Free Republic

Get ready to walk like an Egyptian - King Tut is on his way back to the Big Apple. Tickets went on sale Tuesday for an exhibit of artifacts from the boy pharaoh's tomb, opening April 23 at the Discovery Times Square Exposition. To mark the occasion, former Mayor Ed Koch welcomed a 25-feet-tall, black-and-gold statue of the jackal-headed god Anubis, which floated on a barge past the Statue of Liberty to arrive at the South Street Seaport. King Tut was a huge hit the last time he was here, bringing 1.8 million visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art...

Met Visitor's Picasso Stumble is $65 Million Oops: ExpertBy CAITLIN MILLAT Updated 4:30 PM EST, Tue, Jan 26, 2010 This may be the most expensive stumble ever. A Metropolitan Museum of Art visitor who lost her balance and tore a hole in a Picasso work Monday slashed the painting's $130 million value in half, an expert told the New York Post. The 6-inch tear in Picasso's "The Actor" happened after a woman stumbled into the Met work, leaving it with a mark that could mean the painting could never be restored to its original condition, appraiser Gerard van Weyenbergh said....

From the North Lake Beach parking area in the Catskill Forest Preserve, a narrow foot trail climbs a rocky incline. After following the trail for about 20 minutes, hikers reach Artists Rock, which gives a sweeping view of the Hudson Valley, the river a sliver of silver in the distance. The trail then leaves the ledge and in less than a half mile it meets a junction with a side trail toward Sunset Rock, the prized view from atop North Mountain that by the late 19th century had become an iconic view of the northern Catskills, celebrated in the work...

The gilded treasures of Tutankhamun have returned to the United States more than 25 years after the sensational success of their first visit, and this time Egypt intends to cash in on the enduring popularity of the boy king. The comeback museum tour has all of the trappings of a Hollywood blockbuster sequel: a "gold carpet" opening in Los Angeles, a high-powered marketing effort and the potential for a massive box office with tickets as high as $30 each. "I am not going to send any exhibit for free anymore. We took you for a free lunch and dinner a...

Volume 51, Number 9 · May 27, 2004 Review Eastern Glory By Ingrid D. Rowland Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557) Catalog of the exhibition edited by Helen C. Evans an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,March 23–July 4, 2004. Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University Press, 658 pp., $75.00; $50.00 (paper) 1. ...O sages standing in God's holy fire As in the gold mosaic of a wall, Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre, And be the singing-masters of my soul. Consume my heart away; sick with desire And fastened to a dying animal It knows...

The Metropolitan Opera will hire an all-black outside chorus next season for its first presentation in nearly three decades of the Gershwins' "Porgy and Bess," which opens the season on Sept. 23. Performances of "Porgy and Bess," which premiered in 1935, are licensed by the Gershwin family, which specifies an all-black cast. "Certainly it's more complicated, but it's worth the complications because it's such a great piece," Met general manager Peter Gelb. "Porgy," by George and Ira Gershwin, and DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, depicts a beggar in a poor African-American community of Charleston, South Carolina. When the Met presented "Porgy"...

Ladies and gentlemen, your President is a robot. Or a wax sculpture. Maybe a cardboard cutout. All I know is no human being has a photo smile this amazingly consistent. On Wednesday, the Obamas hosted a reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, during which they stood for 130 photographs with visiting foreign dignitaries in town for the UN meeting. The President has exactly the same smile in every single shot. See for yourself — the pictures are up on the State Department’s flickr. And, of course, compressed above into 20 seconds for your viewing pleasure.

Experience the excitement of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinees-LIVE in HD on the big screen! Six performances will be broadcast straight from the stage of one of the world's greatest opera houses into select movie theaters equipped with high definition screens and surround sound. These are one day only events, and seating is limited, so purchase your tickets now. Don't miss the chance to enjoy world-class opera from the comfort of your neighborhood theater. Tickets on sale now for 12/30 and 1/6 performances. Tickets $18 adult/$15 child. All HD broadcasts are live at: 1:30 pm EST (12:30 pm CST, 11:30...

he Annenberg Foundation has given $3.5 million to the Metropolitan Opera to help keep its treasured Saturday afternoon live radio broadcasts on the air next season, the opera company said yesterday. The money, it said, is the largest gift ever made to the Met's annual-giving fund.The contribution is a response to ChevronTexaco's decision in May to withdraw its support after the 2003-4 season, ending a 63-year relationship that has been the longest continuous commercial sponsorship in broadcast history.The radio broadcast has introduced opera to millions of people, reaching an estimated 10 million listeners a year in 42 countries.But the Annenberg...