MET TO REPURPOSE GREAT HALL STORE AS GALLERY
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will transform the store that sits off its Great Hall into an 11,500-square-foot gallery in an effort to accommodate the exhibitions of its Costume Institute, which have been historically popular and overcrowded. The New York Times reports that the museum hopes to use the space for the Costume Institute’s spring shows, which typically spill outside the basement space’s confines and into other sections of the museum. The change, known internally as the Great Hall Gallery Project, will allow the institute’s exhibitions to remain in place longer, as they will no longer be taking up space earmarked for the Met’s programming. The new gallery will accommodate regular museum shows when not in use by the Costume Institute.
Those hoping to score a book on Japanese prints or a miniature statue of an Egyptian goddess will not be disappointed. The Met is planning to establish a store and a restaurant at the entrance underneath its main staircase. Both will remain open to the public beyond the museum’s typical hours.
“How visitors and local communities interact with cultural institutions has changed dramatically over the past few years,” museum director and CEO Max Hollein wrote to Met staff on October 2. “This project presents an opportunity for us to invest even more in the visitor experience.”
The renovations are expected to be completed in two phases, both ending in 2026. The first phase will encompass the construction of the Great Hall gallery, while the second will comprise the creation of the lower-level restaurant and retail spaces, as well as the restoration of the plaza entrance at Fifth Avenue and Eighty-Third Street. The project is expected to cost upward of $50 million. Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour, who is also global editorial director of the magazine’s parent company, Condé Nast, is spearheading the fundraising. The Costume Institute in 2014 was rechristened the Anna Wintour Costume Center in honor of the longtime trustee’s commitment to overseeing the Met Gala, a major annual fundraiser for the institute.
