Apparently this is a thing of the past but in 1996, the Metropolitan Museum, along with the MOMA and other major museums were closed on Mondays, to allow curatorial work, etc. As Jayson has mentioned in other posts, it was one of the best perks of the job – being able to go in on a Monday, when the place was ostensibly ‘closed’, flash his ID at the loading dock (rear, underground entrance), and to even bring out-of-town guests, who were inevitably impressed and awed and cowed by the huge hushed hallowed and largely deserted halls, even the marathon ‘blockbuster’ shows gone deserted and quiet on this day, that was almost reverent, just a few voices gone quiet, the workers putting up a new show or adjusting what was there, a few other similar guests, footsteps echoing the vast spaces, all in service to what is largely often forgotten and neglected at the infamous, ‘celebrity’ art palaces, thick and guarded as Fort Knox: the art itself. Which, Monday or not, remained, calm, quiet and patient, for the viewing

–Eds.