dinosaur gallery allows you to explore animals that lived in the area more than 110 million years ago. Excavate dinosaur bones in the lab, study ancient footprints, and learn Texas history. 
• George West Trail Drivers Gallery 
  This memorial is dedicated to all of the hard-working Texas residents who built and changed the cattle trade in the state.

History

The Witte Museum opened on October 8, 1926 thanks to a few locals. Ellen Shultz,  school teacher, and other interested citizens joined together to create the San Antonio Museum Association. Shultz gathered schoolchildren and they began raising funds and eventually created a small exhibit in their school. In September 1925, businessman Alred W. Witte passed away and left $65,000 to fund a new museum. The site was chosen and a year later, the center was opened! Shultz was made the first Director and largely helped make the display what it is today. 

Throughout its history, it has seen many new expansions, many hardships, but has always kept one important goal at the head of the operation- to educate the city. The rest of the 1900's saw many major exhibits come to life including the H-E-B Science Treehouse/Adventure, Texas Wild and Ancient Texas, and The Lone Star Hall of Wildlife and Ecology. The 'New Witte' was opened on with $4 million of expansions.

This attraction as a must for every visitor. Learn about the rich Texas history of the area while and have fun with your whole family at all the fun attractions in the city! Book your vacation reservations today.

About Your Ticket

The Witte Museum is available as part of the Explorer Pass which allows you to combine 3 or 5 attractions with one simple pass. Check out the Explorer Pass for more information. witte museum hours witte museum free days