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Best Undervisited Galleries At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the United States, drawing more than 6 million visitors each year to its 2 million square feet of exhibition space. It's ginormous, and it's amazing. The various galleries cover the span of human civilization, from ancient Egypt (the Temple of Dendur), to 19th Century Europe (Monet), to today (high-end couture). Wherever you turn, there's something to see. Below are our five favorite undervisited galleries. We can't guarantee they'll be crowd-free, but, based on our experience, they'll definitely be crowd-less. By Jessica Allen.

EarlyBronzeAgeHead
(credit: The Met)

Consider this: way, way back in the eighth millennium BCE someone took a tool to stone, and carved an object, and you can see the result at the Met just about any time you want. If that doesn't make your toes turn up with glee, we don't know what will. The objects in this gallery hail from what we now call Mesopotamia, and include statues, figurines, re-created rooms, standards, and representations of the once important, long dead.

ArmsArmor
(credit: The Met)

Among the treasures of this gallery are crossbows, sallets, hunting swords, knives, rifles, and full suits of armor. (You'll marvel at the tiny size of some of said suits—people really were smaller way back when.) The department's stated mission is as follows: "to collect, preserve, research, publish, and exhibit distinguished examples representing the art of the armorer, swordsmith, and gunmaker." Weapons of war have never looked so cool.

GabonFigure
(credit: The Met)

This gallery not only spans huge swatches of time but also huge swatches of the planet: currently on display are highlights from a collection of more than 11,000 objects from the Pacific Islands, North, Central, and South America, and sub-Saharan Africa, dating from 3000 BCE to the present. You'll see warrior figures, jewelry, costumes, ceremonial objects, musical instruments, and sculpture, in such materials as stone, metal, wood, and ivory. You'll be amazed at how emotion can be conveyed over the miles and across the centuries.

Luce
(credit: The Met)

Hard as it might be to believe, the Met can't store everything it owns. Enter the Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art, several glass cabinets containing decorative and fine art objects. The cabinets' organization—by material, then by chronology and form—make it fun to see how one object relates its neighbor, or doesn't. Plus, the gallery is always several degrees cooler than the rest of the museum, perfect for visiting during the summer.

Trombone
(credit: The Met)

Located directly above the Arms & Armor, the Musical Instruments galleries showcase the instrument as a work of art in and of itself. The collection—roughly 5,000 objects from around the world, dating from circa 3000 BCE to the present—includes such highlights as the world's oldest extant piano, a 19th Century alto sax, and a 17th Century drum. Keep up to date on what you might see (or hear) by checking out the galleries' blog, aptly titled Of Note.

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