Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute received a $10 million donation from philanthropists, Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Thomas P. Campbell, Director of the Museum said that the gift will allow the museum to completely renovate its costume-related exhibition galleries, study collection, and conservation center starting 2012.

A newly designed 4,200-square-foot gallery, to be named as Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery, is to represent a fundamental change in the Museum's approach to its costume collection as visitors will be able to view some aspect of these holdings at least for 10 months of the year.

This gift is truly transformative. The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery is designed as a distinctly flexible space, so the possibilities for creative interpretations of the collection are unlimited, said Campbell on the landmark donation.

The renovation of the Costume Institute will also involve a new costume conservation center and an expanded and updated study or storage facility.

The facility will house, onsite, the combined holdings of the Met and the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection, which was transferred to the Metropolitan Museum in early 2009.

This project makes possible the Museum's dramatic re-thinking of the display of historic costume and contemporary fashion, said the Harold Koda, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute in a statement.

Currently, the institute contains a massive collection of fashionable dresses and regional costumes from parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and the America dating to as far as the 17th century. In addition to the important collection acquired from the Brooklyn Museum, the institute is also supported by the Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library, known to be one of the world's most famous fashion libraries.

New York