Philanthropist and chairperson of the Reliance Foundation, Nita Ambani, has been elected to the board of The Metropolitan Museum of Art for her “truly exceptional” commitment to preserve and promote India’s art and culture.

The chairman of the museum, Daniel Brodsky, announced that Nita has been named its honorary trustee. Her election took place at the meeting of the board on Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is considered one of the largest and most visited art museums in the world.

Welcoming Nita, 56, to the board, Brodsky said in a statement that her “commitment to The Met and to preserving and promoting India’s art and culture is truly exceptional. Her support has an enormous impact on the museum’s ability to study and display art from every corner of the world.”

Nita, wife of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, is the founder and chairperson of the Reliance Foundation, which has supported

The Met since 2016, beginning with the exhibition “Nasreen Mohamedi” that was the first museum retrospective of the artist’s work in the US and was also one of The Met Breuer’s inaugural exhibitions.

The museum had announced in October 2017 that the Reliance Foundation had promised a “generous gift” to support exhibitions that explore and celebrate the arts of India. It had not stated the amount of the gift.

The museum had then described Nita and Mukesh Ambani as “great champions of The Met”.

In a statement made at the time of the announcement of the gift in 2017, Nita had said India had a rich heritage of art and culture that could be traced back to the fourth century B.C.

She had said the Foundation aimed to recognise and promote the “valuable tradition” by offering opportunities and platforms for Indian art not only within the country but at various institutions around the globe.