Metropolitan Museum of Art MET

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This world famous Museum (MET) is one of the most popular tours for tourists. It is the largest art museum in this hemisphere. It is home to more than three million works of art, some dating back to the Paleolithic era. Both tourists and art lovers will be overwhelmed by the wealth of art treasures it houses, making the Metropolitan Museum of Art a staple of any trip to New York.

The museum opened in 1880, ten years after its founding. Although it has undergone several structural and architectural changes over the years. Visitors entering 5th Avenue will find themselves in the Great Hall, a huge hall that has been declared a national monument. Take the elegant marble staircase that leads to European galleries, which feature priceless works by Rembrandt, Botticelli and others.

The American Wing is close to European galleries and is also accessible from the first floor staircase. Here, visitors can contemplate beautiful paintings as well as antique furniture. It is recommended to start the visit on the third floor of the exhibition to avoid missing a part.

Another very remarkable part of the museum contains the Greek and Roman galleries, located on the first floor. These galleries include statues and paintings from Mount Vesuvius, as well as other paintings from the Greek and Roman periods. This exhibition is particularly attractive because some engravings on the walls are hundreds of thousands of years old.

It contains in its walls, more than a million precious objects, spanning 5000 years of cultural life. In addition, by visiting, you will discover the works of great painters, their way of working, life in their time. In addition, 24 exhibition halls, retrace American history in 24 tables of domestic life.

You can visit it alone or with your family, organize your own visit or take part in one of the organized and programmed tours that each explore a section of this magnificent museum, which should not be missed if you are a little bit interested by Art and Culture, be it Old America, Ancient Egypt, Africa, or the Middle Ages and many other things.

History

The MET opened its doors to the public at its present location on Fifth Avenue in 1880. For the previous ten years it had been temporarily located elsewhere in New York City. The idea of creating a museum was born in Paris in 1866, when lawyer John Jay and a few other Americans decided that a national institute should be created in their own country to provide art and art education to the American people. Local politicians, entrepreneurs, artists and architects were enthusiastic and the museum’s core collection was established as early as 1871, comprising 174 paintings by great European masters, including Anthonie van Dyck, Nicolas Poussin and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.