New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) is home to one of the world’s most spectacular collections of art, sculpture, and artifacts. The museum offers a wide array of exhibits spread across multiple galleries, from a fully reconstructed Egyptian temple to mosaics and sculptures from Ancient Rome. However, with so many rooms, galleries, and places of interest to see, a visit to the Met can be overwhelming for the uninitiated. Read on to discover which must-see attractions make the Met one of the world’s most unmissable museums.
1. Temple of Dendur
Possibly the most impressive part of the Met’s collection, and a room nobody should miss when paying a visit, is the Temple of Dendur, located in Gallery 13. The Temple originally stood in the region of Nubia, approximately 50 miles south of the modern-day Egyptian city of Aswan. Built around 23 BCE by Roman Emperor Augustus, the temple was dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis and two Nubian siblings, Pedesi and Pihor, who were worshiped as gods.
The Temple remained in Nubia until 1963, when a UNESCO task force stepped in to save the site from the flood waters caused by the construction of the Aswan Dam. With the help of 50 countries, the temple was carefully dismantled and relocated piece by piece. Egypt gave the temple as a gift to the United States in recognition of their contributions toward the preservation of other historical monuments that were threatened by the Aswan Dam. The Temple of Dendur found its new home in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson decided that the Met would house the temple due to their expertise in preserving ancient artifacts.
Hundreds of sandstone blocks weighing over 600 tons were shipped from Egypt to New York City in 1968, and an entirely new annex was constructed at the Met to house and protect this unique work of art. Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo were commissioned to design a wing that would mimic the original Nubian environment where the temple once stood, with a reflecting pool and a special glass ceiling to enhance the experience.
Once construction of the new wing was completed in 1975, the Temple of Dendur was rebuilt piece by piece. The temple was finally opened to public viewing in 1978, and its long journey from the time of Emperor Augustus was complete. Today, thousands of visitors from around the world come to marvel at the intricate architecture of the Temple of Dendur.
2. Damascus Room
The next room on our list is the impressive Damascus Room located in gallery 461 of the Met. This majestic space is a reconstruction of a typical home reception chamber from the late Ottoman Damascus period. The room is divided into two parts: an antechamber (sataba), accessible through a courtyard entrance, and an elevated, square seating area (tazar).
In typical Damascene homes, reception halls were regularly updated to keep up with interior design trends. The majority of the woodwork in the Damascus Room is dated to 1707 CE; however, alterations were made throughout the course of three centuries.
In Ottoman Damascene dwellings, both ornamental and utilitarian items were used to decorate the reception area. On the raised shelves, the owner usually kept heirlooms, East Asian ceramics, glassware, and other valuable items reflecting his refined taste. The antechamber shelves were usually used to hold essential items for entertaining guests.
3. Patio From the Castle of Vélez Blanco
On view in Gallery 534 is the Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco, dating from the 1510s. This beautiful example of Spanish Renaissance architecture is in the museum’s Thomas J. Watson Library. This marble patio displays Italian Renaissance statues originally found in the Castillo de Vélez-Blanco in Andalusia, Spain.
This patio was originally built by Northern Italian artisans from Macael marble for Pedro Fajardo, the first Marquis of Los Vélez and Governor of Murcia between 1506 and 1515. A Parisian dealer bought the patio in 1904 after the castle was abandoned in the early 19th century due to political unrest.
George and Florence Meyer Blumenthal bought the patio in 1913 and incorporated it into their Manhattan townhouse. After George Blumenthal died in 1941, the patio was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Originally disassembled and shipped to the museum in 1945, it sat in storage until 1963.
In 1964, Met curator Olga Raggio arranged for the patio to be rebuilt and installed in the museum after a five-year study. In order to restore its historical integrity, modern additions, including two arches, were removed from Blumenthal’s residence. Visitors to the Met today can see the Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco, which highlights its rich history.
4. The American Wing
Since its founding in 1870, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has amassed a vast collection of American art. Initially intended to showcase domestic arts from the 17th to early 19th centuries, the American Wing of the Met was constructed in 1924 and subsequently refurbished in 1980 to incorporate galleries for sculptures and paintings along with a huge courtyard.
The dynamic collection at the Wing now features almost 20,000 works by African American, European American, Latin-American, and Native American artists. The paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and decorative arts, including ceramics, glass, furniture, jewelry, textiles, metalwork, quillwork, and bead embroidery, date from the colonial to early modern eras. Historical interiors and architectural details are also included in the collection.
