Former High School Intern Helen introduces some of her favorite ceilings in the Metropolitan Museum.

Curator Emerita H. Barbara Weinberg, just returned from a Travel with the Met trip to Cuba, recounts the group's interactions with members of the country's visual-arts community.

Spruce up your work-from-home aesthetic with iconic spaces and elegant artworks.

The walrus-ivory Cloisters Cross, a masterpiece of English Romanesque art, has long been a centerpiece of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Cloisters collection, a separate museum in Fort Tryon Park (New York City) devoted exclusively to the art of the Middle Ages. In fact, ever since its acquisition in 1963, the cross has been the subject of speculation and mystery. The dearth of solid information about its provenance prior to its ownership by a Yugoslav art dealer and restorer has generated a number of tantalizing theories as to its origin, function, and early history, although no one has denied the exceptional quality of its workmanship or the unparalleled complexity of its design. The story of the cross's creation, survival, and meaning is explored in this fascinating book. Of special interest is the sheer number of figures that populate the compact scenes on both sides of the cross, and of biblical passages diligently inscribed on individual scrolls held by Old Testament prophets across its surface. The cross is a tour de force of sculptural artistry, which holds within its small physical scope an iconographic encyclopedia of learning almost unmatched in Medieval Art. This comprehensive study is addressed to the genuinely curious visitor to the Cloisters collection, as well as to the specialized scholar. The authors have included a systematic description of the intricate construction of the cross and an analysis of every detail of its carving. They offer substantial new insights to the findings of previous scholarly research as to possible meanings and context, in terms of both the liturgy and the intellectual milieu of the twelfth century in which it has been placed. The attribution to the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds—the name by which the cross was first known—is discussed at length. In rich and exacting detail the authors reveal, as do the splendid new color photographs by Malcolm Varon, just how the Cloisters Cross, in its imagery and consummate workmanship, bears "witness to a level of erudition and artistry seldom seen in the twelfth century or later."

Covering nearly seventy different herbs, this book details each plant’s specific role in several aspects of medieval society including cooking, healing, and pest control. Illustrated with 16th century prints which highlight the practical applications and symbolic significance of botanicals in the household as well as prints of the featured plants from a 15th century manuscript, this book provides a clear but thorough introduction to herbs and their diverse uses in medieval Europe.

Former Media Lab Volunteers Justine Williams, Jason Schuler, Vanessa Gilbert, and Patrícia Faolli outline how they used augmented reality to connect individuals to one another and to objects and spaces in the Met.

Teen Program participant Jayho details his experience attending Art Explore and shares the work he created during the classes.

Now that the originality of the newly uncovered texts on the frames of Jan van Eyck's Crucifixion and Last Judgment had been determined, it was time to engage an ace paleographer, Marc Smith, to help decipher these mysterious fragments of words and phrases.