Met Museum Scores Record Attendance
Following the opening of new galleries devoted to art of the Islamic world in November and its new American Wing galleries for paintings, sculpture and decorative arts in January, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced on Monday that its attendance rose to nearly 6.3 million visitors during the fiscal year that ended on June 30. That figure is the highest number since the museum began tracking attendance more than 40 years ago. Normally, such a fact would be cause for me to complain: even though I live in New York, I loathe crowds and do everything I can in my daily schedule to avoid them. But the beauty of the Met is that even on a day when the front steps and entrance hall are crammed with camera-toting Japanese and flip-floppy teens from Arkansas you can still find a cool gallery in European Paintings where you are virtually alone to contemplate a Crucifixion.
