Plan Your Visit

We are a small museum housed on the first floor of a home built in 1938. In this intimate setting, we showcase our world-class collection of over 3,600 artworks through curated exhibitions. We organize exhibitions by contemporary First Nations Australian artists and curators, many of whom have the opportunity to travel to Kluge-Ruhe. Our exhibitions change every 6 to 12 months, so each time you visit you will see something new. The average visit lasts between 30 and 90 minutes.

When many Americans think about Indigenous Australian art, they imagine art that is at least a few hundred years old, probably made with natural materials. Not so! Our collection mostly dates from 1940 onwards and we always have cutting-edge contemporary Indigenous art on view. Click here to find out what is on view now.

Free, 30 minute tours are offered every day we are open at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm, led by a Volunteer Guide. Click here to make a tour reservation. If you are visiting with a group of more than 10 people, please fill out our tour request form and we’ll be in touch as soon as we can!

The museum is ADA accessible; please call the museum at 434-243-8504 when you arrive or in advance to let us know how we can best accommodate you. 
Click here for a full list of our accessibility measures.
 Service animals are permitted in all public spaces of the museum. There is a baby-changing table in one of the public restrooms.

Yes! Ask for a self-guided gallery activity appropriate for ages 3 – 12 at the front desk. Spend some time in the breezeway, where we always have colored pencils and markers to draw in response to the art on view. Explore the touch station of common materials used by Indigenous Australian artists. Ask for the tree map at the front desk and explore the trees surrounding the museum. Peruse the children’s books authored or illustrated by Indigenous Australians in the library. There is a lot for kids to do here!

Yes! The museum has a small gift shop with books, jewelry, and housewares highlighting Indigenous Australian art and designs, as well as small paintings and sculptures. Our gift shop is fair trade; we only buy from Aboriginal-owned art centers and vendors that pay royalties directly to the artists and their communities. 

There isn’t a cafe on site. If you are in search of coffee before or after your visit, take a 10-minute stroll on paved trails to our neighbor Martha Jefferson Hospital, which has a local coffeeshop in the lobby.

For food, there are many restaurants on Route 250 and in Pantops Shopping Center, a mile away. There are eight locally-owned restaurants ranging from kebobs to sushi to diner-style cuisine and seven restaurant chains.

The paved trails surrounding the museum are beautifully landscaped with ponds, wildlife and sculpture. We highly recommend pairing your museum visit with a walk!

Darden Towe Park is a five-minute drive and has a playground, a dog park, soccer fields, softball fields, the Rivanna river and walking trails. 

The Downtown Mall, a pedestrian center with shops and restaurants, is 3 miles away. Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is 6.5 miles away, and if you are travelling from downtown or the west side of Charlottesville, we are a nice place to stop on your way to Monticello.