THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
New York, USA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those museums that hardly needs an introduction. Even people who are not particularly interested in art have probably heard of it at least once.
Founded in 1870, the museum now houses more than two million works of art spanning approximately 5,000 years of human history. If you were to spend just one minute looking at each object, it would take years to see the entire collection.
What impressed me most was the feeling that the whole world had been gathered under one roof. As you move from gallery to gallery, it feels as though you are traveling between civilizations and eras: Ancient Egypt gives way to Classical Greece, followed by medieval Europe, the cultures of Asia, Islamic art, and modern collections.
At some point, you stop thinking of the Met as a museum and begin to see it as a map of human history.
One of the museum’s most remarkable exhibits is the Temple of Dendur, a genuine ancient Egyptian temple that is more than 2,000 years old. It is not a replica or a reconstruction. The temple was carefully dismantled in Egypt, transported across the ocean, and reassembled inside the museum. It is hard to believe that in the middle of Manhattan you can find yourself standing inside a real Egyptian temple.
Another thought stayed with me throughout my visit. Many of the objects on display were created without the slightest idea that they would one day end up in a museum. Someone made a bowl for dinner, someone decorated the door of their home, and someone sewed clothes for their child. Hundreds or even thousands of years later, these ordinary objects have become part of world history.
