Metropolitan Museum of Art: Travel New York (Unabridged‪)‬

Learn about the history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with iMinds Travel's insightful fast knowledge series. Where can you find Ancient Greek and Roman artefacts sitting with twentieth century French impressionist masterpieces? Where can shining suits of armour be compared with traditional Korean dresses? One of the world’s largest and most encyclopaedic collections of art lies in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Affectionately known as The ‘Met’, it is the largest art museum in the Western Hemisphere, housing over 2 million artefacts. The Met is the heart of Museum Mile, a stretch of Fifth Avenue that runs along the eastern side of Central Park and is home to ten museums including the Guggenheim and the International Centre of Photography. Of all these, the Met is undoubtedly the star attraction and it is the single largest tourist attraction in a city that boasts many. In 140 years the museum has built, from nothing, one of the richest collections in the world.
The museum was founded in 1870. The city was on the rise, Central Park was being completed and though such icons as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building were a few years away from being built, the city was beginning to take its shape. In the wake of the Civil War, New York City was fast becoming a commercial and industrial capital, with many major companies being run from the small island of Manhattan. Newly wealthy businessmen as well as civic leaders, artists and intellectuals saw an opportunity to make their mark on the up-and-coming city. They believed in the power of art to educate and enlighten and they felt they were in a position to both educate the masses and make some money while doing so.