Discover the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

For art enthusiasts and those who want to be: A tour through the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a must during a visit to New York! You can get practical tips, as usual, from the travel bettercities.net.

You don't have to be a die-hard art connoisseur to know that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, known as 'The Met', is one of the most prestigious addresses in the art world. Since 1872, the art museum has been welcoming visitors at the eastern edge of Central Park on the Museum Mile.

As a universal museum, its collections include works from all eras. In total, over two million paintings, sculptures, photos, and other exhibits are displayed. The attractions are numerous - here you'll find everything you need to know for your visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Located right on Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side, the Metropolitan Museum of Art impresses with its unique and sophisticated architecture. The imposing 19th-century facade gives visitors a preview of the diversity of art.

And there is plenty of it - it's no wonder the art museum continues to grow and now has numerous additional buildings and annexes. At The Met Cloisters on Margaret Corbin Drive, you'll find medieval and ecclesiastical art, while The Met Breuer on Madison Avenue houses contemporary art. Overall, the New York art museum has an exhibition space of about 10,000 square meters - where, by the way, only 25 percent of the entire collection can be shown at one time.

The entrance ticket, priced at 25 dollars, allows you to visit the exhibitions at The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters for three consecutive days. Here's a tip: The lines at the entrance to these popular New York attractions are long - if you want to avoid waiting in line, it's best to buy an online ticket, which guarantees you what's called 'Express Admission'.

The original Met building was designed by American architect Richard Morris Hunt. The consistently implemented neoclassical style is particularly evident in the large columned portal - the huge staircase in front of it is an unmistakable landmark for Manhattan and has often been chosen as a location for famous films.

Every year, over six million visitors ascend the steps to the portal: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York offers a wealth of exhibits that take you almost through the entire history of human civilization from the Stone Age to the present day. The permanent collections consist of 17 departments, with additional rotating exhibitions on various themes.

Among the largest departments are European and American art. The European department focuses on pre-modern exhibits, including works by great artists like Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini. It houses statues, sculptures, paintings, drawings, weapons, armor, tapestries, and glass art - as well as the chalice that was believed to be the Holy Grail for centuries.

The American department spans three floors. Special highlights here include the unique stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's permanent exhibition of drawings and prints is one of the special highlights. Here you'll find significant artifacts from North America and Europe. Degas, Dürer, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, da Vinci, and Michelangelo - many of the greatest names in art history are represented here. Overall, you can marvel at 17,000 drawings, 1.5 million prints, and about 12,000 illustrated books. Naturally, the collections include not only works of Western culture.

Among the most significant departments are, for example, artifacts of Egyptian art, which range from the Stone Age through the pharaonic era to the Roman occupation. The Islamic Art department is also highly developed, with 12,000 exhibits. A focus is on miniatures from Persia. Glass, ceramics, and textiles from the entire Islamic world are well represented.

Among the greatest attractions in the Met, which you should not miss, is the department for modern and contemporary art. The approximately 13,000 artworks cover the period from the beginning of modernism to the present day.

A lineup of art masters awaits you here, with all the great names that have emerged in the nearly 120 years of art history: from Pablo Picasso to Max Beckmann to Jackson Pollock. In addition to painting, there are also exhibits of crafts and design, as well as sculptures, drawings, and other paper works.

In addition to the significant collections that can always be admired in the Met, there are also rotating special exhibitions on various topics, which are already included in the entrance price.

Since the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the most prestigious and visited art museums in the world, cooperating art institutes are glad to lend their exhibits to the famous New York institution. Whether it's Parisian parks and private gardens painted by French Impressionists, Mexican Rococo, or textile artworks of the Catholic Church - the variety is enormous and always surprises anew.

Your Met visit concludes with a trip to the top: On the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you'll find the legendary Roof Garden, from where you can enjoy the view over the southwestern part of New York. The view shows Central Park and the Manhattan skyline. Every summer, a selected special exhibition on the theme of sculpture and visual arts takes place here.

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