The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York – Egyptian Collection
Museum Overview
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (also known as the Met) was founded in New York City's Central Park in 1870. Originally opened in 1872 on Fifth Avenue, it is now one of the largest museums in the world and is home to more than two millions works of art. Its art works span five thousand years of history and culture from all over the world. The Met, the main building, is located on the eastern edge of Central Park and is part of Museum Mile. There is a smaller building at the "Cloisters" in Upper Manhattan that features medieval art works. The museum includes permanent collections from African, Asian, Byzantine, Islamic and Oceanic art, painting and sculptors from most of the European masters, American art, modern art, collections of musical instruments, weapons and armor, costumes and accessories and interiors from around the world.
More information about the collection can be found at this article.
Plan Your Visit
The Met is located at 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, New York. Accomodations in New York can be booked at New York Hotels. It is open Tuesday to Thursday 9:30am to 5:30pm, Friday and Saturday 9:30am to 9pm and Sunday 9:30 to 5:30pm. It is closed on Mondays (except Holiday Mondays). Admission is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, $10 for students and free for children under 12.
Museum's Egyptian Collection
The Egyptian collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is home to more than 36,000 objects. These date from the Paleolithic period to the Roman period (300,000 BC to 4th century AD) and they include objects of historical, cultural and artistic importance. They include pieces from the Early Dynastic period, the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms, the Intermediate periods and the periods of Greek and Roman rule. They include sculptures, statues, artifacts, jewelry, stelae, funerary objects and architecture. There is also a large collection of watercolor facsimiles. They are housed in 32 major galleries and 8 study galleries in the museum.
Among the artifact and work of art on display at the Met are the Old Kingdom offering chapel (mastaba) of Perneb, jewelry of Princess Sit-hathor-yunet of Dynasty 12, Middle Kingdom wooden models from the tomb of Meketre at Thebes, statuary of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut of Dynasty 18 and more. The wooden models from the tomb of Meketre include boats, gardens, offering figures and scenes of food productions. These are extremely detailed and among the Egyptian collection's prized possessions.
One of the most popular destinations in the museum and certainly in the Egyptian collection, is the Temple of Dandur. The temple was built in 15 BC by the Roman Emperor Augustus, but was later dismantled to save it from rising waters. It was presented to the United States as a gift from the Egyptian Government and it can no wbe found, reassembled in the Egyptian galleries.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts many temporary exhibitions as well as their permanent ones. One of the temporary exhibitions running from March 16, 2010 to September 6, 2010 is "Tutankhamun's Funeral." This exhibition includes jars, bowls, lids, linen sheets, floral collars and bandages that were used in the mummification and burial ceremony of the pharaoh. Other objects such as archival photographs, a sculpted head and paintings are also included in the exhibition. The exhibition features approximately 60 objects, many from the museum's own collection.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has created a dynamic resource for educators and students entitled "The Art of Ancient Egypt" which features selected work from the museum's Egyptian collection.
There are so many different pieces and such a variety of artifacts on display in the Egyptian collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that you could spend almost the entire day just walking these 40 galleries.
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