UPPER EAST SIDE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened Monday for the first time in 42 years to kick off its new seven-days-a-week schedule.
In years past, the museum was losing thousands of visitors by staying closed on Mondays, said Met director and CEO Thomas P. Campbell, according to The Met's website.
Along with the added day, the Met also made the switch from metal admission tags to sticker tags Monday, with the museum administration citing cost-saving measures as the reason.
“Art is a 7-day-a-week passion," Campbell stated as he announced the new schedule. “We want the Met to be accessible whenever visitors have the urge to experience this great museum.”
For many tourists, the fact that the museum is now open on Monday means that they can do more during their limited time in the city.
Loretta Cafferty, who was visiting from South Carolina with her husband Tom on Monday, said the new schedule was a “pleasant surprise, especially on a rainy Monday."
"It works out quite nicely, [since we are] leaving tomorrow."
Xenia Piciughin, a 21-year-old student from Moldova who was also visiting the museum Monday, said she would have just gone to the Guggenheim if the Met were closed.
“We are very excited,” added Annette Dreyfuss, 66, visiting from Switzerland with her husband, with whom she runs a textile business. “We thought we wouldn’t be able to see the Punk [exhibit] and the Impressionists.”
Her cousin, Alex Galant, 66, a public school teacher in Denver, Colo., and native New Yorker, called the Met his “favorite museum in the world," noting he was initially disappointed by the prospect of missing out on the museum, but was happy that it was now open on Monday.
Solveig Hemsing, 64, a teacher from Norway, explained that the Met's added day fit perfectly with her vacation schedule.
“We came to New York for a few days,” she said, “so why shouldn’t we come on Monday to the Met?”
