The
Metropolitan Museum of Art
(colloquially The Met) is an art
museum on
the eastern edge of Central
Park,
along "Museum
Mile"
in New York
City.
Its permanent collection contains more than two million works of art, divided
into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, often called "the Met",
is one of the world's largest art galleries; there is also a much smaller second
location, at "The
Cloisters",
in Upper
Manhattan,
which features medieval
art.
Represented in the permanent collection are works of art from classical
antiquity
and Ancient
Egypt,
paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European
masters, and an extensive collection of American
and modern
art. The Met also maintains extensive holdings of African,
Asian,
Oceanic,
Byzantine,
and Islamic
art. The museum is also home to encyclopedic collections of musical
instruments,
costumes and accessories, and antique weapons
and armor
from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from 1st-century Rome through
modern American design, are permanently installed in the Met's galleries. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens.
The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and
thinkers of the day, who wanted to open a museum to bring art and art education
to the American people. It opened on the 20th of February 1872, and was
originally located at 681 Fifth
Avenue.
As of 2010, the Met measures almost a quarter of a mile long and occupies more
than 2,000,000 square feet. We have chosen pictures that reflect the sheer size
of the place. Even the cloakroom was massive.
