In an age of newsbytes, youtube, and Britney Spears, it is easy to despair over the state of our cultural health. Popular taste seems a never-ending obsession with the temporal and the inconsequential. One wonders whether at the current pace, our appreciation for the classical heritage that lives at the root of modern society will wane from the distraction.
At least one data point offers hope. On February 21, the one-millionth visitor walked into the newly renovated galleries of Greek and Roman art at the Metropolitan Museum. That's a fairly impressive showing since the galleries were opened to the public just 10 months ago. On average, more than 3,700 people daily walked through the marble sculpture gallery, or more than one out of every four that entered the Met.
The Met's galleries house one of the finest assemblages of Greek, Hellenistic, Etruscan, South Italian and Roman art collections in the world. The new galleries doubled the number of objects on public display, including 5,300 objects that were gratefully removed from storage. The centerpiece of the new galleries is the majestic Leon and Shelby White Court - a monumental, peristyle court with soaring two-story atrium bathed in natural light. In an era when the classical collections in some museums have been delegated second-tier status in money, resource and attention to more sensational exhibits, it is worth hoping that perhaps the Met's success with spark a new, more widespread revival in the classical past.
Wonderful blog. Informative posts.
Posted by: Ahmed | August 10, 2008 at 01:18 AM