New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art

          Since it seems that the MET is one of the biggest field trips in ESM that everyone goes on at least on time in their high school career, I decided to look up some facts on the MET that not everyone might have known.

          For instance, the MET is one of the largest museums in the world and houses more than 2 million pieces of art.  It was opened in 1870 and originally only included three private collections of paintings.  The current Central Park location became where the MET would permanently be built in 1880 and expansion began in 1888.  The original structure of the MET, the medieval hall located in the middle, (untapped cities source) is now completely surrounded by various expansions.  The latest expansion was finished in 1991. (USA Today)

          There are over 2,000 European paintings in the MET today, ranging from the 12th to the 19th centuries.  (USA Today)  The most modern work in the MET was created in 2007 and is named Dusasa II.  (MET website)

  Dusasa II

 

 

This is what the original MET looked like in 1880 when it was located on 5th avenue 

 

 

          Another interesting fact about the MET is that the American wing was once its own free standing building.  It was enclosed in 1980.

 

  This is the building in the American wing today

 This is what the building looked like in 1925



 

          

Sources:     http://traveltips.usatoday.com/metropolitan-museum-art-4174.html
                   http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/now-at-the-met/features/2013/fun-facts
                   http://untappedcities.com/2012/09/20/the-secrets-of-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art/