An $800,000 gift from Baltimore County and Baltimore City will eliminate $10 admission fees at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum starting in October, a move cultural and political officials said they plan to make permanent.

In a ceremony Wednesday outside the Howard Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore City Mayor Martin O?Malley, Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith and museum officials said Oct. 1 will mark the first time the two museums will be free to the public in more than two decades.