NY Metropolitan Museum announces record attendance
The show "Schiaparelli and Prada, Impossible Conversations," opens May 10 and continues through Aug. 19. Here, a video shows Miuccia Prada, left, speaking about her two fashions. (May 7, 2012) Credit: AP
Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art had a record number of visitors during the fiscal year that ended June 30.
It says 6.28 million people came to see its exhibitions and new galleries. That's 600,000 more visitors than in fiscal 2011 and the highest attendance in more than 40 years.
The fiscal 2012 figure includes attendance at The Cloisters museum and garden, the Met's branch for Medieval art.
The Met says visitors were drawn to its new American Wing Galleries for Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts and also to its new galleries for Islamic art.
It said attendance was strong for a number of its exhibitions. They included “The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde” and “The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini.”
