NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

formerly William Rockhill Nelson Gallery Of Art And Mary Atkins Museum Of Fine Arts, art museum in Kansas City, Mo., that ranks among the 10 largest in the United States. Opened in 1933, the Nelson-Atkins Museum has more than 50 galleries and a number of period rooms. The museum's outstanding feature is its collection of East Asian art. The collection of Chinese landscape paintings is one of the finest in the West, and the museum's holdings of Chinese ceramics and decorative arts are also noteworthy. Besides European paintings from the Renaissance on, the museum also has notable collections of ancient Egyptian sculpture, Japanese paintings and prints, and English pottery. The E.F. Pierson Sculpture Garden was dedicated in 1972, and the Henry Moore Sculpture Garden opened in 1989. The museum is situated on 20 acres (8 hectares) of ground in south Kansas City. The gallery and museum were named respectively for a founder and editor of the Kansas City Evening Star, William Rockhill Nelson, and for Mary Atkins. Both left bequests to finance construction of the museum.