Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art

Great local museum that is a fun way to spend a couple of hours. It’s small but there’s always something to learn. I’ve been here many times and still enjoy seeing the permanent exhibits. Plus, the temporary exhibits are always fascinating. I’ve also taken classes and seen lectures here.

Went with the grandkids. Everyone readily agreed they deserve five stars. We have been here many times. Lizzadros is an Elmhurst treasure. It is a world class lapidary museum. The museum store has very high quality merchandise at quite reasoable prices. The staff is very friendly.

It was a great trip! I had a good time and got to really check out the minerals. The only complaint I have is that the museum is 90% nephrite jade and Chinese artwork. I would’ve really enjoyed seeing more minerals and more types of exhibits, such as natural specimens and artwork from other cultures BESIDES ancient China.
All in all, I loved my trip and it was a good experience, but I think I’d have to go to another museum in the future unless they do rotations of what they exhibit. I’m not sure.

Great things come in small packages. The Lizzadro Museum is just such a place. This museum is not the biggest or most extensive, you can go to downtown Chicago and other well-​funded museums all over the world for that. What helps this museum stand alone is that it has just enough, it is small enough to highlight a few high quality works, and it doesn’t overwhelm you will endless displays.
Two hours is exactly enough to see both upper and lower floors. The upper floor has dioramas and stone carvings that even to an untrained eye just amaze. Wow! The expert craftsmanship and time required to perfect these pieces show through. I particularly loved looking at the Chinese jade carvings.
The lower level focuses on minerals and gems. We were able to find our birthstones and see how the rocks look in both their natural and cut forms.
Right now there is a special DIAMOND exhibit that will be on display until early January. Once again it was small but a real treat. It focused on just a few famous diamonds, such as the Hope Diamond, and followed them through history. I did not know that so many jewels came originally from India.
This museum is a best kept secret in Chicagoland. I would never have found it were it not for a Unilocal review that I read, and so THANK YOU to Nicole L. who wrote about it. It’s hidden in a neighborhood and not on a main street, but you can google the directions. Admission is FREE on Fridays but only $ 5 for adults and $ 3 for teens. Parking is plentiful and FREE. There is a gift shop in the basement with wonderful items to purchase that are inexpensive and fairly priced.
I gawked and marveled at many of these gems and vases and hope that you will find the time to see them too!

go to this museum whenever you feel the strong if occasional desire to feast your eyes on gold, in all its incredibly artistic permutations.
one previous reviewer said «…stay away!» how could one possibly avoid seeing this display of beauty. the reviewer criticized if I understood correctly that the museum makes no particular effort to explain the lapidary arts, technically, on a level suitable for children. Even if there’s a little truth to that it’s certainly no reason good enough to deny them this cultured exposure.
You better believe there’s nothing else around like the Lizzadro and the works they’re sharing with the public. My hint to them would be to have open hours late evening one day /​week, which I don’t think they do.

We were pleasantly surprised by this museum! Easy and free parking in small lot between the museum and the greenhouse. Fridays are free. Staff was friendly and helpful. Very educational, but also interesting from an artist perspective. The museum is small, but many of the pieces are small, and there are several interesting dioramas to view as well. Recommend to start in the basement in the educational area, then move upstairs to view the art. Make sure to leave time for the gift shop!

You kind of just have to go to the Lizzadro Museum to believe it. The exhibits are really unique and interesting and you can easily spend a lot of time in this building. Go on Fridays for free admission.

I think today was my fourth trip to this museum, and the first in about 6yrs. If you like rocks, stones, minerals and gems be sure to put this museum on your to-​do list. I haven’t been here since about 2009 and before that it was the mid 90’s. My first trip was as a small boy. and the visit left a lasting impression. Today I took my 7yr old son who really enjoyed looking at the different stones. The downstairs level was our favorite despite the many cool items upstairs. The current exhibit is championship rings from the Bulls, Hawks, Bears and White Sox. Interesting display, the Hawk’s 2010 and 2013 rings are the size of a small hand. No joke! The nice part about the museum is they’ve kept the prices of their gems and minerals for sale at a very reasonable rate. That allows new collectors and children to walk away with examples that may hook them as collectors for life. Cheers.

