A new museum in the north metro honors a man who had a passion for art.

The Cafesjian Art Trust in Shoreview carries on the legacy of Gerard Cafesjian.

“He bought everything because he enjoyed it and wanted to live with it,” curator Linnea Seidling said.  

Born in New York City in 1925, Cafesjian moved to Minnesota and became a vice president at a publishing company. He began collecting and displaying art at his home in the north suburbs.

“He wasn’t a rich man that became an art collector,” Seidling said. “He was an art collector that became a rich man.”

After his passing in 2013, Cafesjian’s daughter Kathie decided to open a museum in her father’s memory.

“Kathie really she said she wanted people to come into the museum and think ‘I’m not in Kansas anymore,'” Seidling said. “She wanted it to be a very fun experience.”

The museum holds 4,000 items, including one of the most extensive and finest collections of contemporary glass sculpture in the world.