| |  | | | | The Met Cloisters Late Night: Beasts and Beings | Thursday, May 21, 6–9 pm
Museum-wide, The Met Cloisters
Dragons, shapeshifters, and hybrid creatures await! Join us for a special after-hours evening to celebrate spring. Sip, sketch, and wander the galleries to chat with experts and discover the wild, wondrous creatures on view in the exhibition Creatures of Myth and Imagination: Europe and the Americas.
| 💃 | Groove to music in the gardens and join a Cumbia dance class. | | 🧜♀️ | Try your luck at a special game of Lotería. | | 🐉 | Get creative with hands-on activities—design your own mythical hybrid being and spot creatures that call Fort Tryon Park home. | Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Creatures of Myth and Imagination: Europe and the Americas.
Tickets $50. Note: Space is limited; advance registration is required. Drink specials and light fare available for purchase. Activities are subject to change.
Register now → |  | | Curator Talk—Creatures of Myth and Imagination: Europe and the Americas | Saturday, June 13, 2–3 pm
Gallery 2, Fuentidueña Chapel, The Met Cloisters
Join the curators of The Met Cloisters exhibition Creatures of Myth and Imagination: Europe and the Americas for an in-depth look at the groundbreaking show that explores fantastical creatures and the myths that surround them. Featuring objects from either side of the Atlantic Ocean between 500 and 1500 CE, the exhibition is a collaboration between two Met curatorial departments: Medieval Art and The Cloisters and The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. The widespread presence of these supernatural beings, possessing the power to transform and be transformed, reflects a global impulse to make sense of both known and unknown worlds.
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Creatures of Myth and Imagination: Europe and the Americas.
Free with Museum admission, though advance registration is recommended. Note: Space is limited; first come, first served.
Register now → |  | | Garden Tour | | GUIDED TOURS | Daily (except Wednesdays)
11 am–12 pm | | |  | | | | | | | |  |  | | Creatures of Myth and Imagination: Europe and the Americas | | UPCOMING | May 18–October 18, 2026
Gallery 001, Gallery 010, and Gallery 016, The Met Cloisters
For as long as humans have told stories, we've imagined creatures that transcend the natural world. Fantastical beings combining the features of animals, humans, and even plants appear across cultures, emerging in the most ancient myths and enduring in contemporary epics. The widespread presence of these supernatural beings, possessing the power to transform and be transformed, reflects a global impulse to make sense of both known and unknown worlds. Visual artists have given form to these imaginary creatures, resulting in some of the most fearsome, beloved, and extraordinary works of art ever made.
Set in the evocative atmosphere of The Met Cloisters, Creatures of Myth and Imagination: Europe and the Americas sheds light on a selection of works created on either side of the Atlantic Ocean between 500 and 1500 CE. The exhibition's exploration of hybrid creatures deepens our understanding of their apparent necessity among diverse peoples. In the Americas, a complex gold pendant by a Tairona artist of northern Colombia, depicting a confrontational figure with hands on hips, a crocodile-like head, and an enormous headdress, would have reflected and expressed the wearer's status and power. In Europe, ferocious dragons such as the one depicted on a monumental fresco from the monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza, Spain, took center stage to convey a multiplicity of meanings both sacred and profane.
With these and over 50 other objects, including sculpture, ceramics, ivories, textiles, paintings, and metalwork, Creatures of Myth and Imagination looks beyond a specific story, time, and place to explore larger questions about who we are and what connects us.
Learn more → | | | | Accessibility at The Met
The Met is committed to accessibility for all. For information about accessibility, programs, and services for people with disabilities at both Met sites, visit metmuseum.org/access. To request an access accommodation for virtual programs or online resources, email [email protected], or call 212-650-2010. For information about accessibility on our website, see our Website Accessibility Statement. | Events take place at The Met Cloisters unless otherwise noted.
For more information about the exhibitions, including sponsorship credits, see Creatures of Myth and Imagination: Europe and the Americas and Gothic by Design: The Dawn of Architectural Draftsmanship.
Public programs at The Met Cloisters are made possible in part by The Helen Clay Frick Foundation.
For Education program funders, visit metmuseum.org/educationfundingsupport.
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Images: Late Night gif images by Argenis Apolinario | Tairona artist(s), Figure Pendant, Colombia, 900-1600 CE. Gold. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Jan Mitchell and Sons Collection, Gift of Jan Mitchell, 1991 (1991.419.31) | All other photos by Filip Wolak | | | |
