Museum MCP Server
Click on "Install Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@Museum MCP Serverget highlights from the Metropolitan Museum of Art"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
Museum MCP Server
MCP Server for global museum collections — give AI agents access to 570,000+ artworks from the world's greatest museums. No API key required.
Museums Included
Museum | Collection Size | API Key |
Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) | 470,000+ objects | None required |
Art Institute of Chicago | 100,000+ objects | None required |
Tools (9 total)
Tool | Description |
| Search artworks by keyword in Met or Chicago |
| Full metadata for a specific artwork |
| Find all works by a specific artist |
| List all Met Museum departments |
| Search within a specific Met department |
| Curated highlights from either museum |
| Discover a random artwork |
| Search by historical period (Renaissance, Baroque, etc.) |
| Compare results across both museums simultaneously |
Installation
pip install museum-mcp-serverUsage with Claude Desktop
Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"museum": {
"command": "museum-mcp-server"
}
}
}Example Queries
"Search for Monet paintings in both museums"
"Show me highlights from the Metropolitan Museum of Art"
"Find Renaissance artworks in the Art Institute of Chicago"
"Give me details about artwork 436535 from the Met"
"Show me a random artwork from Chicago"
"Compare results for 'ancient Egypt' across both museums"Data Sources
Metropolitan Museum of Art: metmuseum.github.io — Open Access API, 470,000+ objects spanning 5,000 years
Art Institute of Chicago: api.artic.edu — Free API, 100,000+ works including paintings, sculptures, prints
No API Key Required
Both APIs are completely free and require no authentication. This server works out of the box.
License
MIT — Free to use, modify, and distribute.
Author
AiAgentKarl — Building the AI Agent Economy, one MCP server at a time.
Latest Blog Posts
MCP directory API
We provide all the information about MCP servers via our MCP API.
curl -X GET 'https://glama.ai/api/mcp/v1/servers/AiAgentKarl/museum-mcp-server'
If you have feedback or need assistance with the MCP directory API, please join our Discord server