the Met also owns many libraries, such
as the Nolen library and the Thomas J.
AMERICAN CULTURE - 60.NNA-8
1. Hồ Thị Thùy Dương
2. Nguyễn Thị Thảo Vy
Introduction
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka
the Met) - one of the largest art museums
in the U.S.A, is located on Fifth Avenue
and 82nd Street, east of Central Park in
New York City. Possessing vast art
collections and unique thousands of years
old artifacts that attract more than 4
million people each year, the Met has
become the most popular destination
in New York City, USA.
Architecture
The Met measures almost 400m long
and with more than 2 million square
feet (190,000 m2) of floor space, more
than 20 times the size of the original
1880 building. It was built in the Beaux-
Arts style. The museum building is an
accretion of over 20 structures, most of
which are not visible from the exterior.
In addition to several galleries
displaying almost every art period
from all countries around the world,
Watson library, the Iris and B. Gerald
Cantor Roof Garden with a romantic
café and bar, a special floor for children
to learn to draw or learn to make
movies,...
History
The Met was founded on April 13th,
1870, to bring art and art education to
the people of the U.S.A. It was designed
by American architect Calvert Vaux.
The museum first opened on February
20th, 1872. Over the next 20 years,
however, the museum was rebuilt by
architect and Met trustee Richard
Morris Hunt, but completed by his son
Richard Howland Hunt in 1902 after his
death. Many additions have been made,
including the distinctive Beaux-Arts
Fifth Avenue façade, Great Hall, and
Grand Stairway. The Met main building
was designated a city landmark by the
New York City Landmarks Preservation
Commission in 1967, and was declared
a National Historic Landmark in 1986
for both its monumental and cultural
value. In 1977, the Landmarks
Preservation Commission independently
recognized its interior.
 Collections
The Met is the owner of many
masterpieces of art, first by Renoir, then
by painters Matisse, Manet, Monet,
Durer, Rembrandt,... It has a huge art
treasure of countries around the world
throughout the centuries. Among the
masterpieces of world art on display at
the Museum are Thomas Cole's work
"The Oxbow", J.M.W Turner's "The
Grand Canal", "Opening of the Fifth
Seal" by El Greco...
More than 3 million works of art divided
into 19 diverse, rich collections have
converged on the Met. Some of the
collections can be mentioned such as:
Asian art, American art, ancient Egyptian
art, Greek and Roman art, twentieth
century European painting...
Fun Facts
1. The museum has its own decorative
floral artist. Each week, Remco van Vliet –
a Dutch florist whose florist shop produces
five towering bouquets of flowers for the
Great Hall of the Met. The floral works he
creates for events held in the Egyptian
display area can reach 20 feet.
2. Before 2013, those to the museum will
receive a decorative metal buttons with
icons of the museum to mount on the lapel
of his jacket. However, because metal prices
have skyrocketed in recent years, this piece
of jewelry has become too expensive, so in
2013 the Met removed the buttons to switch
to use stickers.
3. The Met is the main setting in so many
movies that it is a movie star in its own right
like Coogan's Bluff (1968), Keeping the
Faith (2000), The Front (1976), and The
Devil's Own (1997).
4. You can travel around the world at the
Met. By visiting the Met, you can
temporarily leave New York City to travel
the world, for example to an ancient
Egyptian temple, relax in the Chinese
Garden, stroll around the courtyard of the
16th century Spanish castle…