THE CLOISTERS

Description

Essentials about The Cloisters in brief

The Cloisters is one of the most unusual buildings in New York City. It is a replica of a European monastery using architectural fragments mostly from French monasteries. The Cloisters is located in Fort Tryon Park near the northern tip of Manhattan on a hill above the Hudson River. It is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and houses part of its collection of medieval artwork.

The history of The Cloisters

The idea for a museum of medieval art in New York City goes back to the sculptor and art collector George Grey Barnard (1863-1938). In addition to numerous works of art, he had also collected architectural fragments from several French monasteries. Barnard opened a private museum on Fort Washington Avenue, which he initially called the Gothic Collection before renaming it “The Cloisters”. This collection came into the possession of the Metropolitan Museum of Art through a donation from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1925. Rockefeller had already purchased the site of what is now Fort Tryon Park in 1917 and provided the building site here for the present museum.

When the Barnard Collection opened in 1926, it was already clear to those responsible at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that their main building on Fifth Avenue would not have sufficient and suitable space to adequately display the numerous works of art and architectural pieces. Architect Charles Collens was therefore commissioned to construct a new building in Fort Tryon Park. The building complex, begun in 1934, incorporates original elements from European monasteries and is based on the plans of the medieval models. It is therefore not a reconstruction of a monastery that ever really existed, but an attempt to recreate as faithful an appearance as possible to the original. However, the equipment of the complex with several cloisters can be assigned to museum use and does not correspond to the original European facilities. The exemplarily maintained gardens were also laid out true to the original on the basis of various medieval documents. The Cloisters opened at its present location in 1938.

The collection of The Cloisters

About half of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of medieval art is on view at The Cloisters site, while the other part is on display at the main building on Fifth Avenue. Although the earliest works of art at The Cloisters date from around the year 800, the collections focus is on exhibits from the 12th through the 15th centuries. In addition to original columns from various cloisters of French monasteries, European arcades, vaults, windows, portals and fountains have been permanently installed in The Cloisters. Other exhibits include stained glass, metalwork, manuscripts, enamel work, paintings, ivory carvings, tapestries and other textiles.

Outstanding works of art in The Cloisters include the Mérode triptych by the Master of Flémalle from the workshop of Robert Campin, an intercession of Jesus and Mary attributed to Lorenzo Monaco, and a Romanesque altar cross called the Cloisters Cross. From the Rockefeller Collection are seven Flemish tapestries depicting “the hunt for the unicorn.” Among the important medieval manuscripts and illuminated books in the Cloisters collections are Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry by the Limburg brothers and Jean Puzelle’s Book of Hours for Joan of Evreux.