Manhattan’s European Monasteries And Abbeys - The Met Cloisters

Historic Sites

Jun 24

The Cloister’s museum buildings were constructed by merging various medieval styles and portions of buildings, and the overall design was the work of Charles Colleens. The museum was opened in 1938, and the park and museum were donated by oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller purchased the Billings Estate in the Fort Washington area, and hired Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr to create a park. Rockefeller also acquired the extensive medieval art collection of American sculptor and collector, George Grey Barnard, that included four cloisters. He had them moved and reassembled near his home in New York. Barnard’s collection became the core of the collection housed in the Cloisters. Rockefeller also purchased several hundred acres of the New Jersey Palisades, to preserve the view from the museum.

Here is what caught my eye, I hope you enjoy!

Do you like the images posted?
Click here to explore the shop.

The view of the exterior from the entry drive / parking lot

The Fuentiduena Chapel was acquired from an abandoned church in Spain by Rockefeller in 1931.

The was the former entrance to a small church in Tuscany and now serves as the entrance to Romanesque Hall.

Intricately carved columns from the Saint-Guilhem Cloister

More of the columns of the Saint-Guilhem Cloister

The detailed entrance to Langon Chapel

Inside the Chapel from Notre-Dame-du-Bourg at Lagon Chapel

A view of the garden through the arches

The Chapter House from Notre-Dame-de-Pontaut

Stone pillars and capitals with grotesques

Altar statues and stained glass exhibits in Early Gothic Hall

Statue and window details in Early Gothic Hall

The Cuxa Cloister

A Boppard Room exhibit

The huge fireplace in the Tapestry Room

The Lamination, carved out of walnut

This is a detailed alabaster altar, a gift from J. P. Morgan in 1909, and three 16th century busts of female saints in the Boppard Room

These stained-glass windows in the Boppard Room are from the Carmelite church of Boppard

The Late Gothic Hall altar piece

This is an exhibit of Christ as a small child in the Late Gothic Hall

The Late Gothic Hall

Stained glass windows in the Late Gothic Hall

The view as you enter the Gothic Chapel

Austrian stained-glass windows in the Gothic Chapel with tomb sculptures

Beautifully carved tomb sculptures

Just one of the three hundred stained glass panels in the museum

The fountain at the Trie Cloisters

Bonnefont garden and cloister

Nature and architecture

A medieval window

Arches and potted trees in a cloister

Another view of a cloister

An espalier

The Chapter House from Notre-Dame-de-Pontaut

Views of the George Washington Bridge in the distance, from the terrace

The museum contains three chapels, various galleries, and a chapter house

The Cloister gardens contain plants for medicinal, artistic and magical purposes.

The dome in the Main Hall

A fortress-like gated entrance

The Cloisters is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, located on four acres overlooking the Hudson River in Fort Tryon Park. It contains more than five thousand pieces of European art dating from the 9th to the 16th centuries. Many spaces are enhanced by metalworks done by Samuel Yellin.

What you should know:

Fort Tyron Park has walking trails and you can picnic.
Restrooms are available.
Limited free parking is available.
There are self-guided museum and garden tours.
You could spend a couple of hours to an entire day between the museum and the park.
You can buy your tickets online or in person.
New York and New Jersey residents can “pay what they want” for admission.

Location: 99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tyron Park, New York

For more information: The Cloisters