The Cloisters

For other uses, see The Cloisters (disambiguation).

The Cloisters
View of the main entrance
The Cloisters is located in New York City
The Cloisters
Location within New York City
The Cloisters is located in New York
The Cloisters
The Cloisters (New York)
The Cloisters is located in the United States
The Cloisters
The Cloisters (the United States)
EstablishedMay 10, 1938 (1938-05-10)
Location99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park
Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates40°51′53″N 73°55′55″W / 40.8648°N 73.9319°W / 40.8648; -73.9319
TypeMedieval art
Romanesque architecture
Gothic architecture
Public transit accessSubway:
"A" train 190th Street or Dyckman Street, "1" train Dyckman Street
Bus: Bx7, M4, M100
Websitewww.metmuseum.org/visit/plan-your-visit/met-cloisters Edit this at Wikidata
The Cloisters
Built1935–1939
ArchitectCharles Collens
Part ofFort Tryon Park and the Cloisters (ID78001870)
NYCL No.0835
Significant dates
Designated CPDecember 19, 1978[2]
Designated NYCLMarch 19, 1974[1]

The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. The museum, situated in Fort Tryon Park, specializes in European medieval art and architecture, with a focus on the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it contains a large collection of medieval artworks shown in the architectural settings of French monasteries and abbeys. Its buildings are centered around four cloisters—the Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem, Bonnefont and Trie—that were acquired by American sculptor and art dealer George Grey Barnard in France before 1913, and moved to New York. Barnard's collection was bought for the museum by financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. Other major sources of objects were the collections of J. P. Morgan and Joseph Brummer.

The museum's building was designed by the architect Charles Collens, on a site on a steep hill, with upper and lower levels. It contains medieval gardens and a series of chapels and themed galleries, including the Romanesque, Fuentidueña, Unicorn, Spanish, and Gothic rooms.[3] The design, layout, and ambiance of the building are intended to evoke a sense of medieval European monastic life.[4] It holds about 5,000 works of art and architecture, all European and mostly dating from the Byzantine to the early Renaissance periods, mainly during the 12th through 15th centuries. The objects include stone and wood sculptures, tapestries, illuminated manuscripts and panel paintings, of which the best known include the c. 1422 Early Netherlandish Mérode Altarpiece and the c. 1495–1505 Flemish Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries.

Rockefeller purchased the museum site in Washington Heights in 1930 and donated it to the Metropolitan in 1931. Upon its opening on May 10, 1938, the Cloisters was described as a collection "shown informally in a picturesque setting, which stimulates imagination and creates a receptive mood for enjoyment".[5]

  1. ^ "The Cloisters" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. March 19, 1974. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  2. ^ "Historic Structures Report: Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service. 1978.
  3. ^ Young 1979, p. 1.
  4. ^ Landais 1992, p. 43.
  5. ^ "The Opening of the Cloisters". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Volume 21, No. 5, 1926. pp. 113–116