The Cloisters
Ft Washington Avenue at 190th Street
Ft Tryon Park | Manhattan
to 190th Street
General Information
Contact 212-923-3700 |
The
Cloisters at the Met Museum Site
Hours
November thru
February Tuesday thru Sunday 9:30A to 4:45P
March thru October Tuesday
thru Sunday 9:30A to 5:15P
Closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving
Day, Christmas Day
Extras
Gift Shop | Gallery tour | Outdoor
Cafe May thru October
Admission
Adults $20 | Seniors
$15 | Students $10 | Children under 12 Free
Highlights
The Cloisters is one of our favorites
places not for just what it contains, but also for its setting. Ft
Tryon Park and the Inwood neighborhood are set in areas carved by
retreating glaciers and present some of the most dramatic scenery in
New York City. Pinch yourself. Yes, you are in Manhattan. If
time permits, instead of taking the A train, hop on the M4 bus
anywhere along Madison Avenue in Midtown. It can be quite a long
ride (an hour or more), but the bus wends its way along the Upper
East Side, across the lower portion of Harlem, then on up Broadway
through the thriving Washington Heights neighborhood and on into
Inwood along Washington Avenue. It's a great way to get a tour of
Manhattan neighborhoods that you otherwise might not see
The Cloisters is a branch of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art dedicated to medieval religious and secular art
from the twelfth through fifteenth centuries. Contrary to popular
belief it was not John D Rockefeller Jr who brought the nuclei of
the Cloisters and its collection to NYC. George Grey Barnard was a
sculptor and admirer of most things Gothic. He searched France for
the nearly 700 pieces of medieval art and architecture he purchased
and established the first Cloisters in a building of his own design
on Ft Washington Avenue in 1914. It was in 1925 that Rockefeller
donated money so the museum could buy the collection and, five years
later, the new Cloisters was installed within Ft Tryon Park, for
which the land was, again, donated to the City by Rockefeller
There are 18 main areas incorporated
into the Cloisters, arranged chronologically and focusing mainly on
the Romanesque and Gothic styles of medieval art, architecture and
decoration. The highlights, of course, are the five medieval
Cloisters, built around sections brought to NYC by Barnard. On any
day--bright and sunny, grey and cloudy--each cloister is a study in
serene harmony. You just don't talk loudly in these exquisitely
proportioned courts
Other highlights include the popular Unicorn
Tapestries, a series of 7 wool and silk tapestries depicting
The Hunt of the Unicorn. In the Spanish Room is found the 3-paneled Altarpiece
of the Annunciation, a 15th century work by Robert Campin. The
3 rooms of the Treasury contain exquisite works from the 12th to
15th centuries. Included are an elaborately carved altar cross,
probably from 12th century England; the 14th century Book of
Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux; and the Belles Heures de Jean,
Duc de Berry, both magnificently illustrated manuscripts
Things change quickly in NYC. Be sure to contact the museum or society for changes to schedules, admission fees, restrictions on children, strollers, backpacks, etc.
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