The premier art museum in the Gulf South and the city's oldest fine arts institution, the New Orleans Museum of Art continues to exhibit, interpret and preserve works of art from ancient to modern times. Its permanent collection is noted for its extraordinary strengths in French and American art, photography, glass, African and Japanese works. NOMA has also developed a unique Arts of the Americas collection, surveying the cultural heritage of North, Central and South America from the pre-Columbian period through the Spanish Colonial era.