Together with other institutions, the Provincial Council of Alava has collected a large part of the extensive artistic and cultural heritage of this territory in a number of museums and archives in Vitoria-Gasteiz and other places in the province.

The Fine Arts Museum, located in the capital of the province, has one of the finest collections of contemporary art in Spain with works by artists such as Miró, Picasso and Tapies, among others. Likewise, it has many examples of Basque painting and includes numerous important works of the Renaissance and Baroque periods such as the "Cristo" of Rivera and the "Inmaculada" of Alonso Cano.
Currently, due to the ever increasing size of its collection, plans are to build an entirely new museum.

The Palacio de Bendaña ("Fournier" playing card museum of Alava) located at the heart of the old part of Vitoria-Gasteiz, offers one of the best collections of playing cards in the world, containing some 18,500 decks covering a vast range of subjects made with several kinds of materials and printed with all the techniques used by card-makers during history. The collection was donated by the Vitoria-based company "Naipes Heraclio Fournier", the most important card manufacturer in the world.

The Arms Museum. which contains examples of offensive and defensive weapons used from prehistoric times to the beginning of the 20th Century, and the Archaeological Museum include exhibits covering the different eras of the history of the Province. The Natural History Museum represents one of the best-documented and largest museums of its type in the Basque Country. Special mention should be made of its herbarium which is one of the five largest on the Iberian Peninsula.

Its Geology Section contains exhibits from the recently-discovered amber deposits in Peñacerrada and one of the best collections in Europe of dinosaur and turtle fossils dating from the end of the Cretaceous period.

Other places of unquestionable interest for visitors are the ethnographical museums in Pipaón, Antoñana, Zalduondo, Artziniega, Amurrio and Oion.

The La Hoya Museum in Laguardia-Biasteri which contains relics from the iron-age Celtiberian village of La Hoya and important examples of tools and urban design, and the Oppidum of Iruña, a Roman fortress built on a another constructed by the inhabitants of this region, containing defensive remains, walls and public and private buildings, take visitors back in time to the dawn of history in Alava.
The Basque Gastronomy Museum in Laudio-Llodio, the Basque Ceramics Museum in Ollerías, the Heraldic Museum in Mendoza and that of Quejana, complete this extensive and wide-ranging offer of cultural interest.

In addition, the Fernando de Amárica Exhibition Hall of the Provincial Council of Alava hosts an extensive programme of exhibitions - recognised as one of the most attractive in Spain - with collections of the most important artists.
Other exhibitions halls and archives managed by foundations, town halls and banks provide an attractive image of the culture of Alava.