CULTURE AND SOCIETY

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Founded in 1870 by members of the Union Legue Club and opened on February 20, 1872, the MET, as it is colloquially called, is the largest museum in the United States and the second most visited art museum in the world after the Louvre.
The first building was designed by the American architect Calvert Vaux and his collaborator Jacob Wrey Mould, it was made of red brick and stone but was not well received. Later a new neoclassical Beaux-Arts facade was added, the Great Hall with its grand staircase, designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt and completed by his son, Richard Howland Hunt in 1902 after his father’s death. The wings that completed the facade on Fifth Avenue were added in 1910 to a design by McKim, Mead & White. Over the years more sections were added and architect Kevin Roche followed these works for about 42 years, in particular he was responsible for the American Wing, the Greek and Roman Court and the Islamic Wing.
The permanent collection includes nearly two million works, covers over 5,000 years of history embracing practically all cultures and is divided into seventeen departments as well as six departments of conservation and one of scientific research.
There are departments divided by geographical area:
- Ancient Near Eastern art;
- Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas;
- Asian art;
- Egyptian art;
- European paintings;
- European sculpture and decorative arts;
- American Wing;
- Greek and Roman art;
- Islamic art.
The other departments are:
- Arms and Armor;
- Costume Institute;
- Drawings and prints;
- Robert Lehman Collection;
- Modern and contemporary art;
- Musical instruments;
- Photographs;
- Digital collection.
The Met Breuer, with its collection of modern art, and The Met Cloisters, dedicated to European medieval art and architecture, are part of the museum.

References

Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, Nancy Flood. The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. Yale University Press, 2010. pp. 833-835
About The Met (The Met)
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Wikipedia)

Useful links

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Google Arts & Culture)
Map (The Met)