The Cloisters Museum and Gardens

The Cloisters Museum and Gardens is a separate branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe, both domestic and religious. The collection includes masterworks of sculpture, stained glass, tapestry, manuscript illumination, and precious metalwork dating from about the ninth to the fifteenth century.

 We have visited here several times recently and find The Cloisters to be a magical place! It is located near the top of Manhattan, set on a hilltop with grand views of the Hudson River. The extensive gardens featuring medieval plantings, enhance the setting for the art.

The unicorn tapestries, woven about 1500, are particularly treasured.

Architectural elements and whole rooms have been imported from locations in Europe and reassembled in the museum.  Visitors travel chronologically through the Middle Ages as they move from room to room.

The Gothic Chapel features stained glass windows from fourteenth century Austria, and tombs from France and Spain.

The Cuxa Cloister was constructed from a pink-hued marble from the Pyrenees Mountains quarried in the twelfth century for a Benedictine monastery.

 This chapter house, originally built in southern France in the twelfth century, was used by monks for meetings and instruction.

This Fuentiduena Chapel, featuring elements from Spain and Italy, is particularly stunning.

We enjoyed the serenity of this cloister reconstructed from portions of the ruins of several small monasteries in southern France.

 This stately king has stood in this portal for over 700 years.

We were impressed by the design and craftsmanship of these beautiful ceramics.

This exquisitely detailed "Merode Altarpiece" depicting the Annuciation was painted about 1425.  It is displayed in its own room accompanied by many medieval household items similar to those portrayed in the painting.