Love this place! Great for kids and amazing for people that are into stones. Great prices for your own stones in the gift shop. Great prices and Fridays are free

Was here with my family for Mothers Day. Nice little museum. Nice exhibits and displays with a cute little gift shop. Well worth the price.

I loved this little museum! It had such interesting carvings and dioramas. Even better that Fridays are free, although $ 5 per person would be totally worth a visit.

Superb place! Went on one of the free driday evenings. Was very suprised museum of rocks could be so fascinating but really they’re like no rocks I’d ever seen before! Staff could be a little friendlier, but you can’t have too high expectations for people who oversee rock displays… downstairs gift shop and learning area are cool too. Great place for all ages! You don’t need to like art or rocks to appreciate the intricacies and exclaim over the crazy craftsmanship!

Really nasty staff… but that’s not why I’m complaining. They have the unfortunate attitude that learning for children = some sort of false veneer on top of exhibits designed for adults. There is zero creativity here in trying to make what they have relevant, exciting, or even easy to understand (for people five and under). If your kids already know something about rocks, then, sure, it’s moderately interesting. But it’s small, outdated, and, again, the staff is rude and super-​duper-​aggressive. Stay away!!!

This place is absolutely wonderful! Be sure to grab one of the brochures so you can read more about some of the pieces, as the little descriptions with each piece do not do them justice.
Here’s what I love:
–filled with amazingly intricate & beautiful stone & gemstone carvings, petrified wood that has been cut & polished, geodes & gorgeous stone mosaics you would swear were paintings rather cut pieces of stone precisely fitted together
–nice little gift shop filled with a variety of items and a broad range of price points, many of the items are quite reasonable & there’s plenty of stuff for kids, too
–admission is a mere $ 5 for adults (less for seniors & children) & they even have free days!
–It’s small enough you could easily take it all in within an hour or two
Everything in here is just lovely but my favorites were the stone mosaics, the puzzle ball (words cannot describe the talent it took to make this beauty), and the little miner with pack (you just have to see it & be sure to check out his open pack on his back).

My mother used to to take me to this museum when I was child and now I am taking my kids.
This museum is just the right size for a couple hours of education, learning, and fun. If you or your children are into geology, art, fossils, etc. this is a cool place to visit. Very reasonable admission fee (free days as well), beautiful displays (downstairs has been redone), and a cool little gift shop that has a lot to offer!
The museum is also within walking distance of downtown Elmhurst and the train.
Don’t miss this little gem!

I have heard of this place for decades, without ever having seen it, as Elmhurst is quite far away. I’ve now been there 3 times in the last year. Go on a day when you’re alert and focused, as it’s pretty overwhelming for such a small museum. The caved jades are more numerous and better quality than those in the Jade Hall at the Field Museum. Take my work for that, I worked there for 13 years and spent a lot of lunch hours in the jade hall. That said, though, when you have hundreds of astonishing and completely exquisite items, they do start to blur together.
What I truly like the best is their lower floor, where they have displays of gems and minerals in their rougher states. THAT is amazing. Beautifully organized and displayed, with enough scientific information to satisfy. The gift shop is also down there, and is realy excellent for a small shop. Great values on some fossils.
Periodically that lower floor is closed for renovation. Call first to make sure it’s open.
I don’t think it’s a place most kids will enjoy, unless they are really into rocks.
There is a local lapidary club that has an open house in the museum once or twice a year. That is worth scheduling a visit around, as then you can see how rocks are polished, facetted, etc.

