Anyone who has recently tried to make travel plans to visit the grand city of New York will have discovered that is it difficult to avoid seeing information, references, and advertisements for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Known around the world as one of the finest museums in operation, the museum boasts art collections that are without question counted among the very finest in the world.

The collections that are housed in this New York museum are comprised of more than two million works of amazing art. This stunning supply of art treasures spans more than 5,000 years of world history and culture that comes from every corner the globe. The "Met," as it is popularly called, especially by locals, was founded in 1870 and it is located along the eastern edge of New York City's Central Park, situated on Fifth Avenue. Each year it receives millions of visitors.

To say that the Metropolitian Museum of Art is expansive is a bit of an understatement. The buildings of the museum complex account for a total of two million square feet of space. In addition, the museum houses some of the finest collections of art in the world, and taken individually, many of these collections would rank as "world-class" all by themselves, not to mention what they represent as a "collection of collections."

For example, the American Wing of the Met contains the world's most exhaustive collection of American paintings, sculptures and decorative works of arts. At the same time, the Met also has over 2,500 European paintings in its art exhibitions. These European masterpieces in the art gallery range, from renowned artists such as Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Manet, Renoir, and many others, in total comprise a vast and varied collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works.

The Met is also home to the greatest collection of Egyptian art that can be found outside of Cairo and the Islamic art collection is also widely considered to be one of the finest in the world. Other major gallery exhibitions found within the walls of the Met include arms and armor, costumes, Asian art, European decorative arts and sculpture, medieval art, Renaissance art, modern art, photography, drawings, prints, musical instruments, and other assorted antiquities from the ancient cultures of the world.

Each year, there are more than 30 special gallery exhibitions hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These special art exhibitions are representative of a wide and varied range of artists, cultures and time periods, from ancient to modern. In addition, the museum also actively strives to serve the people of New York City, the US, and those around the world by offering a wide array of educational art history training programs, internships, fellowships and programs to loan out many of the works of art that the museum owns.

The educational programs offered by the Met are attended annually by over 300,000 museum visitors, teachers and students that range from the grade school age to university level. On top of that, the institution loans more than 5,000 works of art each year to other museums and cultural facilities around the world.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been called a national treasure by many people from all walks of life. It is also considered to be a vital and strongly influential force in art education and art history enlightenment, which benefits visitors who come from across the nation and from all over the world. The Met also has started an initiative to attract broader multicultural audiences and to create an innovative website, which will further expand the museum's reach to art lovers worldwide.

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