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Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met, or more formally the
Metropolitan Museum of Art on Museum Mile in New York City sits
along the eastern edge of Central Park and contains over 2 million
works of art that is divided into 19 curatorial departments, in
their permanent collection. It is one of the world's biggest art
galleries with a smaller second locale in Upper Manhattan, called
the Cloisters, featuring medieval art. The permanent collection
contains works from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt,
sculptures and paintings from almost all the European masters, as
well as an expansive collection of modern and American artworks. It
also has impressive holdings of Byzantine, Oceanic, Islamic, Asian
and African art and is home to an encyclopedic collection of musical
instruments, antique armor and weapons from around the world and
costumes and accessories. Magnificent interiors include those from
the 1st century Rome to the modern American design, and are
permanently located in the museum. The Met was started in 1870 by a
group of Americans that included leading artists, financiers,
businessmen and thinkers of the period that desired a museum to
bring art and art education to the masses; and opened on February
20th, 1872. 2007 had the Met being a quarter mile long and over 2
million square feet. The rich history of the museum could be a
story in itself, as the most influential and wealthy men of the era
became involved in creating this fantastic museum that would become
one of the finest in the world. It opened in 1872, in a building on
Fifth Avenue, with John Taylor Johnston, railroad executive that
used his personal art collection to seed the museum and served as
its first president. Publisher George Palmer Putnam became the first
superintendent and famous artist Eastman Johnson coming on as a
co-founder. Former Civil War officer Luigi Palma di Cesnola became
the first director, serving from 1879 to 1904. With these men
leading, the holdings, which was a Roman stone sarcophagus and 174
paintings, the majority being European, grew very fast and soon
needed more space. In 1873, the Met bought the Cesnola Collection of
Cypriot antiquities and was forced to move out of its premises and
moved into the Douglas Mansion on West 14th Street; which didn't
last long as the collection continued to grow and needed more space.
Negotiating with the city in 1871, the museum obtained land on the
east side of Central Park, where the permanent home was constructed;
a red brick mausoleum designed by American architect Calvert Vaux
and his collaborator Jacob Wrey Mould. Vaux's ambitious designs
weren't received too well since the high Victorian Gothic style was
on the wane as construction started and the Met's president said it
was a mistake. Before 20 years had passed, another architectural
plan was instituted, using the Vaux building an part of the interior
and stripping it of the distinctive design elements. Since then,
many new galleries and architectural elements have been added,
including the impressive Beaux-arts facade, that was designed by
architect and Met trustee Richard Morris Hunt and finished in 1902.
The great entrance hall was also designed by Hunt, who passed on
before it was finished. His son, Richard, made sure that his
father's specifications were used to finish the work. As of 2010,
the size of the Met is now 20 times its original size.
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