The Cloisters

The Cloisters is one of the museums of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The Cloisters is located in Fort Tryon Park near the northern tip of Manhattan island on a hill overlooking the Hudson River. The Cloisters include the museum building and the adjacent 4 acres (16,000 m²). The collection, which includes a small chapel and various artifacts incorporates elements from five medieval French cloisters: Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Bonnefont-en-Comminges, Trie-en-Bigorre, and Froville. These disassembled European buildings were reassembled in the park (1934/38) setting with gardens planted according to horticultural information culled from various medieval documents and artifacts.

Literature

• James J. Rorimer, The Cloisters. The Building and the Collection of Mediaeval Art in Fort Tryon Park, 11th edition, New York 1951.