Perhaps
you’ve been to New York City many times and think you’ve “seen it all” — but
you haven’t really, not if you’ve never been to The Cloisters.
Officially
known as The Met Cloisters, this wonderful museum is a branch of the
Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. It is devoted to the art and architecture of
the Middle Ages, and specifically for the display of masterpieces from that
long period in Christian Western Europe.
Oil baron
John D. Rockefeller Jr. provided the money for the museum’s construction.
The two-story building contains architectural elements and settings
relocated mostly from four French abbeys, which were dismantled, transported to
New York, reconstructed and integrated with new construction in a project
overseen by architect Charles Collins. Its design, layout
and ambiance is intended to evoke a sense of medieval European monastic life.
The museum, which opened in 1938, holds about 5,000 works of art and
architecture. It displays wood and stone sculptures, stained-glass windows, tapestries,
paintings, triptychs of Gospel stories, illuminated manuscripts, lecterns,
reliquaries, chandeliers, candlesticks, scepters, benches and chairs, and
chalices, in its many rooms.
The
Cloisters is located in beautiful Fort Tryon Park, located almost at the
northern tip of Manhattan in Washington Heights — perhaps the reason it’s often
overlooked. But it’s definitely worth the trip.
Take the “A”
Eighth Avenue Express subway to 190th St. and then walk through
the park, which overlooks the Hudson River, just north of the George Washington
Bridge.
I was there
on a chilly day just before Christmas, but it was a lovely place to stroll and
take in the view.
The museum’s
Romanesque Hall contains stone portals from French churches of the 12th and
13th centuries, and next door, the Fuentiduena Chapel displays
a 12th-century Romanesque apse from the Church of San Martin de Fuentiduena in
Segovia in today’s Spain.
The
Saint-Guilhem Cloister has a late 12th-century carving from the French
monastery of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, and also features sculptures from Italy
and elsewhere in France.
The large
Cuxa Cloister room contains pink stone elements from the French Benedictine
Monastery of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa in the Pyrenees. The garden features crossed
paths and a central fountain.
The stone
pieces in the Trie Cloister and Garden were created primarily for the Carmelite
convent at Trie-sur-Baise in the Pyrenees. The garden invokes the milllefleurs
background of medieval tapestries.
Take in the
Early Gothic Hall, with 13th-century stained-glass windows from England, France
and Germany, overlooking the Hudson River.
Stained-glass
windows from the 15th-century Carmelite convent of Boppard-am-Rhein also
dominate the Boppard Room, while windows from the same century, from a
monastery in Sens, France, illuminate the Late Gothic Hall. This room also
features altar pieces from Germany, Italy and Spain, along with a tapestry of
the Burgos Cathedral.
Two
magnificent tapestries rooms are among the jewels of the collection. The Nine
Heroes room displays hangings created about 1400 for a member of the Valois
court in France, portraying heroes from ancient, Hebrew and Christian history.
The Unicorn
room tapestries, seven in number, depict the hunt and capture of a unicorn.
They were probably woven in Brussels in the 15th century. Christian writings interpret the unicorn and its death as the Passion of
Christ.
In the
Gothic Chapel, beneath stained-glass windows from 14th-century Austria are
found carved images from royal and noble tombs of France and Spain.
The Glass
Gallery and Treasury display small works of art, objects made of gold, silver,
and silk, ivory carvings, and glazed luxury earthenware dishes. Included is a
medieval illuminated manuscript of Saint Augustine’s City of God.
Next time,
or the first time, you’re in New York, along with the many shows, sports
attractions, and other museums, include The Cloisters in your visit, and
appreciate the beauty of objects of devotion created in a religious age.
No comments:
Post a Comment