Morgan Library and Museum

(Thursday) We decided to start our day at the nearby J.P. Morgan library, but after gasping at the wall of heat which hit us as we stepped outside we hastened there and stayed inside the (air conditioned) J.P. Morgan most of the day.  It is simply too hot now to walk any distance outside.

LIoness outside the Morgan library

As it turned out the J.P. Morgan is an excellent place to spend several hours.  It houses a selection of books and artifacts from the amazing collection put together by this billionaire Morgan over 100 years ago, when this place was first built.  It now has a modern extension - of interest to aspiring architects I would imagine - but is still a modest size compared to the Metropolitan we visited yesterday.  I did notice at the Metropolitan Museum dozens of precious items which had been donated by this same man, but he obviously retained an extensive collection of his own.  This smaller library/museum is much easier to enjoy because its collection is so much smaller but comprises equally interesting items.

Birds escaping from the printed page

There was an interesting work on display in the new wing - it started with a Chinese text about birds on the floor, with the characters "breaking free" and soaring up to the ceiling while gradually transforming into stylized birds (they were not moving, just suspended on filaments from the ceiling).

Exhibits include a Gutenberg bible; one of the draft copies of the American constitution; and 4000 year old cunieform tablets.  JP was very keen on treasures from the ancient world.  One of the rooms was the study of the man himself, with a fireplace about 8 feet tall, and decorated with paintings and sculpture from the Middle Ages.

Sue prepares for lunch

They even had a very nice cafe, so we were able to lunch there and then carry on into the afternoon until we had seen anything, and ran out of excuses for avoiding the heat outside.

No photography was allowed in the other rooms, so we'll have to rely on the internet for more!