The Victoria Regional Museum Association (VRMA), Inc. was formed in 1976 when the Royston Nave Memorial was given to the City of Victoria to serve as an art museum. The Nave Museum is the oldest fine arts museum in the Crossroads area.
The Nave Museum is a fine arts museum serving Victoria and the surrounding region, which features four to six exhibits a year. Exhibits are selected with the broadly educational goal of displaying important contemporary work, exhibits which explore the possibilities of certain media or style, and artwork from the past, which continues to bear relevance for a contemporary knowledge and understanding of art.
Designed in 1932 by San Antonio architect Atlee Ayres, the Nave Museum originally serves as a memorial for Texas artist Royston Nave and to house the Bronte Public Library. Thanks to the generosity of Nave's widow and her heirs, several generations of Victorians learned to love books in the spacious main gallery, once known as McFaddin Gallery, surrounded by Nave's Paintings. In the 1960's the building was enlarged by the addition of the space known as the DeTar Gallery. In 1976, the City of Victoria leased The Nave to the VRMA to serve as a fine arts museum, and in 2004 the City of Victoria deeded the museum to the association.
