The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met)

 

Location & Contact Details for the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Main Building

Address:   1000 Fifth Avenue (5th Avenue and 82nd Street)

Manhattan, New York NY 10028-0198

Phone Number: 212-535-7710

 

The Cloisters Museum and Gardens

(Branch of the main building)

Address: 9 Margaret Corbin Drive

Fort Tryon Park

New York, New York 10040

Phone Number: 212-923-3700

 

About the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (colloquially called “The Met”) is a famous art museum in New York City.

The museum was built in 1870 by a group of American citizens who wanted to found a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on 20^th February in 1872 on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Its permanent collection includes more than two million works, consisting of nineteen curatorial departments.

(Image by faungg)

The main building is situated on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan’s Museum Mile. It is one of the world’s largest art museums. A much smaller second location is called “The Cloisters”, located in Upper Manhattan. It basically includes medieval art.

Met’s permanent collection features the 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 museum contains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanic, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also has encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from all over the world.

 

What to See at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

You can see many features of history, arts and knowledge here. You will see American Decorative Arts of the late 17th to early 20th century – furniture, silver, pewter, glass, ceramics, textiles, etc.

Among American paintings and sculptures, you will find portraits, landscapes, history paintings, still life, folk art, and sculpture of colonial times from the early 20th century.

You will also enjoy the sculptural and ornamental beauty of arms and armor from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and America.

Ancient art ritual objects and monuments, articles of personal adornment, and utensils for daily life from three continents and dozens of Pacific islands – ranging from 2500 BC to the present – are kept here.

In The Cloisters, you will find art and architecture of medieval Europe, including sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, metalwork, enamels, ivories, paintings, and tapestries.

(Image by r0sss)

To give you the idea of the trend of clothing of different times, there is a costume institute that contains fashionable dress, regional costumes, and accessories for men, women, and children from seven centuries and five continents.

To get an idea about the change of clothing material over time, you can visit the Antonio Rotti Textile Center.

You will also find Egyptian art, Greek and Roman art and Islamic art in the work from sculptures, major canvases, panels, triptychs, and frescoes, ceramics and glass, metalwork, scientific instruments, textiles etc.

There is a private collection of paintings, decorative arts, and drawings from the Italian and Northern Renaissance through the 20th century which is known as “The Robert Lehman Collection”.

To provide you the knowledge of art history, the library contains rare first editions, artists’ treatises and manuals, illustrated atlases, scrapbooks and more.

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Visiting Hours

Following are the visiting hours for the main building:

• Tuesday–Thursday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
• Friday and Saturday: 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
• Sunday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
• Monday: Closed (except Holiday Mondays)

 

Following are the visiting hours for The Cloisters:

• March–October: Tuesday–Sunday: 9:30 a.m.–5:15 p.m.
• November–February: Tuesday–Sunday: 9:30 a.m.–4:45 p.m.
• Year-Round: Monday – Closed

(Image by Carl MiKoy)

How to Reach the Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art By Bus

The Met is very centrally located, and you can easily reach here by buses. Buses which will take you to the Metropolitan Museum of Art are:

M1, M2, M3, M4, M79, M86

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art By Train / Subway

You can also reach the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Subway – it is close to the 86th Street Subway station (4, 5, 6 and 6X trains) and the 77th Street Subway stop (4, 6 and 6X trains).

You can also reach here from the 81st street – Museum of Natural History Subway stop (A, B and C trains).

(Image by Carl MiKoy)  

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Tickets and Discounts

The fee is same for the main building and the Cloisters Museum and Gardens, which is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. No extra fee is charged for entrance to special exhibitions.

Following are the recommended entrance fees:

Adults	$25
Seniors (65 and older)	$17
Students	$12
Members	Free
Children under 12 (accompanied by an adult)	Free

 

If you want to save time on the day of your visit, you can buy tickets online. You can also purchase express admission in advance.

 

Tourist Attractions Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Here are other places of tourist interest that are close to the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

• Central Park
• Bloomingdale’s
• The American Museum of Natural History
• Guggenheim Museum
• Apple Store on 5th Avenue
• The Plaza Hotel
• The Jewish Museum
• Museum of the City of New York