Admittedly, I have never really known about the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before getting there, I even confused it with the Museum of Modern Art (which I now can’t imagine how I got to that conclusion). But upon entering the Met, I was blown away by the size and the grandeur of the museum. It was definitely a memorable and distinctive museum.

There was always one section of art that really had a large impression on me: Greek and Roman art. It’s hard to describe it when you first walk into a room with architecture from that time period. It’s grand, it’s bold, and it’s something so monumental it leaves you in awe.

Take this column featured prominently, for example:

Upon learning from a classmate, the column was originally too tall to be placed into the room, so it had to be cut down in order for it to be displayed. T most interesting part to me was the way the column was presented. I’m used to seeing the long, sleek, and white columns usually found in Greek architecture, but the broken up column found here really was in stark contrast to what I’ve assumed all Greek columns to be. Digging into the column’s history, it was apparently made during in the Hellenistic period and made out of marble. It originally came out of the Temple of Artemis, a temple that honored the goddess of hunt. I certainly got the impression that it was and exquisite and grand column. Looking at the top and bottom closely, it looked like a meticulous work of art, rivaling to that found in paintings. It seemed really strange that so much work was put into a column, but seeing as it came from a temple dedicated to a goddess, I understand why it was important to really make sure each contribution to the temple was finely crafted.

As I walked through the towering pillars and wide open spaces, I decided to finally look at the various artifacts the museum presented.  I was pleasantly surprised that these artifacts are just as interesting as the architecture. One object that really caught my eye looked like an upside down chandelier:

Apparently it was a vase made for offerings, called the Terracotta kernos. It was from the Cycladic culture, which is a culture that began in the early Bronze Age around the region of Greece. I was awestruck about how this vase’s purpose was to house offerings. It seemed like a rustic piece of furniture; I would have never imagined it to be a sacred artifact. The brown lines that streak across the vase seemed really well done in an era where technology was significantly absent.

These were only a few artifacts I decided to highlight, and even the fewer of artifacts that exist in the Met. It’s certainly an impressive museum; it houses so many exhibitions that if I were to go through them in one day, I’d probably have my mind blown.

All in all, this was a wonderful detour of a trip!