Morgan Library: Hours, Tickets and What Not to Miss

Don't make the mistake of skipping the Morgan Library & Museum, a place where you can take in the opulence of one of the founders of modern Manhattan: the famous banker J.P. Morgan.

What was once Morgan's mansion is today a library and museum holding the largest collection of medieval and Renaissance art and books outside of Europe.

From the outside it keeps a pretty low profile, but the moment you cross the threshold the architecture will take your breath away and transport you straight from America to Europe.

What to see at the Morgan Museum

This museum is one of those only-in-New-York stories you see in the movies.

A wealthy J. P. Morgan Jr., after the death of his father (the businessman and banker John Pierpont Morgan), decided to donate to the city of New York the collection his father had assembled over a lifetime.

That's how the works and texts acquired over years of travel and visits to antique dealers and auction houses became the Morgan Library & Museum. Very upper-crust, very New York, as you'll see.

J.P. Morgan became the most powerful banker in the United States.

He was one of the magnates who built New York and, to a large extent, America, alongside oil man John D. Rockefeller (whose house and urban complexes you can visit), Henry Clay Frick in steel (also an art collector, at his Frick Collection) and the Vanderbilts in railroads, who left their mark in every corner of Grand Central Terminal.

Morgan's Collection

Along the way you'll walk through several original rooms of Morgan's house (like his elegant study, the West Room, with walls lined in red silk in the style of a Roman palazzo), where the paintings, statues and antiques are displayed.

But the centerpiece of the museum is his library, the East Room, with three tiers of walnut shelves packed with rare books all the way to the ceiling, a ceiling exquisitely decorated with murals by Henry Siddons Mowbray.

No photo will ever do that atmosphere justice.

Among the jewels of the collection are three original Gutenberg Bibles, the first edition of William Shakespeare's plays and signed drawings by Rembrandt, Dürer, Da Vinci, Picasso and Michelangelo.

It also holds the original manuscript of Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott and several by Charlotte Brontë, Honoré de Balzac and Charles Dickens.

They recently acquired the personal letters of J.D. Salinger, author of the famous The Catcher in the Rye.

The Morgan Museum Shop

Over the years the original house has been expanded, turning it into a full-fledged cultural center.

But the shop sits in one of the home's original rooms. You'll find plenty of books and beautiful objects there.

Cafe and restaurant

The Morgan also has a cafe and an elegant restaurant that intellectual New Yorkers pick for dinner.

They're also set inside what were once the elegant rooms of Morgan's home, so they'll give you a sense of how one of the magnates of modern New York lived.

You can visit the shop, the restaurant and the cafe without paying museum admission.

The Morgan is steps from the spectacular Grand Central Station, so you can knock out both attractions in one go.

Free admission

If you want a look at these priceless pieces without touching your budget, there's free admission to the Morgan Museum every Friday from 2 pm to 5 pm (check out other museums with free hours).

The Morgan Museum also hosts concerts and other cultural events you can check on their calendar.

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Address

225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street

Getting there

Subway
Line 6, 33rd Street Station
Lines 4, 5, 6, S. Grand Central Station
Lines B, D, F, Q. 42nd Street Station

Prices

Adults US$22 / Students US$13 / 65+ US$14 / Under 12 free
Free admission Fridays from 2 to 5 pm (you need to book a week in advance on their website)

Hours

Wednesday to Sunday, 10:30 am to 5 pm

Map