Metal Museum
422 Riverside Dr, Memphis, TN
Memphis, TN
The only museum in the country devoted entirely to the art of fine metalwork, set on a bluff above the Mississippi with a working smithy where you can watch iron shaped by hand.
The Metal Museum is one of a kind: the only institution in the United States devoted entirely to the art and craft of fine metalwork. Perched on a bluff above the Mississippi River in Memphis, it gathers everything from hand-wrought jewelry and hollowware to towering sculpture, and it does something most art museums cannot, keeping a working smithy on site where visitors can watch metal shaped by hand over the forge.
The setting is as memorable as the collection. The museum occupies the grounds of a former riverside hospital, and its buildings and sculpture-dotted lawn look out over one of the great bends of the Mississippi. Ornate wrought-iron gates, crafted by metalsmiths from across the country, welcome visitors into a place where an ancient craft is treated as living art.
What Guests Love
- A working blacksmith shop where you can watch metal forged and shaped over the fire
- Fine art and craft in metal, from delicate jewelry to monumental sculpture
- Grounds on the bluff with sculpture and sweeping views of the Mississippi River
- The ornate wrought-iron entrance gates crafted by metalsmiths from around the country
Worth Knowing
- The museum sits on an open bluff, so the river views come with sun and wind; dress for the weather
- Smithy demonstrations depend on the schedule and staff, so check ahead if that is your main draw
- It is a smaller, focused museum, ideal to pair with other Memphis riverfront stops
- The grounds and sculpture are part of the visit, so leave time to walk outside as well as in
Details
Memphis, TN
Learn about Metal Museum
A museum devoted to metal
Founded in the 1970s, the Metal Museum set out to do something no other American museum did, to preserve, exhibit, and advance the art of fine metalwork in all its forms. Its collection and rotating exhibitions range across blacksmithing, silversmithing, jewelry, sculpture, and more, showing metal not as an industrial material but as a medium for art and craft.
The museum's mission is as much about people as objects. It supports working metalsmiths, offers classes and residencies, and brings makers together, so the craft is passed on and kept vital rather than treated as a relic. Exhibitions change through the year, mixing historic pieces with the work of contemporary artists pushing the material in new directions.
The working smithy
What truly sets the Metal Museum apart is its working blacksmith shop, an active smithy where the ring of hammer on anvil and the glow of the forge bring the art to life. Visitors can watch metalsmiths heat, hammer, and shape iron and other metals using techniques handed down over centuries, turning raw stock into finished work before their eyes.
This is not a static display but a place where the craft is genuinely practiced, taught, and commissioned. Seeing a piece take form under the hammer gives visitors an appreciation for the skill and patience behind the finished objects in the galleries, and it makes the museum a rare chance to experience an old trade in motion rather than only in a case.
The gates, the grounds, and the sculpture
The museum's entrance is a work of art in itself: a pair of elaborate wrought-iron gates crafted by many different metalsmiths from around the country, each contributing a panel, so the gates become a collaborative showcase of the craft. Passing through them sets the tone for everything inside.
Beyond the buildings, the grounds spread across the bluff with sculpture set among the lawns and trees, all of it framed by the wide sweep of the Mississippi River below. The overlook is one of the finest river vantages in the city, and the outdoor space makes the museum as much a place to wander and take in the view as to study the collection.
The bluff and the river city
The museum's bluff has a deep history, standing on the high ground that has always defined this stretch of the Mississippi, once the homeland of the Chickasaw people before their removal west, and later the site of a hospital whose remaining structures the museum now uses. The elevation that made the site valuable long ago now gives visitors their sweeping river views.
The museum sits within easy reach of the rest of Memphis, from the music of Beale Street to the National Civil Rights Museum and the downtown riverfront. It makes a natural stop on a tour of the city's south riverside, a quieter, more contemplative counterpoint to the music and history that Memphis is best known for.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Memphis
National Civil Rights Museum
About 4 miles north, a 10 minute drive
Built around the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, tracing the American struggle for civil rights.
Beale Street
About 4 miles north, a 12 minute drive
The historic home of Memphis blues, lined with clubs, neon, and live music.
Downtown Memphis riverfront
About 4 miles north, a 10 minute drive
Parks and walkways along the Mississippi in the heart of the city.
Stax Museum of American Soul Music
About 3 miles east, a 10 minute drive
On the site of the legendary Stax recording studio, telling the story of Memphis soul.