The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art or The MET is located in New York City. It was founded in 1870 and has a collection of more than two million artworks that are exhibited on the museum's four main galleries. There are approximately 500,000 cataloged items in storage at any given time. Some of these collections span back from ancient Greek and Roman period through Medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy, eighteenth-century France, nineteenth-century German and The MET's own American art collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has collections from around the world with artworks that are created by artists from every continent. Some of these collections include Japanese woodcuts, French impressionist painting, American modernism. The Metropolitan Museum's art collection has been divided into 20 separate departments that include African, Islamic, Japanese and Korean, Oceanic aboriginal and Native American Art; Arms and Armor; Applied Arts; European Sculpture and Decorative Arts from 1300 to 1800; Egyptian Art; European Painting (1300–1800); European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Eighteenth Century (1700–1800); European Painting (11th–18th Century) The MET Museum's Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo Art; Modern Art; Medieval Art; Musical Instruments; Paintings Conservation. The MET has been publishing their art collection for over a hundred years now. They now have more than 175 books on art, architecture and cultural history. These include publications with catalogues of the Fine Arts Department; Islamic Art department and Arms and Armor departments. Some publications are books on the history of The MET and its building, exhibitions catalogs and scholarly volumes. The Metropolitan Museum was initially established through a public-private partnership. Nowadays, it is privately funded but offers free entrance to all visitors.