NEW YORK, NY.- The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened to the public on Monday, December 28 (the Monday between Christmas and New Year's Day), as part of the Museum's popular "Holiday Mondays" program. The Museum will open the doors of its main building this winter and spring on three additional major Monday holidays: January 18 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), February 15 (Presidents' Day), and May 31 (Memorial Day).

"The upcoming Met Holiday Monday provides the public with a double opportunity—to prolong their enjoyment of the holidays by one extra day or to get an early start on New Year's resolutions to increase their exposure to art and culture," commented Emily Rafferty, President of the Metropolitan Museum. "In addition to several offerings that directly relate to the winter holidays, the Museum will also presents an array of exhibitions of art from many times and diverse places."

Of special interest to families is the Museum's Christmas tree and Neapolitan Baroque crèche—a brightly lit, twenty-foot blue spruce decorated with 18th-century angels, cherubs, and a Nativity scene—in the Museum's Medieval Sculpture Hall. Rare examples of earlyJewish art dating from the first through the 13th century can be seen in the recently renovated Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine Art and the Medieval Europe Gallery.

The Young Archer Attributed to Michelangelo encourages visitors to consider various opinions regarding the attribution of this statue before making up their own minds. American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915 presents more than 100 iconic works by Copley, Homer, Cassatt, Sargent, Eakins, and their acclaimed contemporaries, and helps viewers understand the underlying stories the paintings tell. Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans takes the public on a fascinating journey across mid-20th-century America with a groundbreaking Swiss photographer.

Many national treasures never before seen outside of Japan are presented in Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868. On view in Sounding the Pacific: Musical Instruments of Oceania are diverse forms of musical expression from the Hawaiian ukulele to the sacred slit gongs of New Guinea.

Discussion and sketching programs suitable for children ages five through twelve and accompanying adults will take place at 11:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 1:15 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. in the Museum's Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education. These programs are free with Museum admission. Family greeters will be present in the Museum's Great Hall to direct visitors to areas of particular interest.

The Metropolitan's public cafeteria and several of the Museum gift shops in the Main Building are open on all Holiday Mondays.

A different selection of galleries and exhibitions is open each Holiday Monday.