The Cloisters



One of my favorite things to do is spend a day in New York City. Broadway is top on my list along with a fabulous meal.

If I don’t have tickets in hand, it will be a museum that calls me.

 I had always heard of “The Cloisters” but never really knew what it was about so I decided to experience it for myself.

A great decision on my part!

The Cloisters Museum and Gardens is a branch of the Metropolitan museum of art and is located on four acres atop a cliff on the Northern tip of Manhattan with a stunning view of the Hudson River. It felt so removed from the hustle bustle of the city.

The Museum was reconstructed between 1934 and 1938 from the architectural elements of five cloisters from medieval monsasteries, a Romanesque chapel and a 12th century Spanish apse (semicircular recess in a building) brought intact from Europe.

 The gardens around the Cloisters were landscaped according to horticultural information obtained

from medieval manuscripts (healing herbs, flowers, foods) and artifacts making the museum and its grounds and educational work of art.

The Cloisters is used to exhibit art and architecture from Medieval Europe and contains approximately five thousand European Medieval works of art with a particular emphasis on pieces dating from the 12th thru 15th centuries.

My overall impression when I am there is one of being transported back in time. the gardens provide a quiet space to contemplate the wonder that surrounds you. To stand in a sanctuary from medieval times is both very peaceful and oddly eerie to me, but the beauty of it all takes my breath away.