BROOKLYN MUSEUM

museum in Brooklyn, N.Y., that pioneered in public education in art and community participation and service. The first section of the museum was opened in 1897. It added wings and special facilities over the years, and in 1923 it became the first museum in the United States to exhibit African cast-metal and other objects as art, not as ethnological artifacts. The first period room installation was opened in 1929. Twelve Assyrian alabaster reliefs were added to the museum's collections in 1955. The museum's Egyptian and classical collection covered five millennia of Egyptian art by the late 20th century. Examples of the diversity of topics covered in special exhibits include Cubism, black American art, women's art, and Haitian art.