Snite Museum in South Bend, Indiana

The Snite Museum is located on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The University of Norte Dame was founded in 1842, by Father Edward Sorin of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. From the very inception of the college, art has played an extremely important part. Father Sorin brought a Vatican artist to the campus, and for the next seventeen years, the artist painted the interior of the Golden Dome, the Columbus Murals, and the murals within the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

In 1975, the Fred Snite family donated money for the construction of the Snite Museum of Art. The museum first opened its doors in 1980, bringing together the O'Shaughnessy Art Gallery and the Mestrovic Sculpture Studio, which was later converted into a gallery. When the Snite Museum opened, the college was finally able to display rapidly developing art collections, as well as offer other professional art education programs.

The collections of the Snite Museum are interpreted by special exhibits, publications and various educational outreach programs. The museum employs two professional educators, one devoted to the Notre Dame faculty and students, and the second focuses on community and the schoolchildren of the community. The college offers curriculum-structured tours to more than 3,000 Notre Dame students every year and the tours enhance the study of the humanities by using the various collections of the Snite Museum as an educational tool. There are also guided tours available in Spanish, French and German for visitors who are not familiar with English.

The Snite Museum outreach program also provides tours to an average of 7,000 school aged children each year. The college also offers after school and summer programs for at-risk children, complete with art education workshops for children kindergarten through twelfth grade. The art educators teach children about art history, sculpture, painting and various other subjects.

The museum features works of past and present students. Each month the exhibits change to give visitors a chance to experience many different areas of art, culture and history. The galleries of the museum are an integral part of art and education taught at Notre Dame. The primary exhibits are currently used for presenting exhibits based around traveling and temporary exhibits.

The museum is open Tuesday and Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 5 p.m. On Sunday the museum is open from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. and on Mondays and major holidays, the Museum is closed. Admission to the museum is free, and new visitor parking has been added, and is located behind the Legends of Notre Dame Restaurant and Alehouse Pub. There is also a smaller parking area located in the northeast corner in the large lot across the street from the Hesburgh Library.