Even if it weren’t the branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to medieval art, the Cloisters’ location alone would inspire. It rises from a promontory high above the Hudson River in Fort Tryon Park on the northern tip of Manhattan, with the cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades visible on the opposite shore. The blaze of autumn foliage and a stunning exhibition from the Met’s Costume Institute make a visit to the Cloisters and its gardens an even more splendid experience.
The Cloisters’ architectural elements—including chapels, sections of monastic cloisters, and chapter house—date from the 12th through 15th centuries. They were brought from various sites in France and reconstructed between 1935 and 1938, when the museum opened to the public.
Its collections comprise incomparable medieval objects such as the renowned illuminated volume, The Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry; the allegorical Unicorn Tapestries, and exquisite stained glass chapel windows, stone sculptures, painted icons, and a carved ivory cross. The Treasury exhibit space houses priceless pieces meant for liturgical celebrations, personal devotions, and secular uses. In addition, as part of the Met’s exhibition Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, the Cloisters’ galleries are displaying couture pieces inspired by Catholicism’s traditions and practices.
Free time is available to wander through serene interior spaces or to sit and contemplate in one of the three gardens that were planted following medieval designs.
Art historian Ursula Wolfman leads the tour.
The tour includes a boxed lunch is served en route to New York and dinner at a local restaurant.
The program requires considerable walking, including a cobblestone ramp and stairs; elevators are available only by request.
World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1/2 credit
