Among the many features that make the Museum so unique are its authentic architectural assemblages and period rooms. From a ceremonial Japanese tea house to an opulent mirrored grand salon from eighteenth-century France, these rare settings allow the visitor to literally step inside bygone eras. Other gallery highlights include several seldom-changing installations that may feature a selection of decorative arts, a grouping of related canvases, or a concentration of other works.
The Museum is home to over 225,000 objects, spanning the creative achievements of the Western world since the first century AD and those of Asia since the third millennium BC. The European holdings date from the Medieval era to the present, and the collection of arms and armor is the second largest in the United States. The American collections are among the finest in the country, as are the expanding collections of modern and contemporary art. In addition, the Museum houses encyclopedic holdings of costume and textiles as well as prints, drawings, and photographs that are displayed in rotation for reasons of preservation.
