NEW YORK, NY.- The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be open to the public on Monday, December 27 (Christmas/New Year's Week), as part of the Museum's popular "Holiday Mondays" program.

Emily K. Rafferty, President of the Metropolitan Museum, commented, "Coming to the Met on this particular Monday has itself become a holiday tradition for many of our visitors. We are delighted to continue to provide this very special day for tourists who are in New York for the holidays, families that wish to spend the long weekend together, and everyone whose busy schedule usually leaves little time to enjoy the restorative power of art."

By opening its main building on the Monday after Christmas, the Museum will offer visitors an additional opportunity to view the landmark international loan exhibition The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty before it closes to the public January 2. To date, the exhibition—which opened September 28—has been seen by more than 150,000 people.

Also on view will be Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand, a presentation of more than 100 groundbreaking works by three early giants of photography—Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Paul Strand—and The Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel, a richly ornamented, beautifully preserved mosaic floor from around 300 A.D., exhibited for the first time outside Israel. The mosaic is on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Shelby White and Leon Levy Lod Mosaic Center.

Of special interest to families will be the Museum's Christmas tree and Neapolitan Baroque crèche—a brightly lit, 20-foot blue spruce decorated with 18th-century angels, cherubs, and a Nativity scene—in the Museum's Medieval Sculpture Hall. Family greeters will be present in the Museum's Great Hall to direct visitors to areas of particular interest.

Charles H. Tally Holiday Monday Family Programs specially organized for the Monday of Christmas/New Year's Week include discussion and sketching activities that will be available for families with children ages 5 through 12 at 11 a.m., noon, 1:15 and 2:30 p.m.

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

The Museum will open the doors of its main building this winter and spring on four additional major Monday holidays: Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 17), Presidents' Day (February 21), Spring Break (April 25), and Memorial Day (May 30).

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