Permanent display
Defensive Display: Shields from The Met Collection
from 12 May 2025 at The Met Fifth Avenue
· New York
Defensive Display: Shields from The Met Collection brings together a selection of shields drawn from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's vast holdings. Spanning cultures and centuries, these objects reveal how the shield has served not only as a practical instrument of protection in battle, but also as a canvas for artistic achievement, symbolic communication, and cultural identity.
From intricately decorated ceremonial examples to battle-worn functional pieces, the works on view demonstrate the remarkable diversity of materials, techniques, and iconographies employed by craftspeople and warriors across the globe. The exhibition invites visitors to consider the shield as both artifact and artwork — an object at the intersection of conflict, craft, and meaning.
From intricately decorated ceremonial examples to battle-worn functional pieces, the works on view demonstrate the remarkable diversity of materials, techniques, and iconographies employed by craftspeople and warriors across the globe. The exhibition invites visitors to consider the shield as both artifact and artwork — an object at the intersection of conflict, craft, and meaning.
About the venue
The Met Fifth Avenue
· New York
The Met Fifth Avenue is the primary museum building for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The building is located at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park in Manhattan's Upper East Side.
