Opus 40 Sculpture Park and Museum

About Us:

In 1938, Harvey Fite, one of the founders of the Bard College Fine Arts Department, purchased an abandoned quarry in the town of Saugerties, NY, in Ulster County, about 100 miles north of New York City.

During a period of 37 years he created the monumental world-acclaimed 6½-acre bluestone sculpture now known as Opus 40. Over time he acquired additional land (70+ acres today) and built several structures, including a beautiful large wood home, a studio, garage, blacksmith shop and the Quarryman’s Museum, home of his unique collection of historic quarrying tools.

Constructed by this one man, using dry-key stone techniques adapted from the Mayans, Opus 40 is made from millions of pieces of indigenous bluestone, laid by hand, creating a labyrinthine world of finely fitted stone, swirling with ramps and terraces constructed around pools and trees and fountains, rising out of bedrock a half mile deep.

Opus 40 is an awe inspiring total artistic environment. One can walk through, around and over it, from the deepest recesses of its subterranean pathways (16 feet below ground) and up to the nine-ton monolith that is the epicenter and summit of the sculpture (three stories above ground). A visit to Opus 40 is a rich and fulfilling experience for adults and kids. Walking around the 6½-acre sculpture creates visual change as you move from area to area, which curl around trees and embrace quarry springs, set against the backdrop vista of Overlook Mountain.