Met to Open 7 Days

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced last week that it would begin opening on Mondays starting July 1st of this year, breaking with the schedule it's maintained since 1971.

This new schedule will go into effect at both the Museum's main building on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street in Manhattan and at The Cloisters museum and gardens, its branch museum for medieval art and architecture in Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan.

"Art is a 7-day-a-week passion, and we want the Met to be accessible whenever visitors have the urge to experience this great museum," said museum director and CEO Thomas Campbell in a statement. "Last year we had record-breaking attendance of 6.28 million visitors and yet were turning away many thousands more on Mondays, when we have traditionally been closed. Our new schedule will remedy that, and we look forward to welcoming visitors to our encyclopedic collections, robust exhibition program, and wide-ranging educational offerings nearly every day of the year."

Also on July 1st, the Met will begin opening half an hour later, at 10 a.m. instead of 9:30 a.m., but no other schedule changes will be made.