LEARN: Public Programs

Olana's Wagon House Education Center is celebrating its first year!
The state of the art Education Center is home to public programs that promote The Olana Partnership mission: To inspire the public by preserving and interpreting Olana, Frederic Church's masterpiece. Ongoing programs, classes for all ages, workshops ... Learn More »

LEARN: School/Educators

Olana, the estate of Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church, is a unique three-dimensional work of art comprised of romantic landscape design, breathtaking views and exotic architecture. Olana offers a unique opportunity for creative ... Learn More »

LEARN: The Collections

Visitors touring beautiful Olana will see the paintings, sculpture and furnishings Frederic Church acquired during his lifetime and which surrounded him and his family in their daily life at Olana. The collection was described by a 19th century guest as, "a museum of ... Learn More »

LEARN: What is Olana?

Named for a fortress treasure-house in ancient Persia, Olana was the home of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), one of America's most important artists, a student of Thomas Cole, and a major figure in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Learn More »

LEARN: Landscape

Frederic Church constructed the landscape at Olana in the same manner that he constructed landscapes in his paintings: with an eye to composition, balance, and fidelity to nature. Although Olana was a working farm, expected to turn a profit, Church also ... Learn More »

LEARN: The House

When Frederic Church purchased the property for Olana in 1860, he hired architect Richard Morris Hunt (who was later to build several of the "cottages" in Newport, R.I.) to design a small house in which he could raise a family. Called "Cosy Cottage", ... Learn More »

LEARN: Frederic E. Church

Frederic Church, one of the premier American landscape painters, will forever be associated with the Hudson River Valley, where he painted and made his home. Immensely popular in the mid-19th century, his paintings are characterized by a calmness ... Learn More »

LEARN: Hudson River School

The first truly American style of landscape painting was the Hudson River School, named for the area in which many of its adherents worked. The school was not an academic institution but rather a loose association of painters who worked in a similar style. They were colleagues, friends, and supporters of each other, studying together and often traveling together throughout New York... Learn More »