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Flying into New York City in 2026? Your first impression might not be the skyline—it could be a Dior bar suit or a T. rex skeleton. The new $4.2 billion Terminal 6 at JFK is turning its arrivals hall into “museum row,” a permanent, high-culture welcome mat featuring works from four of the city’s cultural heavyweights: the American Museum of Natural History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Think of it as an express tour of New York’s arts scene without ever leaving baggage claim. The Met’s display will span 5,000 years, from the medieval Unicorn Tapestry at The Cloisters to couture from the Costume Institute. MoMA is teaming up with Yoko Ono for a new iteration of her PEACE is POWER installation, inviting travelers to pause between passport control and the taxi line to engage with her urgent, hopeful message. Lincoln Center will greet visitors with a sweeping 140-foot mural that stitches together scenes from its stages and city streets, celebrating the performing arts as part of New York’s DNA.
The American Museum of Natural History, meanwhile, will swap dioramas for high-resolution drama—images of its star attractions like the towering T. rex, the Rapa Nui figure from Easter Island and the Hall of North American Mammals. The effect is equal parts prehistoric, monumental and majestic.
And that’s just the institutional lineup. The terminal’s broader art program, led in collaboration with the Public Art Fund, will include 19 major site-specific works plus rotating exhibitions from Queens-based artists via the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning. The goal is to bottle the city’s creative energy and hand it to travelers the moment they land.
“Terminal 6 will offer arriving visitors from around the world a unique New York experience before they leave the terminal,” said Rick Cotton, the executive director of the Port Authority.
Art isn’t the only upgrade on offer. Terminal 6 will add 10 larger gates, new lounges, a longer departures curb and upgraded TSA and baggage systems. The first six gates are slated to open in 2026, with the rest by 2028, housing both domestic and international carriers like JetBlue and Lufthansa. Before you’ve even hailed your cab, you’ll have brushed shoulders—metaphorically—with a few dinosaurs, couture legends and a 140-foot slice of Broadway. Welcome to New York!