Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, often referred to as "The Met", is one of the largest and most important art museums in the world. It is located on the east side of Central Park, in New York City, and is a designated National Historic Landmark since 1986. The museum has a much smaller branch at The Cloisters, on the northern tip of Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River, where it exhibits medieval art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds over two million works of art divided into 19 curatorial departments. Displayed in the permanent collection are artworks from classical antiquity and Ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures representing almost all the European masters, and extensive representations of American and modern art. The Met also has an extensive holding of African, Asian, Oceanic, Byzantine and Islamic art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was first opened on 20 February, 1872. Its first location was at 681 Fifth Avenue. Its first President was John Taylor Johnston, who seeded his personal art collection. Publisher George Palmer Putnam became its founding Superintendent. Under their guidance, the Met's collection quickly outgrew its space. In 1873, with the purchase of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriot antiquities, the Met moved to the Douglas Mansion on West 14th Street. It was a temporary measure while the museum finalized its purchase of a plot on the east side of Central Park.

The permanent home of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a red-brick Gothic Revival stone building designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould. It was completed around 1880. The museum has remained at that site since, although through the years have expanded. As of 2006, the Met measures almost a quarter of a mile long, and occupies more than two million square feet of space - 20 times its original size in 1880.

Timothy Tye documents the tourist attractions, sightseeing places of interest and landmarks of the world for EarthDocumentary, a travel encyclopedia, http://www.earthdocumentary.com View other New York City sights at http://www.earthdocumentary.com/new_york_city_usa.html