At the eastern edge of New York’s Central Park, there stands one of the most imposing edifices in the entire city: the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The grand white washed façade is brilliantly lit up as soon as darkness falls, and it may as well have been considered as one of the most revered places in the entire state of New York.
Every year, almost a million enthusiasts from around the globe flock to this site like a veritable shrine. Its main bulk of visitors are mostly youths, artists and scholars, particularly those seeking artistic inspiration or creative repose or intellectual indigestion.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art or more affectionately called as The Met, is actually several architectural structures divided into thematic sections, and is rightfully considered as one of the largest art galleries in the entire world. Although it cannot compare to the actual dimension of the Louvre Museum in France, the actual architectural structure of The Met covers more than 2 million square feet and is almost a quarter mile long. This museum houses some of the most prominent exemplars of art from known European artists like: Cezanne, Monet, Rembrandt and Van Gogh.
In Upper Manhattan, The Met has a separate branch which features medieval art only or art from the Middle Ages, particularly: Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque Art.
The main building itself has more than its impressive share of displays. As earlier stated, most of the displays are divided into themes. Aside from the Medieval art of the Upper Manhattan branch, there is a whole wing dedicated to classical antiquity, and another section for Ancient Egyptian arts. American and European masters share the same floor, but not the same section, with notable sculptures and paintings lining the walls and marking the halls. There is also a section dedicated only to Asian, Byzantine and even modern art.
Other sections include: American decorative arts; ancient near Eastern art; art dedicated to drawings and prints; Islamic art; arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas; Greek and Roman art; and the Robert Lehman Collection (which is a private collection donated to the museum by the man in 1969.) The Robert Lehman Collection, in particular, is one of the most visited sections of The Met, owing to the fact that the gallery holds works by: Boticelli, Domenico Veneziano, Dürer, El Greco, Goya and Rembrandt.
For those who are most inclined to read historical accounts of the art, The Met also houses the Thomas J. Watson Library. This is one of the most extensive libraries dedicated to art work and its masters. In the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas department, there is also the Robert Goldwater Library. Like everywhere else in the museum, these two public libraries also have their own specialized staff manning the tables and helping outside researches find reference materials.
It should be noted though that there are a lot more libraries within The Met, and some of them hold archival treasures not accessible to the public. The museum staff is generally given access, but outsiders need to ask for an appointment to visit these archives, and some approvals take as long as two weeks.
