The Toledo Museum of Art is not, in fact, in Toledo, Spain, but Toledo, Ohio! I know, my investigative skills are astounding.

The museum is made up of three main parts. The first is the main museum, which opened in 1912 and since has been expanded four times and now includes a sculpture garden. The second is the Center for the Visual Arts, which was designed in 1992 by legend Frank Gehry. It’s just about the coolest building I’ve ever seen and has earned international recognition for its “originality, bold artistic effects, innovative use of materials, and sensitivity to the unique context of individual sites.” And last is the Glass Pavilion. Added in 2006, the Glass Pavilion is an architectural marvel designed by the same people that did the New Museum in New York and was awarded Travel + Leisure’s 2007 Design Award for Best Museum. It’s made up almost entirely of glass, making it the worst museum in America for stone throwing.

The museum was founded in 1901 by Edward Drummond Libbey, the founder of Libbey Glass Co. He and his wife, Florence Scott Libbey, were bonkers rich and donated over $2 million to the construction and endowment of the museum. And that was in 1925 so now it would be worth… (*doing calculations in head*) a lot more. After Edward died in 1925, control of his assets was given to his wife. In 1931, Florence gave up her rights to these assets, allowing the construction of two new wings for the museum. When the Great Depression was at its worst, this construction allowed 2,500 people to be employed for two years. Go Florence! But this was the kind of people that the Libbeys were. They supported the arts in Toledo in a big way, but then insisted that none of it be named after them. Except for the local high school, but they didn’t get a say in that one.

The Libbey’s made all of their money in the glass industry and because of this, Toledo, Ohio boasts some of the world’s most incredible glass art. The actual Studio Glass Movement that started in 1962, started in a garage on the museum’s campus when “ceramist Harvey Littleton, scientist Dominick Labino, and glassblower Harvey Leafgreen [proved] that glass can be worked in a studio setting.” From this point on, the Toledo Museum of Art became the place for glassworkers, as shown in their extensive collection of glass sculptures.

In June of 2013, the Toledo Museum of Art got perhaps their first piece of negative publicity. They were accused of backtracking on the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, a program that would return Nazi-looted art back to its rightful owner, or their families. The Toledo Museum of Art was accused of “deter[ing] claimants from filing suit by beating them to the courthouse and asking judges to declare the museums the rightful owners.” This was the case with several museums, but false in the case of the Toledo Museum of Art, which slammed the New York Times in a defense that they posted on their homepage and on Facebook. Nobody slanders the good name of the Toledo Museum of Art and gets away with it.