New American Wing Galleries December 6, 2009

When The Charles Engelhard Court--the grand, light-filled pavilion that has long served as the formal entrance to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing reopens in March 2009 after two years of construction and renovation, the Museum's unparalleled collections of American ceramics, sculpture, stained glass, architectural elements, silver, pewter, glass and jewelry will finally be seen in all their glory. So, too, will its early American rooms - 12 of the Met's historic interiors, mostly from the colonial period, located on three floors of the wing's historic core - that have been reordered, renovated, and reinterpreted. The popular American Wing Cafe will also reopen in its previous location on the park side of the court. The opening of the galleries marks the completion of the second part (begun in May 2007) of a project to reconfigure, renovate, or upgrade nearly every section of The American Wing by 2011.