NEW YORK – As of July 1, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will open to the public seven days a week, it was announced today by Thomas P. Campbell, director and CEO of the museum.

This new schedule will go into effect at both the museum’s main building on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street in Manhattan and at The Cloisters museum and gardens, its branch museum for medieval art and architecture in Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan.

“Art is a seven-day-a-week passion, and we want the Met to be accessible whenever visitors have the urge to experience this great museum,” said Campbell in making the announcement. “Last year we had record-breaking attendance of 6.28 million visitors and yet were turning away many thousands more on Mondays, when we have traditionally been closed. Our new schedule will remedy that.”

Also as of July 1, the museum’s opening time each morning will change to 10 a.m. (from 9:30 a.m.). Otherwise the hours at both locations will remain the same. The new daily schedule as of July 1 in the main building will be: Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.–9 p.m. and Sunday through Thursday 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

The new schedule at The Cloisters museum and gardens will be March–October: open seven days, 10 a.m.–5:15 p.m. and November–February: open seven days, 10 a.m.–4:45 p.m.

Both locations will be closed New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the main building will also be closed on the first Monday in May.

The Metropolitan Museum has been closed on Mondays since 1971, with the exception in recent years of the Holiday Mondays program – in which the museum has been open on a few holidays each year that fall on Mondays. The final Holiday Mondays to be observed before the new seven-day schedule goes into effect on July 1 will be March 25 and April 1 (during spring break), and May 27 (Memorial Day).

Details on admission, group tours and visitor amenities – including dining, shopping and parking – are available at www.metmuseum.org/visit or 212-535-7710.

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