Information
Landmark: Met CloistersCity: Manhattan
Country: USA New York
Continent: North America
Met Cloisters, Manhattan, USA New York, North America
Overview
The Met Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, showcases the art, stonework, and quiet gardens of medieval Europe, where ivy curls along ancient walls.Tucked inside Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, the museum rises like a European medieval monastery and holds one of the world’s finest collections of medieval art, from jewel-toned tapestries to carved stone relics.It draws you into a calm, all-encompassing atmosphere, so different from New York’s honking taxis and crowded sidewalks.The Met Cloisters-officially The Cloisters, a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art-sits at 99 Margaret Corbin Drive in Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan, overlooking the Hudson River beyond medieval-style gardens.Opened in 1938, it showcases 12th- to 15th‑century art and architecture from France and Spain, all housed in a building conceived to display the Met’s expanding medieval collection and made possible through the support of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr., who gave land for Fort Tryon Park and picked up many of the first pieces, played a key role.The building’s design draws on pieces from five European cloisters-stone arches from France, worn steps from Spain-carefully dismantled and shipped to New York in the early 1900s.Among the features are the Saint-Guilhem, Trie-sur-Baïse, Bonnefont, Cuxa, and Froville cloisters.Instead of rebuilding a single monastery, the architects created a balanced, almost dreamlike space, merging weathered medieval stone with fresh, precise modern work.The museum itself stands as a remarkable piece of architecture, with hushed halls, weathered stone, and a gentle flow of space that recalls the monastic life of the Middle Ages.The Met Cloisters holds more than 5,000 pieces from the 9th to 16th centuries, focusing on religious art and treasures from Western Europe, including gilded chalices and carved ivory panels.The Unicorn Tapestries-seven breathtaking Flemish works from the 15th century-capture a symbolic unicorn hunt, each scene rich with tangled forests and fine, silvery thread.The museum treasures these pieces-they’re famous, enigmatic, and packed with allegory, down to the faint etching in a corner frame.The Merode Altarpiece is a triptych crafted in the workshop of Robert Campin, one of the leading painters of early Netherlandish art, its panels alive with delicate folds of cloth and quiet, candlelit rooms.It shows the Annunciation unfolding inside a richly detailed home, sunlight spilling across a tiled floor.Stained glass from the Abbey of Saint-Denis-brilliant panels of early Gothic art once glowing above the tombs of French kings.Manuscripts and Illuminations – richly painted pages from medieval books of hours, Bibles, and other sacred texts, their gold leaf catching the light.Sculpture-everything from carved capitals and intricate friezes to solemn effigies and weathered stone saints gathered from churches and abbeys across Europe.Ivories, metalwork, and reliquaries-finely made treasures for worship or church rites, from a gleaming chalice to a cross set with deep-red jewels, or an ivory diptych carved in delicate relief.At The Met Cloisters, one of its most striking features is the medieval gardens, laid out with care according to old manuscripts and detailed botanical research, where thyme and lavender scent the air.Trie Cloister Garden grows medicinal and culinary herbs you’d find in a medieval monastery, from sharp-smelling rosemary to soothing chamomile.The Bonnefont Herb Garden holds more than 250 plant species once cultivated in the Middle Ages, from fragrant rosemary to hardy sage.Cuxa Cloister Garden features ornamental flowers and neatly pruned trees set in a formal medieval design, with a fountain bubbling quietly at its heart.These gardens aren’t merely for show; they mirror the spiritual and everyday lives of monastic communities, with herbs for healing, roots for dyeing cloth, leaves for cooking, and blossoms steeped in meaning.Unlike the city’s bustling museums, The Met Cloisters surrounds you with hushed stone halls and a calm, contemplative air.The museum keeps its lighting low, recalling the flicker of candles in medieval chapels and shadowed stone halls.Visitors wander through cool stone corridors and quiet, walled courtyards, with the faint echo of Gregorian chant or early music drifting through the air.From Fort Tryon Park and the museum’s terraces, the Hudson River stretches out in views that shine brightest in spring’s soft green or autumn’s blaze of gold.The Met Cloisters is open every day except Wednesday and on major holidays, with pay-what-you-wish admission for New York State residents and students from NY, NJ, and CT.You can get there by subway-take the A to 190th Street, then stroll through the leafy paths of Fort Tryon Park-or by bus or car.Inside, you’ll find a gift shop, audio tours, and educational materials, though there’s no café; the closest food is in nearby neighborhoods.Step through its doors and you’re carried straight into the art, spirituality, and daily rhythms of the medieval world.Set in a truly singular location, with galleries full of treasures and a hush that feels like candlelight in stone halls, it’s both a museum and a sanctuary, drawing visitors into calm reflection and a richer sense of medieval Europe’s art and architecture.
