2026 SESSION
ENROLLED
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 157
Commending the Taubman Museum of Art.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, March 2, 2026
Agreed to by the Senate, March 5, 2026
WHEREAS, for 75 years, the Taubman Museum of Art has promoted American art and artists, provided opportunities for education and recreation, and enhanced cultural life in the Roanoke Valley; and
WHEREAS, the Taubman Museum of Art traces its roots to the late 1940s, when the Roanoke Chapter of the American Association of University Women requested a major exhibition from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which ultimately led to the establishment of the Roanoke Fine Arts Center in 1951; and
WHEREAS, over the years, the Roanoke Fine Arts Center expanded its mission and its collections, becoming known as the Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, then the Art Museum of Western Virginia; and
WHEREAS, in 2008, the institution rebranded as the Taubman Museum of Art, named for a former United States ambassador to Romania, Nicholas F. Taubman, who generously supported the construction of a new building in downtown Roanoke designed by American architect Randall Stout; and
WHEREAS, the Taubman Museum of Art's building reflects the history and character of the Roanoke region with a 77-foot glass peak that recalls the point of the Roanoke Star and an undulating roofline reminiscent of the Blue Ridge Mountains; and