Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art occupies a series of connected buildings along Fifth Avenue bordering Central Park, with a facade stretching nearly 1,000 feet and an interior covering over two million square feet. Founded in 1870, the Met's encyclopedic collection spans five millennia of human creative achievement across 17 curatorial departments, making a single visit inevitably partial — most experienced visitors focus by department or period. The Egyptian Wing on the ground floor houses the Temple of Dendur, a complete 1st-century BC sandstone temple relocated from Nubia and reassembled in a glass-enclosed gallery flooded with natural light — one of the most remarkable objects in any museum in the world. The European Paintings galleries on the second floor progress chronologically through Italian Renaissance masters, Flemish and Dutch Old Masters including Rembrandt and Vermeer, and on to French Impressionists. The American Wing includes period rooms dismantled from historic American buildings and reassembled intact, from a 17th-century New England hall to a Tiffany glass-windowed loggia. The roof garden, open May through October, showcases a rotating large-scale contemporary installation with views over the Central Park treetops. The Arms and Armor Hall, the Greek and Roman court, and the Islamic Art galleries each constitute substantial sub-collections. The Egyptian Wing, Arms and Armor Hall, and the Temple of Dendur are the most consistently popular sections across all age groups. Friday and Saturday evenings, when the Met stays open until 9PM, offer a more relaxed atmosphere than weekend afternoons.