moas - museum of arts and sciences

Went with my dad and 8 year old daughter with intentions of just visiting the planetarium, but decided to get the museum and show passes once we arrived. We only had 45 minutes until our show so we had to move quickly but we really enjoyed the exhibits and were surprised how much was there! My daughter enjoyed the children's museum and we even went back for a bit after the planetarium. I would say the children's museum is best for 5-10 year olds.

The building and the art displayed are all fantastic. The building pays a contemporary homage to a classic early American/Florida building style which provides a magnificent setting for a fabulous collection of paintings representing 18th & 19th century Florida themed art.

Very nice place to visit. They had something for just about anyone. Most veriaty of any museum I was ever in.

This Museum is worth a special trip, but only for the Brown Museum of Art portion. The original part, in a separate building, is not worth the bother. The MOAS as originally constituted houses strangely conflicted and confusing collection of decorative arts and furniture, mixed with railroad cars, a ground sloth skeleton, and other miscellania, the MOAS portion of this institution is worth only what some other reviews say, "A place to spend part of a rainy day". It lacks a unifying theme, and contains an odd amount of technical inaccuracies, from a rather inadequate interpretative panel about the sloth to an incorrect identification of the nature of a Tiffany lampshade.The Brown, on the other hand, must the the greatest collection of Floridiana painting extant. It certainly has a clear theme - the State of Florida, its Nature, History, and Peoples. The sheer number of works present is overwhelming. Do not plan to make a short visit to this museum, nor only one: It is worthy of a major amount of your time, and of multiple visits. I do have to warn you that there is a real danger of esthetic overload. After two hours we were truly overwhelmed with the impact of so many fine paintings, and had to take a break. Plan several visits over several days.The Brown Museum of Art is housed in a separate building, well away from the MOAS itself. It is, and deserves to be, a distinct institution. Go for the Brown, and don't waste your time on the rest of it.

This review of the MOAS's newest addition of the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art located adjacent to the MOAS. This new museum has an impressive collection of Florida art: art inspired by Florida and by artists who lived in FL or were just passing through. It is well laid out and there is plenty of space for lots of visitors to enjoy the art at the same time. There is not really a gift shop to speak and as of Feb. 2015, the café had not yet opened. Certainly worth a visit!!

We stopped by MOAS on a rainy afternoon while staying at Daytona Beach. This has a small collection by large city standards, but a fairly decent sized collection for a city the size of Daytona. The Cuban art exhibit was excellent and unique, spanning centuries of Cuban history with examples of many styles. The giant sloth skeleton is probably the top attraction in the museum and is worth a long examination: imagine such an animal roaming Florida thousands of years ago. If you enjoy art of any type this is definitely worth the stop rainy or not.

With its excellent collection of furniture, Coca Cola memorabilia, two vintage railroad cars (CB&B and Milwaukee Road) and more as well as the new Brown Museum of Florida Art next door, this is a really nice place to see. When you are tired of the beach and want a little culture, this is a must-visit place in Daytona Beach.

A new addition to the MOAS, this exhibit tells the story of Florida's past through paintings, A must see for anyone interested in Florida's art history. A tad sad due to the development of the land, saw paintings of my neighborhood in the early 1900's, such beauty.

This is a beautiful collection and really worth experiencing. The fact that many local sites are depicted lends an added sense of being part of these works. The building has a very good feel to it and staff very friendly and knowledgable. I think you will enjoy it. Thank you to the Browns for this wonderful gift.

This museum (which needs a shorter nickname) is unexpectedly wonderful. There was not a seashell or painted coconut to be found in this Florida collection of paintings, just well composed and charming pictures of Florida's nature and cities. This is a private collection that just opened to the public last week. The Browns and I must share the same artistic likes and dislikes for in all the rooms there were only a few pieces I didn't "oo and ah" about. Especially nice were the descriptive cards, which for many included a picture of the artist, interesting stories about the artist or picture, and a small Florida map showing the location of the landscape. This really enhanced the visit. I'm not a connoisseur of Florida art, so the names of the artists were unknown, but the styles ranges from mid 18th century through to somewhat contemporary. The arrangement of the art was stimulating, somewhat chronological and by artist, but also with a wall of weather art and other subtle themes seeming to play into the placements. My tiny criticism is that not all the lights seemed to be placed perfectly yet. There was a bit of a shadow over the top half inch of several of the paintings. The lights are quite moveable, and I'm sure this will be corrected sometime in the next few weeks or so. Otherwise, it was a seamless opening of a refreshing and stimulating new regional art museum.

I visited MOAS yesterday for the first time even though I have lived in the area for 8 years. What an amazing museum. Each exhibit was better than the previous one. I enjoyed the Cuban exhibit since Cuba is in the news recently. The Root Family of Daytona donated a large amount of the Coca Cola artifacts including the original bottle and its patent. While the exhibits are very well done, do not miss a show in the planetarium. Sierra put on a wonderful show that she put together and narrated. I had visited the Hayden Planetarium in New York City a year ago, and the MOAS Planetarium is ten times better. Do not miss the phenomenal show. When in the Daytona area visit this gem of a museum. You will not be disappointed.

we were there when the museum was undergoing rebuilding. It really needs to be seen now with the new wing and all the Florida paintings

This museum is located at the rear of Tuscawilla Park off Nova Rd. and Museum Blvd. The park itself offers Ziplining which is a one time thing everyone must do although there should be no fear of heights. Highly recommended.

Good Planetarium, extensive and varied exhibits. Interesting family collections. Nice for a rainy day. Not at all crowded.

We saw a sign for Museum and followed it, much to our delight. This is a small but well-curated and well-designed museum and is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institute on some level.On display were two private railcars used by the man who patented the Coca Cola bottle shape - Mr. Root. The Root Family Museum contains a large display of Coca Cola memorabilia. As well, there was an excellent display of art by contemporary Cuban artists and a small collection of African masks. One thing that was very clever was a gallery of items called Visible Storage - that were actually from their storerooms and not labeled. Just grouped together. All very beautifully displayed! There is also a Planetarium but we did not get to see the presentation.Instead we went to a lecture by James "Zach" Zacharias, a Senior Curator at the museum. It was all about the 'peculiar people of Florida' and there were many fascinating people. I would happily attend another of Zach's lectures.On the road leading into this museum, there is another building under construction and according to a security guard, it will house the private art collection of Cici and Hyatt Brown. It will contain the most extensive collection of Florida paintings. Due to open in a few months.All in all - a wonderful couple of hours!