New York City: John P. Morgan Library and Museum (April 2014)

My spouse and I visited the John Pierpont Morgan Library on a Saturday afternoon in mid-April 2014. The library complex is open from Tuesday through Sunday. (It is closed on Monday. The library is located in the Murray Hill neighborhood of the city, a few blocks from the New York Public Library.

 The cost for full adult admission is $18, which was expensive for the size of the site. However, some discounted admission times exist. The museum offers free full admission on Friday evenings from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. It offers free partial admission (to the library, study, rotunda, and librarian's office but not to the rotating exhibits) on Tuesday from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm and on Sunday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Visitors do not have to pay admission if they simply want to dine or shop. The admission price includes a complimentary one-hour audio guide that offers additional information about the library, its history, architecture, and permanent collection.

 Renzo Piano (an Italian Pritzker Prize-winning architect) designed the modern building that houses the museum entrance, lobby, coatroom, staircase, elevators, and bathrooms. The modern building bridges the original structures (including the library, study, rotunda, and library) and the Madison Avenue building (that houses the dining room, reading room, and gift shop). The basement level of the new building house the education center, lecture / event hall, and bathrooms. The coatroom accepts outerwear and small bags so that guests can tour in comfort.

The Morgan Library offers two dining venues: the casual Morgan Cafe and the formal Morgan Dining Room. The Cafe offers more flexible operating hours than the Dining Room. The Dining Room is open for weekday lunch and Sunday brunch.

The highlight of this museum is the original collection of rooms called the McKim Rooms, which include Mr. Morgan's Library, Mr. Morgan's Study, the Rotunda, and the Librarian's Office.

The Library was completed in 1906 and houses a collection of rare books in a gorgeous vaulted-ceiling room with two levels of balconies surrounding it (visitors cannot access the balconies). The roof of the room features beautiful murals. A huge fireplace, tapestry, and chandelier offer additional focal points. The library collection contains printed books and bindings, medieval, Renaissance, musical, literary, and historical manuscripts by authors such as Voltaire, Sir Isaac Newton, Gutenberg, Mozart, Rubens, Hemingway, Kerouac, and Thoreau.

The Study (also called the West Room) was Mr. Morgan's office. The open and airy (although dark) room houses a small collection of wall art, sculptures, and other decorative objects. The Study contains a vault in which precious objects were stored. (Guests can peek into the vault but cannot directly enter it.)

The Rotunda contains the original entrance to the complex on East 36th Street. It is a grand room with a rounded vaulted ceiling that features marble and mosaic panels. The Rotunda displays pieces of Americana, including letters by Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Star-Spangled Banner.

The North Room (also called the Librarian's Office) is the most recently opened space on the property. The room is clad in wood paneling. Glass-fronted display cases that line the room contain interesting artifacts, especially the extensive collection of metal seals and tablets.

The East and West Galleries, the Clare Eddy Thaw Gallery, and the Marble Hall stage rotating exhibits. When we visited, one exhibit featured Antoine de Saint-Exupery's book, "The Little Prince". Another exhibit called "Photographs at Play" contained photos hung / arranged in a way that required the viewer to draw conclusions and make visual associations between the pictures hanging on either side.

We are glad to have visited the library, but the admission price is a little steep to make us return. Perhaps one of the rotating exhibitions will draw us back someday.