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Capitol Park Museum
Baton Rouge
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Address

660 N. Fourth Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802

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Hours

Tuesdays–Saturdays
9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

Last ticket sale at 3:30 p.m. 
Closed on Sundays, Mondays, and state holidays

Please note: This museum will close early at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, December 6 for a private event. Capitol Park Museum will be closed for the holidays on Tuesday, December 24, Wednesday, December 25, Tuesday, December 31, and Wednesday, January 1. Happy Holidays and we wish you a wonderful New Year!
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Contact

225-342-5428
800-568-6968

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Admissions

Get Tickets

$7 for Adults 
$6 for Senior Citizens, Active Military, and Students
FREE for Children 6 and Under

School groups are FREE with reservations. Groups of 15 or more with reservations receive a 20% discount. AAA Members receive a 10% discount.
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Accessibility

Capitol Park Museum is fully wheelchair accessible with elevator access to each floor. Wheelchairs can be provided. Services animals, as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, are welcomed. If you have any questions about planning your visit, please contact our office at 225-342-5428 or email [email protected].

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Parking

Capitol Park Museum offers FREE parking validation only to museum visitors parking in the Galvez parking garage on North Street. Please note that we do not offer validation for any other parking locations. To validate parking, please check in at our front desk with your vehicle’s license plate number. Parking must be validated within 30 minutes of entering the garage, and validation lasts up to 12 hours.

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Venue Rental

In the shadows of the art deco style of the State Capitol, this museum stands proudly on landscaped grounds, displaying a modern use of glass, marble, and metal. Capitol Park Museum has hosted successful and memorable private events for the past 12 years. Let our experienced, professional staff help you make your event truly special! For more information, please fill out this form.


Please note: This museum will close early at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, December 6 for a private event. Capitol Park Museum will be closed for the holidays on Tuesday, December 24, Wednesday, December 25, Tuesday, December 31, and Wednesday, January 1. Happy Holidays and we wish you a wonderful New Year!

From Louis Armstrong to Huey P. Long, from Mardi Gras to fais-do-do, and from the nation-building commerce of the Mississippi River to the life-sustaining bounty of the Gulf of Mexico, the Capitol Park Museum provides a panoramic exploration of the most vibrant state in America.

See how American Indians; colonists from France, Spain, and Britain; enslaved Africans and Acadians from Nova Scotia—eventually known as Cajuns—populated and cultivated Louisiana, shaping it into one of the most culturally rich regions in the world. With thematic exhibits on diverse aspects of Louisiana history, industry, and culture, the museum includes two permanent exhibits: Grounds for Greatness: Louisiana and the Nation and The Louisiana Experience: Discovering the Soul of America.

A 48-foot wooden shrimp trawler and a two-row sugar cane harvester reveal by example the state’s agricultural and aquatic riches. An oil-well head and a scale model of a drilling rig drive home the critical role Louisiana plays in America’s energy industry. Exhibits also include a rare Civil War submarine and artifacts from steamboats, including trophy antlers won by Robert E. Lee in the Great Steamboat Race of 1870.

Exhibits on slave markets, resistance, revolt, and Jim Crow provide a glimpse into the unimaginable plight of people of color who, in the face of overwhelming hardship, contributed incalculably to the cultural fabric of the state. The museum re-creates the atmosphere of holding cells where slaves bound for the auction block were imprisoned to prevent escape. The exhibit includes the actual door from the Fairview Plantation jail for slaves. The fight for freedom is highlighted in a display on the Baton Rouge bus boycott of 1953, which made national headlines and inspired civil rights leaders throughout the South.

Louisiana offers much to the musical history of the nation as a whole, and many of those vital contributions are on display. See eclectic exhibits on the state’s music and musicians, including Pete Fountain’s clarinet, Buddy Guy’s polka dot Stratocaster guitar, Clifton Chenier’s Grammy award, and, in the expansive Louis Armstrong exhibit, the bugle “Pops” played as a boy at the Colored Waif’s Home, where he received his first formal music instruction. In the interactive music exhibits, hear the distinctive southwest Louisiana sounds of Cajun, zydeco and swamp pop, Baton Rouge blues, and world-famous New Orleans jazz.

The Capitol Park Museum tells a story of passion, adventure, and discovery that could have happened only in the Bayou State. Come explore a way of life like no other.
 



Our beautiful museum makes a great backdrop for your professional photography session, but before you visit please get in touch with us. Learn more about professional on-site photography.