Puerto Rico Museum of Art

The Museum of Art of Puerto Rico, known in Spanish as Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico and abbreviated MAPR, is the premier art museum in Puerto Rico. Located in Santurce, a barrio of San Juan, it occupies a historic building that formerly housed the San Juan Municipal Hospital. Opened in 2000, the museum features 18 exhibition halls and holds a permanent collection spanning from the 18th century to the present. It serves as the island's principal institution for the preservation, study, and public display of Puerto Rican and international visual art.

The museum's origins trace to 1995, when the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, with funding from the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico, conceived of transforming the deteriorated hospital complex into a cultural institution rather than demolishing it. The building itself was designed by architect William H. Shimmelphening and constructed in 1920. It functioned as a hospital until 1966, when medical operations moved to the newly inaugurated Centro Medico de Rio Piedras. From 1966 to 1975, the structure served as office space for the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation and Public Works. The adaptive reuse project preserved the historic building as the core of the new museum, which opened in 2000. In 2019, the American Alliance of Museums awarded MAPR the Chair's Leadership Award in New Orleans, recognizing its emergency response and leadership following Hurricane Maria. The museum successfully conserved its own permanent collection and safeguarded 224 at-risk works from other institutions through an effective emergency plan.

The permanent collection is organized across 24 galleries situated on the third and fourth levels of the building. It encompasses approximately 1,100 works in diverse media, including printmaking, painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and new media. The collection spans from the 18th century to contemporary practice, representing both established Puerto Rican masters and emerging artists from recent generations. This relatively young collection has been developed with attention to Puerto Rican art history while also incorporating international perspectives.

The museum building is the sole surviving structure from the former San Juan Municipal Hospital complex. Designed by William H. Shimmelphening and built in 1920, the building exemplifies early 20th-century institutional architecture in Puerto Rico. The adaptive reuse project integrated this historic hospital building into the new museum facility, preserving its architectural character while repurposing it for exhibition and cultural use. The 18 exhibition halls and 24 collection galleries are distributed within this converted historic structure.

The Museum of Art of Puerto Rico is located in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It operates as a public cultural institution with an official website at www.mapr.org. The museum's holdings are accessible to visitors through its permanent collection galleries and exhibition spaces. Its role extends beyond exhibition to encompass education, conservation, and emergency stewardship for the broader cultural community, as demonstrated by its post-Hurricane Maria assistance to other institutions.