The Slater Memorial Museum at Norwich Free Academy is home to a world-class collection that brings art and history from around the globe to eastern Connecticut.

When the museum was envisioned in the late 1800s, the goal was to create an atheneum, a place where visitors could enrich their minds, bodies and spirits through culture and education.

One of the museum's most unique features is its extensive plaster cast collection. The casts are replicas of some of history's most famous sculptures, allowing visitors to see masterpieces from ancient civilizations without traveling the world.

Museum director Dayne Rugh says seeing all of the original works represented in the collection would require visits to dozens of museums across multiple countries.

The museum also celebrates local artistic talent.

Among its most notable works are pieces by Norwich native Ellis Walter Ruley, a self-taught artist who has gained national recognition and is now considered an important figure in American folk art.

Another gallery features paintings by local artist John Dennison Crocker, alongside a landscape by renowned Connecticut artist John Trumbull.

Beyond the artwork itself, visitors can experience the charm and history of the museum's 19th-century architecture, which has been carefully preserved.

Museum staff hope guests leave inspired, having discovered something new while exploring one of Connecticut's hidden cultural treasures.