The Met at 150 — Celebrated in an Empty City

The Metropolitan Museum of Art — the largest art museum in the United States — planned a year of fanfare for its 150th anniversary in 2020. Then Covid-19 forced its great doors shut for the longest closure in its history.

Birthday exhibitions opened to empty galleries or were delayed; the museum faced a severe financial shortfall. Yet it also leaned into digital tours and online collections, reaching audiences far beyond Fifth Avenue.

Founded in 1870, the Met holds art spanning 5,000 years and the entire globe. Its subdued anniversary became an unexpected symbol of culture's resilience in a year like no other.

Image: “The New York Branch Bank of the United States Façade in the Charles Engelhard Court in The American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York” — EgorovaSvetlana, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.