The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens businessmen and financiers as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day who wanted to create a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. Thus making the Met a very important part of New York’s Culture. The Met allows for New Yorker’s to indulge in art from all over the world and also learn the significance of them and interpret their own understanding of the paintings, sculptures, etc. The Art in the Met are there to also teach a little bit of its history and the history it represents. Making The Met a significant part of New York’s History.

http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met

http://www.metmuseum.org/press/general-information/2005/a-brief-history-of-the-museum