Background
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 “to be located in the City of New York, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in said city a Museum and library of art, of encouraging and developing the study of the fine arts, and the application of arts to manufacture and practical life, of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects, and, to that end, of furnishing popular instruction.” (About the Met).
Architectural History
“Next time you visit the Museum, look for the other restored architectural fragments that are visible all around the building. For example, the brick, arch-covered space beneath the Grand Staircase, originally designed by Richard Morris Hunt in 1895 and completed in 1902 as part of a Beaux-Arts entrance pavilion, is now part of the Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine Art.
Segments of the Museum’s facade from various points in its history are also visible; as the building expanded over time, previous facades became interior walls, and they still serve as such. For instance, at the entrance to the Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Gallery near the top of the Grand Staircase, one can see a fragment of Vaux and Mould’s original 1880 facade: a banded-granite pointed arch representative of the Gothic Revival period. The entire south facade of Theodore Weston’s classical 1888 addition to the building is now preserved inside the glass-enveloped Carroll and Milton Petrie European Sculpture Court.” (The Museum Constructed).
Artworks
The museum houses a variety of art works including: Over two millions objects spanning 5000 years from classical antiquity to modern art.
Additional Reading
A Brief Look at the Met’s Fascinating History
Met Museum Reimagines the Period Room through the Lens of Afrofuturism