The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, affectionately known as The Met, is the largest and most encyclopaedic art museum in the Western Hemisphere, attracting more than five million visitors annually to its monumental Fifth Avenue building on the edge of Central Park. Founded in 1870, The Met’s permanent collection encompasses more than two million works of art spanning five millennia of human creativity, from prehistoric artefacts to contemporary masterpieces, and from ancient Egypt to modern America. The museum is organised into seventeen curatorial departments, covering American decorative arts and paintings, ancient Egyptian art, arms and armour, Asian art, European paintings and sculpture, Greek and Roman art, Islamic art, medieval art, musical instruments, photographs, and much more. Among its most celebrated treasures are works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet, Rodin, and Pollock; the Temple of Dendur; the Arms and Armour galleries; and the iconic roof garden with seasonal large-scale installations and panoramic views of Central Park. The Met also operates The Cloisters in northern Manhattan, dedicated to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. The museum offers an extensive programme of daily public tours, family guides, audio tours, lectures, concerts, special exhibitions, and educational programming. Admission is suggested, with New York State residents and students able to pay what they wish for general admission. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday and on holiday Mondays, with extended Friday and Saturday evening hours.