What’s a Cloister?
Now, if you are following the blog like you should, you know my travel tastes can be odd. Its true. I have taken my wife to hunt trolls, run with wolves, and visit ventriloquist museums. Furthermore, we have seen the largest ball of twine, the largest ball of popcorn and had PBR in the oldest bars. But, I am not one dimension in my tastes. To keep my wife happy, my primitive nature can be temporarily put on hold. I will then allow my cultural and sophisticated side out for brief excursions. During our NYC trip, I had heard about a unique European museum focusing on the art and architecture of the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Its called the Cloisters. That’s good enough for me. We began our journey with only one question on our mind…What’s a Cloister?
Carol in the “quad” surrounded by the cloister 
Met Cloisters Museum with cloisters around the “quad”
See the pictures above…that’s a cloister. By definition, its basically a covered walkway connecting various part of a monastery or convent forming a “quad” around a courtyard. In this specific case, the Cloisters (a.k.a. Met Cloisters) is a museum in Manhattan that is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art system. But, as you can see from the aerial photo above, this is not Manhattan as you typically think of it. It way north in upper Manhattan. We could still get there by subway, but its a long ride up the whole length of the island. Once there, the area features beautiful wooded hills on the banks of the Hudson River. It serves as the perfect setting to step back into 14th century Europe at the Cloisters.
Hanging at the Met Cloister 
Fall on the Hudson 
European monastery in Manhattan
Now, I will attempt my “Reader’s Digest” version of how the place came to be. George Barnard was an American sculptor and art collector in the late 19th century. He was the classic starving artist, but with a keen eye for 13/14th century European art and architecture. In 1883, he moved Paris and began biking around Europe to amass his art collection. Over the next couple decades, he searched the countryside for forgotten or cheaply acquirable artifacts. George managed to assemble a very impressive collection. However, his skill to manage his personal finances was never good. So, in 1925, he solved his financial problems by selling his collection to John D. Rockefeller. Now, long story short, the two of them got the collection back to the USA. Rockefeller donated the collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art which eventually became the Met Cloister museum.
What makes the museum unique is how it was built. Bernard’s collection does not merely sit somewhere in the museum. Bernard’s collection IS the museum. For example, Bernard’s collection had many stone pieces from some ancient chapel, they rebuilt the chapel using those pieces. And, filled in the missing sections with current building material as best they could. Basically, Bernard/Rockefeller took the pieces of the collection and built them into the structure of the museum. The following picture of the Gothic Chapel demonstrates this approach…
Gothic Chapel…600 or 100 years old
First, note the entrance to the chapel on the left. They designed the entrance of the chapel to incorporate the old, sculptured archway that you see on the far left. The stained glass windows built into the end of the chapel were also part of Bernard’s collection. Obviously, all of the sculptures featured in the room were also part of his collection. But, most of the “non-ornate” parts of the chapel (e.g. walls and floor) were constructed in the early early 20th century. Everything else worth looking in the room came into existence 700 years before that. However, the room looks like it was all constructed at the same time. Basically, its a stone patchwork quilt separated by 700 years, plus or minus a century or so. All the following pictures are the same approach of building a new structure around architectural artifacts.
The Cuxa Cloister (artistic parts c. 1130–40) 
The Fuentidueña chapel (artistic parts c. 1175-1200)
Beyond all the architectural patchwork, there was plenty of precious babbles, pictures and tapestries. All of which my wife looked at longer than was necessary. Here are a few…
Yet another of the many valuable old crosses 
No idea what this was 
Yep, another tapestry
OK, that’s it. I went to New York City. I did all sorts of cool stuff. But, being the sensitive guy that I am, I also took my wife to the Met Cloisters museum. So, let the record show that I can be cultural and sophisticated. To maintain balance, I will try to make my next post much more whimsical and juvenile. I hope you now know can answer the question…What’s a Cloister? PT
Thank you for reading “What’s a Cloister?” on Traveling with PugsleyTonks.
You may also enjoy reading about the architecture in this post https://travelingwithpt.com/frank-lloyd-wright/
If you liked the Met Cloisters and want to plan a visit https://www.metmuseum.org/visit/plan-your-visit/met-cloisters
