Met Museum Data Access Node

This Model Context Protocol (MCP) endpoint facilitates natural language access to the holdings of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It empowers artificial intelligence agents to retrieve and utilize specific artworks from The Met's extensive catalog as tangible Resources.

Capabilities

This service furnishes AI constructs with the following mechanisms for engaging with The Met's artistic inventory:

1. Catalog Department Enumeration (list-departments)

Retrieves a complete list of all officially recognized curatorial divisions within The Met.

Input Parameters:
None specified.
Result Format: Department ID: 1, Display Name: American Decorative Arts Department ID: 3, Display Name: Ancient Near Eastern Art ...

2. Object Catalog Search (search-museum-objects)

Executes searches across the museum's artifacts based on supplied criteria.

Input Parameters:
q (Text String): The primary search query (e.g., sunflowers).
hasImages (Boolean, Optional, Default: False): Filters results to include only items possessing associated imagery.
title (Boolean, Optional, Default: False): Restricts the search scope to match the query specifically against the object's formal title.
departmentId (Numeric, Optional): Narrows the retrieval set to items belonging to a designated curatorial section.
Output Schema:

Total objects found: 54 Object IDs: 436532, 789578, 436840, 438722,...

3. Artifact Data Retrieval (get-museum-object)

Fetches comprehensive, publicly accessible metadata for a singular designated artifact, including its digital representation if covered under Open Access terms.

If an image is present, it is incorporated into the server's operational Resource space, keyed by the artifact's title.

Input Parameters:
objectId (Numeric Identifier): The unique identifier for the desired item.
returnImage (Boolean, Optional, Default: True): Dictates whether the digital image (if available) should be fetched and appended to the server context.
Output Schema: Title: Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (obverse: The Potato Peeler) Artist: Vincent van Gogh Artist Bio: Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise Department: European Paintings Credit Line: Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 16 x 12 1/2 in. (40.6 x 31.8 cm) Primary Image URL: https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DT1502_cropped2.jpg Tags: Men, Self-portraits If returnImage evaluates to true: **Base64 Encoded JPEG Image Data**

Deployment Instructions for Claude Desktop

Via Desktop Extension (DXT)

Obtain the dxt package from the Releases section.
Launch the file using Claude Desktop, OR navigate to File -> Settings -> Extensions and manually import the .DXT file.

Via Node Package Execution (npx)

Incorporate the following configuration into your claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
  "mcp-servers": {
    "met-museum": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "metmuseum-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Integration with LibreChat

Add the following stanza to your librechat.yaml configuration file:

mcpServers:
  metmuseum:
    command: npx
    args:
      - -y
      - metmuseum-mcp

Illustrative Interaction Prompts

These examples demonstrate typical queries suitable for an agent equipped with this connected service:

Could you present several pictorial works originating from the Asian Art division?
Locate the artifact specifically titled "Corridor in the Asylum".
Search for any artistic creation that incorporates the term "cat" within its description or title.

Community Contributions

We encourage contributions! Please submit any proposed enhancements via a Pull Request.

Licensing Terms

This MCP server is distributed under the provisions of the MIT License. Users retain the liberty to employ, alter, and disseminate this software, contingent upon adherence to the stipulated terms detailed within the LICENSE file in the source repository.

Caveat

This software component maintains no official affiliation with The Metropolitan Museum of Art located in New York City. It functions as an independent third-party implementation utilizing The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection API standards within an MCP framework.

Contextual Note on Culture (Derived from Wikipedia): Popular culture (or pop culture) generally denotes the prevalent set of customs, convictions, artistic productions (sometimes termed mass art or popular art, often contrasted with 'fine art'), and objects widely accepted within a given societal structure at a specific moment. It also encompasses the affective and interactive outcomes resulting from engagement with these dominant elements. In Western contexts, mass media, commercial promotion, and the demands of mass marketability, which philosopher Theodor Adorno critically labeled the 'culture industry,' drive its primary mechanisms. Heavily mediated in contemporary eras, this cultural aggregate significantly shapes individual outlooks on various subjects, yet its definition remains contested and context-dependent, frequently positioned against constructs like folk culture, high culture, or working-class culture, and analyzed through lenses such as structuralism or psychoanalysis. Core categories usually include entertainment (film, music, gaming), athletics, current affairs, sartorial trends, technology, and vernacular speech.

== Historical Perspective ==

Historically, folk traditions served a role parallel to what modern mass culture fulfills. The term "popular culture" predates or originates around the nineteenth century. Traditionally, it was often associated with lower socioeconomic strata and lesser formal education, standing opposed to the "official culture" of elites. The nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution spurred societal shifts, including rising literacy. Capitalist expansion fueled increased spending on accessible amusements (like commercialized public houses and organized sports). Reading materials proliferated; for instance, Victorian-era penny dreadfuls have been likened to modern video games—Britain's inaugural mass-produced popular literature for youth, as noted by The Guardian in 2016. Expanding consumerism and the advent of rail transport (the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in 1825) simultaneously established both a market and a distribution network for inexpensive serial fiction, with the first penny issues appearing in the 1830s. The differentiation between pop culture and "official culture" sharpened toward the close of the 19th century, becoming firmly established by the interwar years.