(New York – February 22, 2008) The Metropolitan Museum of Art tallied the one millionth visitor to its acclaimed New Greek and Roman Galleries on February 21. In the ten months since the galleries opened (on April 20, 2007), they have attracted an average of some 3700 people per day. This is approximately 27% of the Museum's total attendance during that same period. More than one in four visitors to the Museum viewed the new galleries.
The culmination of a 15-year construction project, the New Greek and Roman Galleries are a spectacular "museum-within-the-museum" for the display of the Met's superb collection of Hellenistic, Etruscan, South Italian, and Roman art. The centerpiece of the new galleries is the majestic Leon Levy and Shelby White Court – a monumental, peristyle court with a soaring two-story atrium. With the opening of the new galleries, space for the art of classical antiquity more than doubled and some 5300 works of art previously in storage were returned to public view.
Originally designed by the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White between 1912 and 1926, the galleries have been expanded, updated, and reinstalled, while remaining true to the original concept: a classically inspired architectural style and a glass roof that allows the objects below to be viewed in natural daylight.