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The front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art building with steps, people walking, a fountain, and yellow taxis parked along the street.

About The Met

The Metropolitan Museum of Art collects, studies, conserves, and presents significant works of art across time and cultures in order to connect all people to creativity, knowledge, ideas, and one another.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online.

Since its founding in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum's galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.

Who We Are

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Leadership
Read about the leadership team at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Three men stand in a painting restoration workshop, examining large paintings on easels. One man in the background is in a light blue shirt and khaki pants, and is seen from behind. The other two face the artwork; one with a notebook, the other listening. They are surrounded by framed portraits paintings and altarpieces.
Museum Departments

Learn about the curatorial, conservation, and scientific research departments that collaborate to study, exhibit, and care for over two million objects in The Met collection.

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International Initiatives and Engagement
From major loans and traveling exhibitions, to conservation training and scholarly exchange, The Met is both a nexus and convener of global cultural activity.

Our Past, Present, and Future

Objects conservators working in the Museum's repair shop in 1936.
History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of businessmen, financiers, and leading artists and thinkers of the day who wanted to create a museum to bring art and art education to the American people.

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The Met Today

We welcome over six million visitors every year. Join us for once-in-a-lifetime exhibitions, events, performances, and more.

Exterior rendering of the Tang Wing at The Met.
Designing Tomorrow's Met

Explore our plans to transform the Museum for a new generation of visitors.

The Met Collection

The museum’s collection contains more than 1.5 million objects spanning over 5,000 years of global human history.
A darkly lit gallery with white marble statues of men and women.
The Met Collection

Travel around the world and across 5,000 years of history through 490,000+ works of art available to visitors around the global through online collection.

An open medieval manuscript featuring illustrated scenes of biblical figures on the left page and ornate lettering on aged parchment on the right page.
Provenance Research at The Met
The provenance team works with The Met’s curators, conservators, and scientists, as well as internal and external partners, in conducting a systematic review of the provenance of the Museum’s holdings and ensuring that all objects entering the collection meet The Met’s strict collecting policies.
A spacious library with wooden tables, shelves filled with books along the back wall, and floor-to-ceiling windows on the right wall. Several individuals are reading books at the tables.
Research at The Met
Our research takes advantage of Museum resources and a collection that spans 5,000 years of world history. We welcome an international community of students and scholars.

Land Acknowledgement

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is situated in Lenapehoking, homeland of the Lenape diaspora, and historically a gathering and trading place for many diverse Native peoples, who continue to live and work on this island.

We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, and future—for their ongoing and fundamental relationships to the region. In May 2021, The Met installed a plaque on the Fifth Avenue facade recognizing Lenapehoking, the homeland of the Indigenous Lenape peoples.