The Met Revealed: an Insider’s Tour of the Great Museum with Patrick Bringley
The Met as Seen by a Longtime Guard and Author
Join Patrick Bringley, New York Times bestselling author of All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me, as he sheds new light on familiar masterpieces and reveals wonders of the Met hidden in plain sight.
Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house.
Patrick spent a decade in the Met’s galleries, guarding delicate treasures from Egypt to Rome, strolling the labyrinths of the museum’s backstage, and enjoying the lively subculture of over five hundred museum guards. Join him as he shares surprising, inspiring information and insights about “one museum, the works collected there and the people who keep it running — all recounted by an especially patient observer” (The New York Times).
Upcoming Dates:
Currently, there are no dates scheduled for this tour. Check back for future dates or contact us to be on the list to be notified of the next tour: info@boweryboyswalks.com
We do offer another tour of The Met with Carl Raymond, “Art of The Gilded Age“, which has several dates coming up.
Patrick is thrilled to be back in the galleries after the publication of All the Beauty in the World, published in February 2023 by Simon & Schuster and in translated editions around the world. Patrick has been featured in The New Yorker, CBS News, ABC News, NPR, the Guardian, the Times of London, and many other outlets. He has spent countless hours discussing the Met’s collections with all types of people and is as engaging a storyteller as he is a writer.
The Tour
The tour lasts 90-120 minutes and winds through at least six of the Met’s curatorial departments, including Greek and Roman Art, Egyptian Art, Asian Art, Medieval Art, and European Paintings. Before you enter the museum, you will gaze at its four-city-block-long facade and learn about the Met’s 150-year history, its architectural peculiarities, and fascinating details of its operations that Patrick knows firsthand.
As you walk through the galleries, you will be treated to several narrative threads about the Met, expertly interwoven. You will hear:
- Information about the work of the Met’s staff of more than 2,000 employees
- Revealing and funny stories from Patrick’s long hours of people-watching
- The startling and diverse backstories of masterpieces and the people who produced them
- Insights into the special beauty and meaning of art, gleaned from a decade of close observation
The Met Museum Tour Highlights:
- Discussing the Egyptian conception of time before a two-thousand-year-old Egyptian temple (with two-hundred-year-old graffiti)
- Coming face to face with an ancient head of Hermes that was once stolen from the Met and hidden at Grand Central Terminal
- Learning how oil paintings are “constructed” by looking closely at an unfinished Albrecht Durer masterpiece
- Spending time in a 17th-century Chinese scholar’s garden and hearing how a guard is reconstructing a piece of it in his home in West Africa
Here’s what people are saying about the tour:
“I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the Insider’s tour of the Met on Sunday. It was so different than other museum tours I’ve been on because of the guide’s perspective as a former museum guard. He was also very articulate and entertaining.”
“We enjoyed Patrick’s tour of the Met. He was easy to listen to and had many interesting stories and insights to the art, architecture and people associated with the museum. We recommend this tour!”
– Bowery Boys Walks guests
Rates
Walking Tour:
Regular Price: $90 (includes $28 admission to the museum)
Senior Price (65+): $80 (includes $20 admission to the museum)
Student Price: $70 (includes $12 admission to the museum)
Note about Met Members and NYC residents: The Met’s official policy is that anyone taking a tour with a guide has to pay the group price admission fee. There is no distinction between New York citizens, donors, members, etc. “Membership benefits and other passes are not valid for group admission.”
Also, because of the mandatory Met tickets, no promo or discount codes can be used for this special tour.
Please contact Patrick Bringley directly to set up a private tour.
Duration
Walking Tour: Around 90 minutes to 2 hours (we will send the meeting place when you sign up)
Ages
This tour is best suited for precocious teens and older
Your Guide:
Patrick Bringley, a former museum guard at The Met and author of All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me.
Prep for the Met Museum Tour by listening to Bowery Boys episode #341 “The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 150 Years of History on Display.”