New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that, starting July 1, it will remain open seven days a week. It has been closed on Mondays since 1971. The Cloisters, the Met’s branch for medieval art and architecture in Fort Tryon Park, will also be open throughout the week.
Another scheduling change is a slightly later opening time, from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Otherwise the Met’s hours remain the same, closing at 5:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The change is partly in response to growing attendance; Met director and CEO Thomas P. Campbell indicated in the announcement that last year’s attendance was over 6 million visitors.
The Museum of Modern Art stated last fall that it would upgrade to a seven-day-a-week schedule beginning in May, no longer closing its doors to the public on Tuesdays. For the time being, the other New York art museums remain closed one day (Guggenheim, Frick) or two days (New Museum, Whitney, Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1) days per week.