Legion of Honor celebrates its 100th birthday in launching Chinese-language audio tour and offering free admission on all Saturdays

SAN FRANCISCO — The Legion of Honor, one of the oldest museums in San Francisco, opened its door for public views on November 11, 1924. As part of its yearlong centennial celebration, the Legion of Honor has become the very first museum in San Francisco to offer free service of Chinese-language audio tour guides to the large Chinese immigrant community in the region.

An 100th birthday party was held on November 11, 2024 which was also a kickoff for the year-long centennial celebration. The dynamic series of celebrations are named "Legion of Honor 100" with events and programs. More information can be found by visiting the web page at famsf.org/events/legion-honor-100.

The museum’s Free Saturdays program offers free general admission for all Bay Area residents in 9 counties on all Saturdays throughout the entire year from January 1 to December 31 in 2025 to the museum's permanent collection galleries.

Residents in 9 countries of the San Francisco Bay Area are qualified for free general admission by showing their driver licenses. Visitors ages 17 and under may always enjoy free admission to the permanent collection galleries.

Among a long list of celebrations for the remarkable historical moments, the Legion of the Honor has produced 4-language complimentary audio tour guides inviting more Chinese- and Spanish-speaking visitors. In addition to the English audio tour, the other three languages are Cantonese, Mandarin and Spanish.

In the meantime, Legion of Honor is also becoming the first public museum in San Francisco to offer the Cantonese- and Mandarin-language audio tour guide services. The advanced technology is able to let Chinese-speaking visitors enjoy the artwork in the museum without language barrier.

It is easy to use the audio tour guides to view the collection of artwork in the museum. Visitors can download the app (https://legion.stqry.app/) to their cell phones prior to arriving at the Legion of Honor and select the exhibitions that they plan to visit. Once they walk in the galleries, they can turn it on and start listening to the tour features and insights from art experts and art makers. They can also listen to the tours at home or anywhere on the go.

The free audio tour are available using visitors' own mobile phones and headphones. They can also pick up the devices at the ticketing and membership desks when they enter the Legion of Honor.

The City and County of San Francisco manages four major public museums, De Young Museum, Legion of Honor, Asian Art Museum and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

De Young Museum focuses on displaying the collections of American art. The Legion of Honor is a museum that contains a representative collection of European art because of its history. The Legion of Honor is located at 34th Avenue and Clement Street within the Lincoln Park in the Richmond District. It was first with an idea of building a museum in 1915 inspired by Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, a wealthy socialite and philanthropist in San Francisco known as "The Great Grandmother of San Francisco".

During the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, Spreckels fell in love with the French Pavilion. That temporary pavilion structure was modeled on the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris, built between 1782 and 1787 as the private residence of a German prince.

Spreckels persuaded her husband, Adolph B. Spreckels, to donate the future museum to the City of San Francisco. They requested permission from the French government to replicate the historic palace for a new art museum in San Francisco.

The Legion of Honor opened its door for public view on November 11, 1924. The museum received gifts from the French government and antiquities from the Queen of Greece. It was the first major museum dedicated solely to art in San Francisco.

When the Legion of Honor opened in 1924, the Richmond district was still developing. In the early 20th century, the neighborhood was populated largely by working-class families, primarily of Irish and German descent.

"Today, Richmond is a thriving neighborhood, noted by TimeOut as one of the world's coolest. The neighborhood is still home to a diverse population — from Chinese American families to a Russian community in what is known as 'Little Russia.' And Richmond continues to be home to the Legion of Honor, San Francisco’s own French palace, devoted to sharing art with the community for the past 100 years," Legion of Honor 100: History + Highlights wrote.