This is indeed a gem of a museum, and it’s an easy walk from the Metra station (Cottage Hill Avenue is right off the south platform) — just walk towards the park and keep going til you see the sign). If you aren’t interested in jade, or rocks leave you cold, it won’t do a thing for you, but if you do love rocks and stone carving you’ll love it.
It’s a small museum and would probably be well-​combined with the nearby art museum. It took me an hour or an hour and a half to visit the museum, then 30 – 45 minutes in the gift shop.
The focus is more on statuary than on jewelry. The collection of jade is world-​class: several beautiful jade statues, including various types of jars with intricately carved connecting chains, and a small collection of snuff bottles. There’s a jade carver’s bench in the middle of the first floor, and an ancient video in the basement that shows how it’s used.
There’s also a large number of Florentine mosaics, which you must in person; on their website, they just look like fairly nice little paintings, but they’re made of thousands of pieces of closely joined stone. Some nice ivory pieces as well, including one particularly intricate puzzle ball (24 layers!) and a rendition of the Last Supper. The dioramas are a little cheesy, featuring stone animals in a variety of settings and materials, but worth a look; you’ll come away with a great appreciation for the many things one can make with jasper. Be sure to look under all the dioramas for large mineral specimens (usually of something in the diorama).
Look under the main cases and above the entryway, as well; one of the museum’s signature pieces, a «pi» (large jade disc with a hole in it) is parked above the entryway. There is also an excellent collection of cameos, including some three-​color and some stones I’d never seen cut as cameos before (tigereye; bloodstone). In addition there were a few small tables with the current display, funerary jewelry from the Civil War era.
In the basement is the minerals collection, which doubles as a small auditorium (I went to hear a lecture on Victorian jewelry), a video screen (check out the jade carving video) and the gift shop. The gift shop has items ranging from $ 1 (tiny stone bead rings) to $ 3500 (giant jade pi disc; statues carved from mammoth ivory). There’s a large collection of beautiful but pricey cameos; lots of jewelry and rock specimens. Midrange gifts such as affordable stone puzzle balls, necklaces, stone grapes, etc. are plentiful;. They also have a selection of books, including a nice coffee table book featuring the museum’s collection, and a lot of back issues of the Lapidary Journal and similar magazines. If you’re looking for a beautiful and unusual gift, whatever your price range, they’ve got you covered.

In the interest of full disclosure I should let you know that I am, in fact, not a fan of the Lizzadro Museum. Honestly, I really dislike the Lizzadro Museum, but that is not the museums fault, I just don’t like it. Never have, even when I was a kid. But, as museums go, it’s a pretty nice one. So, I’m going to do my best to write an unbiased review. Here we go…
The Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art is small, but impressive. They have a striking collection of amazing stone art. When I think of a gem or stone museum I picture the exhibit at the Field Museum that is pretty much a bunch of gemstones on display. Lapidary art is so much more than that, it’s the art of cutting and polishing stones, which can mean anything from the simple diamonds in an engagement ring to a complex diorama made completely of stone. The pieces on display at Lizzadro keep you engaged and dazzled.
It’s a small museum, and probably won’t take you more than 2 hours to go through if you really take your time. They have plenty of special events where the museum is full of silversmiths and craftsmen honing their skills in lapidary art. Being able to see the work in progress is definitely worth it, and you still have access to the full museum. Their gift shop is pretty nice, considering the size of the museum.
At only $ 4 per adult it’s a pretty good deal. Children 7 – 12 only $ 1, and under 7 are free. Parking is free and easy in their parking lot.

Like what people say, the museum has a good balance: Beautiful intricate trinkets, fun carved animal scenes, meteorites, fluorescent minerals. It’s not a large place, but has something for everyone. There was a gaggle of 2^nd graders when I went who were thoroughly entertained.
Note that to drive into the lot, the entrance is on South Prospect Avenue. There are even reserves spots for museum patrons.
The gift shop is also a good stop, and you can go even without going to the museum proper.
The only negative was the prominence of ivory everywhere, without any caveats, especially when some was described as coming from the 20^th century (one hopes before the ban). The gift shop has «mammoth» ivory, which is not an airtight a designation as one would hope. The shop did have tagua, but did not quite connect the dots for customers regarding it’s use as an ivory substitute. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but a storefront downtown was busted for ivory trading, so you can’t be too sure.

What a gem! (pardon the pun).
We stopped here last weekend and really enjoyed the experience. There are so many beautiful intricately carved vases and figurines to behold. Some pieces are positively breathtaking. There are a lot of «sit down» spots for us old farts to contemplate life and take in the beautiful pieces of artwork.
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They have a great gift shop with very reasonably priced gems, fossils and jewelry. I could have spent a small fortune there, but contented myself with a Buddha carved from tiger eye.
I would say that this place is not an all day destination, but combine it with a nice lunch, or a shopping trip, or maybe a stop at the Elmhurst Art Museum and it makes a great little destination. Fridays are free.