In the Charles Engelhard Court, there are monumental sculptures, stained-glass windows, and architectural details. On the courtyard balconies, there are displays of silver, gold, glass, and ceramics. Twenty historical rooms tell stories of American home goods and architecture between 1680 and 1915. The Wing also features changing exhibitions of textiles, paintings, sculptures, and works on paper.
5. The Assyrian Royal Court
The Met’s Assyrian Sculpture Court, located in Gallery 401, features sculptures from what is now northern Iraq, dating from the time of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BCE). This impressive king extended his empire to the Mediterranean and set the stage for Assyria’s hegemony in the Near East between the ninth and seventh centuries BCE.
During his reign, Ashurnasirpal relocated the Assyrian capital from Ashur to Nimrud, where he constructed the magnificent Northwest Palace. The Assyrian Sculpture Court’s reliefs originate from several royal rooms of the palace; they provide an impression of a typical room adorned with images of protection. Most show magical protection from supernatural entities. Large winged, human-headed bulls and lions, who served as the original guardians of palace doorways, are also on display in the exhibit. Two reliefs from the warrior deity Ninurta’s temple, which are set between copies to mimic the building’s exterior, are exclusive to this gallery.
These reliefs, discovered during an excavation in the middle of the 19th century, are among the oldest examples of ancient Mesopotamian art. They offer priceless insights into the design and decorating of Assyrian palaces.
6. The Chinese Buddhist Art Collection
Siddhartha Gautama, who lived from approximately 400 BCE, is widely regarded as the founder of Buddhism. Siddhartha, also known as Buddha Shakyamuni, was born in modern-day Nepal amid a period of profound social, political, and cultural change.
Historians believe that Buddhism arrived in China during the 2nd century BCE, and by the 2nd century CE, foreign monks had established schools for teaching and translation. Chinese Buddhist traditions, including Chan (Zen) and Pure Land, flourished from the fourth to the ninth centuries. Chan practices placed more emphasis on mindfulness and meditation than Pure Land practices did on devotion to Buddha Amitabha and Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. Following the seventh century, China incorporated new Indic and Central Asian customs, such as the use of cosmic designs like mandalas and devotion to Buddha Vairocana.
These historical exchanges are reflected in the Chinese Buddhist art collection at the Met. The collection shows how Indian and Chinese artistic components were combined in sculptures; powerfully built figures with lean garments reflect Indian influences, while thin bodies and bulky clothing convey Chinese aesthetics. The collection provides a rich tapestry of historical and creative traditions that are still inspiring and educating, showcasing the continuing impact of these cross-cultural encounters.
7. Greek and Roman Galleries
The Met’s impressive collection includes more than thirty thousand pieces of Greek and Roman art, dating from the Neolithic era (c. 4500 BCE) to the Roman emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in 312 CE. Spread across multiple galleries, it is one of the most extensive exhibitions of its kind in North America and features artwork from many different cultures.
While modern-day Greece and Italy are where the bulk of the collection originates, these regions were not as clearly defined by contemporary political borders as they once were. Greek colonies were founded in the Mediterranean basin, along the Black Sea coast, and Cyprus gradually became more Greek-dominated. The boundaries of Roman art are geographical, matching the Roman Empire’s growth. The Met’s collection also features pre-Roman artwork from Italic peoples, particularly the Hellenic, Cycladic, and Minoan periods, as well as art from prehistoric Greece.
8. Arms and Armor
In 1896, the Met acquired its initial collection of weapons and armor. After acquiring a sizable private collection of European artifacts and a noteworthy group of Japanese weapons, the collection became world-renowned by 1904. The Arms and Armor Galleries, one of the most popular displays in the museum, underwent renovations in 1991 to better display the collection of weaponry and armor from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and America.
Notably, the galleries are home to the largest collection of Japanese arms and armor outside Japan, in addition to European armor, weapons, and swords. Additionally, there are sections devoted to American weapons from the colonial period until the late 19th century and Islamic weapons.
The collection places a strong focus on exquisite ornamentation and craftsmanship, frequently showcasing weapons meant for show rather than use in battle. Highlights include a collection of Renaissance parade armors influenced by classical antiquity, a helmet dated 1543 by the famed Milanese armorer Filippo Negroli, and a series of Tudor courtier armors from the English royal workshops at Greenwich. Not to mention, one of the collection’s most striking pieces is an elaborate set of field armor made for King Henry VIII at a time in his reign when the monarch was beset with health problems.
