Metropolitan Museum of Art

Not to be confused with the Museum of Modern Art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Entrance façades to The Met Fifth Avenue and The Cloisters
Map
EstablishedApril 13, 1870; 154 years ago (April 13, 1870)[2][3][4]
Location1000 Fifth Avenue (The Met Fifth Avenue)
99 Margaret Corbin Drive (The Cloisters)
New York City, U.S.
Coordinates40°46′46″N 73°57′47″W / 40.7794°N 73.9631°W / 40.7794; -73.9631
TypeArt museum
Collection size2 million[1]
Visitors5.364 million (2023)[5]
Chairs
DirectorMax Hollein
Websitewww.metmuseum.org Edit this at Wikidata

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met,[a] is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the fourth-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million visitors in 2023, it is the most-visited museum in the United States and the fifth-most visited art museum in the world.[6]

In 2000, its permanent collection had over two million works;[1] it currently lists a total of 1.5 million works.[7] The collection is divided into 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's largest art museums. The first portion of the approximately 2-million-square-foot (190,000 m2) building was built in 1880. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from medieval Europe.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 with its mission to bring art and art education to the American people. The museum's permanent collection consists of works of art ranging from the ancient Near East and ancient Egypt, through classical antiquity to the contemporary world. It includes paintings, sculptures, and graphic works from many European Old Masters, as well as an extensive collection of American, modern, and contemporary art. The Met also maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and decorative arts and textiles, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from 1st-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.

  1. ^ a b "Metropolitan Museum Launches New and Expanded Web Site" Archived November 28, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, press release, The Met, January 25, 2000.
  2. ^ "Today in Met History: April 13". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on January 17, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  3. ^ "The Metropolitan Museum of Art | About". www.artinfo.com. 2008. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Met History was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ The New York Times, March 24, 2024
  6. ^ The New York Times, March 12, 2024, "Audience Snapshot; Four Years After Shutdown, a Mixed Recovery"
  7. ^ "General Information". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved March 6, 2024.


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