The new installation is the result of close collaboration with colleagues across the country and Latin America through a series of conversations around the artworks and the continuing importance of these ancient traditions in the Americas today. The reimagined galleries reflect recent advances in scholarship, incorporating knowledge about artists, their materials, their techniques, and their social roles and newly revealed relationships between regions.

The new galleries also expand the scope of the subject to consider Indigenous traditions in the Viceregal (Colonial) period, and also benefit from new perspectives on indigenous concepts of the natural world as well as nuanced perceptions of gender roles. Where possible, indigenous texts—ancient, historical, and modern—have informed the curatorial narrative, enriching the interpretation and appreciation of the works in the collection.

The galleries were designed by Kulapat Yantrasast of the firm WHY Architecture and Beyer, Blinder, Belle Architects LLP, in collaboration with The Met’s Design Department, and draw inspiration from ancient American architectural traditions that incorporate stone platforms to echo the layout of landmarks from Mesoamerica and the Andean region.

The redesigned galleries are organized roughly chronologically and geographically. To the west, visitors will find the oldest objects in the collection: finely carved lithic objects known as bannerstones, some made as long ago as 4000 BCE; delicate ivory implements of the Old Bering Sea tradition; and female figurines from coastal Ecuador. To the east, visitors will encounter the bold imperial styles of the Mexica and the Inca, the two largest empires of the ancient Americas.