THE CLOISTERS
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Romanesque Abbey with garden, in a haven of peace and beauty near Manhattan, with famous manuscripts
The most French place in New York, both in history and architecture. The Cloisters brings together five French medieval cloisters and exhibits treasures from the Middle Ages. The extraordinary destiny of these European Romanesque and Gothic fragments, recomposed into an American medieval ensemble, is intertwined with the adventurous life of a New York sculptor and collector: George Grey Barnard. For ten years, he criss-crossed France in search of treasures he bought from peasants. He notably acquired the cloister of Saint-Michel de Cuxa, in the Pyrénées-Orientales: a tour de force. In 1913, the French government passed a law prohibiting the export of historic monuments. Barnard was able to bring hundreds of pieces back to America. The museum opened in 1938 thanks to the generosity of John Rockefeller Jr. who donated the entire collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Built on a high, wooded hill, Fort Tryon Park, overlooking Harlem and the Hudson River, the location of this Romanesque abbey makes it one of New York's most endearing museums. The cloister garden at Trie-en-Bigorre is home to the plants depicted in the Unicorn Hunt tapestries. This extraordinary series, one of the masterpieces of medieval tapestry, is well worth a visit in its own right. The museum also houses famous manuscripts such as Les belles heures de Jean de France. A haven of peace and beauty, just a stone's throw from the city.
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