Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts holiday display on 24 November

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents its Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche from 24 November 2026 at its Fifth Avenue building in New York City. The seasonal display continues through 6 January 2027, giving visitors a fixed winter programme inside one of the city’s major museums.

Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche starts on 24 November

The museum’s holiday programme places the installation in Gallery 305 on Floor 1. It combines a twenty-foot blue spruce with an eighteenth-century Neapolitan Nativity scene, whose figures and silk-robed angels create the display’s central arrangement. The museum lists the dates as 24 November 2026 to 6 January 2027 on its holiday programme page.

The presentation is an exhibition display rather than a separate public ceremony. The museum’s exhibition information states that no tree-lighting ceremony is scheduled this year. The installation is therefore the relevant event for visitors planning a museum visit during the period, rather than a one-day lighting occasion.

Gallery 305 connects Christmas display with medieval art

The tree and Nativity scene stand in front of an eighteenth-century Spanish choir screen from the Cathedral of Valladolid. That setting places a modern seasonal object beside a historic architectural element in the Medieval Sculpture Hall, linking the programme to the museum’s holdings in European sculpture and decorative art.

The institution was incorporated in 1870 and opened its current Fifth Avenue site in 1880. Its building presents art spanning more than 5,000 years, while the collection contains more than 1.5 million objects, according to Britannica’s museum overview. The holiday display’s location in Gallery 305 places a short seasonal programme within that much older institutional and architectural history.

Seasonal displays extend to the museum’s other site

The museum’s separate Cloisters branch has its own seasonal presentation. Medieval Christmastide Decorations are listed for the Main Hall from 3 December 2026 to 5 January 2027, with holly, ivy, apples, pinecones and other natural materials used around its medieval interiors.

The two programmes are not the same event. The Fifth Avenue display begins on 24 November, while the Cloisters presentation starts on 3 December, so the choice of site changes both the date and the character of the visit.

Visiting Metropolitan Museum of Art: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• The Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche is on view from 24 November 2026 to 6 January 2027 in Gallery 305 at the Fifth Avenue building.
• The display is on Floor 1, and no tree-lighting ceremony is scheduled for 2026; visitors should therefore plan for the gallery presentation itself.
• The Fifth Avenue site is at 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028, in New York City.
• The Cloisters programme is at 99 Margaret Corbin Drive and begins on 3 December 2026, so it is a separate destination from Gallery 305.

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Frequently asked questions about Metropolitan Museum of Art

When does the Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche take place at Metropolitan Museum of Art?

The display runs from 24 November 2026 to 6 January 2027 in Gallery 305 at the Fifth Avenue building.

What is the Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche?

It is a seasonal installation combining a twenty-foot blue spruce with an eighteenth-century Neapolitan Nativity scene before a Spanish choir screen.

Where is Metropolitan Museum of Art and how do you get there?

The Fifth Avenue site is at 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028. The separate Cloisters site is at 99 Margaret Corbin Drive.