Traveling Exhibitions
Traveling Works of Art
Conservation Projects
Excavations
Fellows
Exchanges & Collaborations
Multiple Items
About The Met Around the World
The Met Around the World presents the Met’s work via the global scope of its collection and as it extends across the nation and the world through a variety of domestic and international initiatives and programs, including exhibitions, excavations, fellowships, professional exchanges, conservation projects, and traveling works of art.
The Met Around the World is designed and maintained by the Office of the Director.
Traveling
Exhibitions
The Met organizes large and small exhibitions that travel beyond the Museum's walls, extending our scholarship to institutions across the world. See our national and international traveling exhibition program from 2009 to the present.
Traveling
Works of Art
The Met lends works of art to exhibitions and institutions worldwide to expose its collection to the broadest possible audience. See our current national and international loans program.
Conservation
Projects
The preservation of works of art is a fundamental part of the Met's mission. Our work in this area includes treating works of art from other collections. See our national and international conservation activities from 2009 to the present.
Excavations
The Met has conducted excavations for over 100 years in direct partnership with source countries at some of the most important archaeological sites in the world. Today we continue this tradition in order to gain greater understanding of our ancient collections. See our national and international excavation program from the Met's founding to the present.
Fellows
The Met hosts students, scholars, and museum professionals so that they can learn from our staff and pursue independent research in the context of the Met's exceptional resources and facilities. See the activities of our current national and international fellows.
Exchanges & Collaborations
The Met's work takes many forms, from participation in exchange programs at partnering institutions and worldwide symposia to advising on a range of museum issues. These activities contribute to our commitment to advancing the work of the larger, global community of art museums. See our national and international exchange program and other collaborations from 2009 to the present.
There are currently no international activities in this region.
Excavations throughout Met History, 1870–present
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The start of the Nishapur excavations, 1935.
A room from a house in the Sabz Pushan section of Nishapur. The plaster panels seen here are now on display in the Museum.
Workroom in the Nishapur excavation house.
Nishapur
Iran
1935–1940, 1947–1948
The city of Nishapur in northeastern Iran was founded around the fourth century A.D., grew to prominence in the eighth century, and was destroyed by invasions and earthquakes in the thirteenth century. After that time, a much smaller settlement was established north of the ancient town, and the once bustling metropolis lay underground—until a team from The Metropolitan Museum of Art arrived there in the mid-twentieth century. Prior to this time, little was known about the physical nature of the city, but the Museum’s excavators revealed several sections of the city, including such monuments as a grand mosque, palaces, public buildings, baths, and a residential quarter. The excavations also uncovered pottery, some in styles unique to the city, as well as works in glass, metal, and numerous household items. The Museum’s work at Nishapur was made possible through a reciprocal agreement with the Iranian government, which allowed foreign excavators to work in Iran and to receive a share of the finds for their home countries so long as half of the excavated material was given to a local museum. Thus, some 1,500 objects came to the Metropolitan Museum, while an equal number went to the Muze Iran Bastan in Tehran.
Partnered with the Iranian Government.
Partnered with the Iranian Government.
