The Cloisters

The Cloisters
Christopher Down · CC BY 4.0 · source
Name	The Cloisters
Caption	Medieval sculpture at The Cloisters
Established	1938
Location	Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan, New York City
Type	Art museum, medieval collection

The Cloisters

The Cloisters is a museum in Manhattan, New York City, dedicated to European medieval art and architecture. It is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art complex and concentrates on medieval sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, and tapestries from regions such as France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and the British Isles. The institution attracts scholars, tourists, and students interested in medieval history and art history.

History

The museum originated from the collections of George Grey Barnard, whose purchases of medieval sculpture and architectural fragments in Europe intersected with acquisitions by J. P. Morgan and patrons associated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The site in Fort Tryon Park was secured through the philanthropy of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and design input from architects linked to the Beaux-Arts tradition and the firm of Charles Collens. Construction coincided with debates in the 1920s and 1930s involving the New York City Parks Department, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and preservationists influenced by precedents such as the relocation efforts that involved Cluny Abbey fragments and collectors tied to institutions like the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum. The opening in 1938 followed conservation practices informed by restorers who studied sites such as Chartres Cathedral, Mont Saint-Michel, Sainte-Chapelle, and restorations associated with figures like Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Subsequent directors coordinated loans with curators at the Museo del Prado, the Louvre, the Museo Nacional del Prado, the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, and the National Gallery, London.

Architecture and collections

The building synthesizes elements from medieval cloister architecture found at sites including Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert Abbey, Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, Cuxa Abbey, Montaillou, and monastic complexes in Provence, Catalonia, Burgundy, and Flanders. Galleries showcase Romanesque and Gothic sculpture by anonymous masons alongside named figures connected to workshops associated with Chartres Cathedral, Amiens Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, and sculptural programs comparable to those at Sainte-Foy de Conques. The collection includes illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Hours, choir books related to Cluny, and miniatures comparable to works by artists in the orbit of Jean Pucelle and scriptoria linked to Canterbury Cathedral and Saint-Denis Basilica. Tapestries include pieces in the tradition of the Bayeux Tapestry and series associated with workshops akin to those of Brussels and Arras. Stained glass fragments evoke windows from Chartres, Sens Cathedral, and Saint-Étienne de Bourges. The museum houses reliquaries, liturgical metalwork, and wooden polychrome sculpture in the lineage of objects found in collections at the Museo de Navarra, the Prado Museum, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Conservation laboratories have collaborated with the Getty Conservation Institute, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Institut de France.

Gardens and cloister reconstructions

Landscaped gardens draw on medieval horticultural sources such as herbals compiled by Hildegard of Bingen, medieval treatises circulating in monasteries like Monte Cassino, and manuscripts preserved at Vatican Library and Bibliothèque nationale de France. Reconstructions of cloisters were informed by measured drawings from sites including Saint-Trophime, Arles, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Sanctuary of Montserrat, and Catalan monasteries tied to Ripoll Abbey. Plantings of medicinal and aromatic species reflect species lists from the Tacuinum Sanitatis and botanical knowledge exchanged between centers like Toledo and Salerno. Landscape architects consulted precedents in the gardens of Versailles and design philosophies linked to the Arts and Crafts movement through figures associated with Gertrude Jekyll and practitioners who worked on New York park projects with ties to Frederick Law Olmsted.

Exhibitions and acquisitions

Temporary exhibitions have involved loans and collaborative displays with institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, Musée de Cluny, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, National Gallery of Art, Rijksmuseum, Prado, Neue Galerie, J. Paul Getty Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, Princeton University Art Museum, Harvard Art Museums, and the Morgan Library & Museum. Acquisitions over time included illuminated manuscripts from collectors linked to Sir Robert Cotton and tapestries from private collections associated with families like the Vatican collections and collectors who consigned works through dealers such as Sotheby's and Christie's. Curatorial initiatives have engaged scholarship on medieval patrons like Eleanor of Aquitaine, rulers comparable to Charlemagne, and ecclesiastical figures tied to Pope Innocent III and monastic reform movements originating at Cluny Abbey. Conservation projects have been funded through grants and foundations including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and partnerships with university departments at Columbia University and New York University.

Visitor information and cultural impact

Located in Washington Heights, Manhattan, the museum is accessible via transit routes connecting to hubs like Columbus Circle, 125th Street (Manhattan), and the A Train (New York City Subway) corridor to stations serving Fort Tryon Park. The institution contributes to tourism circuits alongside nearby cultural sites such as the American Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), and performing arts venues like Lincoln Center, as well as educational outreach with programs in collaboration with schools affiliated with City University of New York and community partners including the New-York Historical Society. The museum has appeared in literature, film, and popular culture alongside narratives invoking medieval settings similar to those in works by Geoffrey Chaucer, Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, and modern authors referenced by exhibitions at venues like the New York Public Library and the Museum of Modern Art. Scholarly discourse about the museum engages journals and conferences organized by the College Art Association, the International Congress on Medieval Studies, and university presses such as Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press.

Category:Museums in Manhattan