Some museums announce themselves with marble columns and metropolitan crowds. The Chrysler Museum of Art, tucked along the Hague Inlet in Norfolk, Virginia, does something rarer. It opens its doors free of charge and lets the work speak.
The story begins with a passion that outgrew its keeper. Walter P. Chrysler Jr., heir to the automobile fortune, spent decades amassing art on a scale few private collectors could match. In 1971 he donated most of his collection to what had been the modest Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1933, transforming it into one of the major art museums of the Southeastern United States. Today the museum holds roughly 30,000 works across five millennia, anchored by an 8,000-object glass collection that ranks among the most significant in the western hemisphere. (Encyclopedia Virginia)
For Korean-American readers, the Chrysler offers something worth noticing. Korea has long honored the patient, disciplined arts — celadon, moon jars, bojagi, the quiet geometry of hanji. The Chrysler’s glass galleries speak a similar language. Light, fragility, the steady hand of a maker who refuses to hurry. Bring your children. Bring your parents. Let them see that the values of jeongseong — devoted care — translate across cultures, materials, and centuries.
The museum calls itself a catalyst: it brings art and people together to enrich and transform lives. A catalyst does not draw attention to itself; it makes other reactions possible. For a community that prizes education and quiet excellence, there may be no better description of what a great institution actually does.
If you find yourself in coastal Virginia, give the Chrysler an afternoon. Linger in the glass.
Video Contributor, Prof. Dr. Young Choi — Regent University
The video is taken on Feb. 17, 2026.
Young B. Choi, PhD is a Professor at Regent University bringing a rare combination of technical expertise and creative spirit to everything he does. A scholar in cybersecurity, network management, and telecommunications, he has published 157 refereed articles, 13 book chapters, and a Cambridge Scholars Publishing volume on cybersecurity. Beyond the academy, Dr. Choi is a passionate poet, essayist, and wooden block engraving artist whose reflective writing invites readers to rediscover life’s quiet beauty.
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