Los Angeles County Museum of Art

LACMA as it's popularly known, is rightly considered the largest encyclopaedic art museum in the western United States. Its collections, which include over 100,000 pieces, represent Los Angeles’ uniquely diverse population and encompass the history of art from ancient times to the present day. Almost 1 million visitors enter its doors every year to see the art, take a free tour or catch a film or jazz concert.The current museum opened in 1965 on what is now known as Museum Row on the Miracle Mile on a stretch of Wilshire Boulevard. The vast collection is housed in six massive buildings and encompasses the Pavilion for Japanese Art, Art of the Americas, Ahmanson Building, Broad Contemporary Art Museum, and the Resnick Pavilion, which showcases special exhibitions. Currently, among others, there's an exhibition on James Turrell, a key artist in the Southern California Light and Space movement of the 1960s and 70s, and visitors shouldn't miss the eerie Levitated Mass by Michael Heizer where you can walk down a long path way with a 340-ton granite megalith looming above you. In addition, there’s an outdoor sculpture garden and reflecting pool.Before you go, don't miss the clear view of the famous Hollywood sign by stepping onto the observation deck of the Broad contemporary Art Museum’s third floor. And if you haven't got the time to spend days browsing the collections, in a great innovation, the museum has more than 20,000 high-quality images of artwork freely available to download from its website.There is free entry every second Tuesday of each month and the museum is open every day except Wednesday. LACMA is 11 kilometres west of downtown LA. There is paid parking nearby on Sixth Street.