The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Is there still someone who doesn’t know this Museum? I really don’t think so…
Great New York Museum, famous and known all over the world.
It is huge, certainly the largest in New York and a complete visit could take quite a while…
A museum that contains almost entirely the ancient world cultures, and an infinite series of works of art.
It is located at number 1000 of Fifth Avenue at 82nd street, in the so-called “Museum Mile” ’cause of the high density of museums present; the permanent collection of the “Met” contains more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen sections.
Works dating back to classical antiquity and Ancient Egypt are exhibited, as are paintings and sculptures by almost all the greatest European masters of art, and a large collection of American and modern art. In addition, the “Met” also possesses a considerable amount of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine and Islamic works of art … but not only … we can also admire collections of musical instruments, clothes and vintage accessories and ancient weapons and armor from all over the world.
In the galleries of the museum, important interior reconstructions are always exhibited, ranging from Rome in the first century to modern American design … going back to retracing the whole history in its total completeness … simply grandiose, as is New York in the rest … moreover, the Met organizes and hosts large traveling exhibitions throughout the year.
It is made up of several floors which are in turn composed of Galleries … plus a “branch” of the “Met, called” The Cloisters “and which is located in Fort Tyron Park.
In the main building, with the numerous galleries we can admire:
Greek-Roman art with well over 17,000 objects dated from 4500 BC to the 4th century AD; Asian, American and Oceanic art with more than 11000 artifacts dated from 3000 BC to today; Modern and contemporary art including works by Braque, Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, Balthus, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning; the jewels of René Lalique; European art with works of art dating from the 15th to the 20th century AD where works of art, statues, silverware, furnishings, watches, textiles are brought together …; 17,000 objects of American Art including sculptures, paintings, objects and textiles and even medieval and Byzantine art, Egyptian art, art from the Near and Middle East, Islamic Art, European painting and more … practically all art and history within the largest museum in New York; one of the most famous and complete in the world …
In the basement we find a real “Institute of Costume”:
From pompous court dresses to Yves Saint Lauren’s sheath dress.
As for “The Cloisters”, it is the focus of the exhibition dedicated to the Middle Ages. Composed of original structures, taken from churches and cloisters throughout Europe, mainly France, Italy and Austria, with on the first floor, a suggestive and beautiful Gothic chapel with 14thcentury stained-glass window, a garden with medieval plant species and very fashionable floral decorations at the time, a treasure, a symbol of the wealth and well-being that monasteries and abbeys boasted at the time.
Upstairs, there are still stained-glass windows and tapestries, frescoes and sculptures, but also everyday objects in religious ceremonial. In the Romanesque hall, the stone portal stands out; the tapestry of the legendary capture of the unicorn and that of the nine heroes.