Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York City: Top 5 Attractions
With more than 2 million works of art spanning 5,000 years of human history, the Met is one of the world's biggest and best art museums, offering a well-balanced and beautifully presented mix of permanent and temporary exhibitions in its colossal main building on the eastern edge of Central Park off Fifth Avenue between 79th and 85th streets. The Cloisters, a separate branch of the museum at Fort Tryon Park near the northern tip of Manhattan, is devoted to the art and architecture of Medieval Europe, including the famous "Unicorn Tapestries" on display there since the building opened in 1938.
The problem with the Met is that there's simply too much to see and digest in a single visit, and it's all too easy to get overwhelmed by the dizzying breadth and depth of the collections. Your best bet is to do a little homework ahead of time using the museum website (www.metmuseum.org) and set some priorities about what you want to see most. If possible, plan to visit on a weekday morning (except Monday when the museum is closed), enter as soon as the doors open at 9:30 am, and go directly to the most popular exhibits on your list before the galleries get too crowded. Particularly noteworthy components of the permanent collection include the European painting galleries on the second floor, and one of the world's foremost collections of ancient Egyptian artifacts, including the magnificent Temple of Dendur, a gift from Egypt installed in its own special sunlit gallery.
Both the main building and the Cloisters offer lectures, concerts and film presentations, as well as some appealing places to stop for meals and refreshments during your visit. On Friday and Saturday evenings, the main museum stays open until 9 pm, with cocktails, appetizers and live classical music from 4 to 8:30 pm on the Great Hall Balcony. From May through late fall (weather permitting), the Roof Garden Café accessible from the fifth floor is a particularly good spot for lunch or a snack, with a lovely panoramic view across Central Park to the West Side skyline.
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