The MET Africa & Byzantium Tour

Date – Time

February 2, 2024 – 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Location

The Met Fifth Avenue
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10028

Additional Information

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Field Trip

For: All Families

Time: 11am Arrival (1st Tour at 11:30am & 2nd Tour at 12:30pm)

Price: $12.50 per person

Description: Join us for a special 1 hour tour of the Africa and Byzantium Exhibition by exhibit curator, Michelle Al-Ferzly. Price includes admission to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We will have two 1 hour tours consisting of 25 people each. After the tours, families may stay and visit the museum until it's 9pm closing.

This tour was made possible by one of our members, Pheobe Farag Mikhail. She recorded one of the audio guides and is a community engagement advisor for the exhibition.

Africa and Byzantium Exhibition: Art history has long emphasized the glories of the Byzantine Empire (circa 330–1453), but less known are the profound artistic contributions of North Africa, Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, and other powerful African kingdoms whose pivotal interactions with Byzantium had a lasting impact on the Mediterranean world. Bringing together a range of masterworks—from mosaic, sculpture, pottery, and metalwork to luxury objects, paintings, and religious manuscripts—this exhibition recounts Africa’s central role in international networks of trade and cultural exchange. With artworks rarely or never before seen in public, Africa & Byzantium sheds new light on the staggering artistic achievements of medieval Africa. This long-overdue exhibition highlights how the continent contributed to the development of the premodern world and offers a more complete history of the vibrant multiethnic societies of north and east Africa that shaped the artistic, economic, and cultural life of Byzantium and beyond.

For more information about the exhibit, please visit https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/africa-byzantium.

Important Info:

We recommend driving (and carpooling) if possible and parking in the parking lot attached to the museum for ease of access. For those unable to drive into the city, we are looking into taking the ferry in. We'll keep you posted on this option as soon as we have worked out all the details.

Driving Directions from Northern New Jersey: Take southbound Henry Hudson Parkway to 96th Street exit; cross Central Park and turn right on Fifth Avenue; enter Museum parking garage at 80th Street.

The Museum parking garage, located at Fifth Avenue and 80th Street, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Prices per hour are on the museum website and you can also pre-book your parking spot.