The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Michael C. Rockefeller Wing will reopen to the public on May 31 after a $70 million renovation. The wing houses the museum's collections of art from Africa, the Ancient Americas, and Oceania, and features a new sloped glass wall, a dedicated gallery for light-sensitive Andean textiles, and over 1,800 works spanning five continents. The reopening day celebration includes live music, art-making activities, and a conversation between Met director Max Hollein and architect Kulapat Yantrasast.
The reopening matters because it represents a major institutional commitment to broadening the representation of global art history at one of the world's most visited museums. The renovation, designed by WHY Architecture, incorporates input from international researchers and introduces innovative display and conservation technologies, including the first U.S. gallery specifically engineered for Andean textiles. This reimagining signals the Met's ongoing effort to expand perspectives on non-Western art and to present these collections with greater context and cultural sensitivity.