Few places in the United States have unique displays of medieval artifacts. However, a museum located in upper Manhattan’s Fort Tryton Park, New York City gives visitors an experience just short of traveling to Europe.
The Cloisters is an extension of the Metropolitan Museum of Art solely dedicated to the art, architecture and sculpture of the middle ages. On April 5, Medieval Society members went on a trip to New York and visited the amazing collection of medieval artifacts at the Cloisters and the MET.
Arriving on the beautiful stone steps of the museum overlooking the Hudson River, members wondered what a cloister is and why the museum uses that name. A cloister, from the Latin word “claustrum”, was used often in medieval and cathedral architecture.
It is a covered passageway from one building to another, serving as a quiet place for a monk or nun to sit and meditate or study. Cloisters are usually made up of four corridors that provide shelter from the weather, but are open to the air. In the center is a usually a garden and courtyard.
The Cloisters is reminiscent of five medieval French cloisters, those of Saint Michel de Cuxa, Saint Guilhem le Désert, Bonnefont en Comminges, Trie en Bigorre, and Froville. The building was commissioned by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874-1960), who purchased the 66.5 acres of land which is now Tryton Park and built the museum within it. He contributed many pieces of medieval art that he had collected, adding to the considerable display from a man who had conceived the idea of a medieval museum. George Grey Barnard (1863-1938) was an avid collector of medieval art, having acquired many pieces by locating, buying and selling sculpture and architectural fragments while he worked in rural France before WWI. When he came to America, he decided to open a church-like building made of brick, located south of the where the current building stands.
It was the first medieval art museum of its kind found in the United States. Rockefeller eventually acquired it and in 1927 it was decided that a larger facility was needed to display the enormous collection. The Cloisters was finally dedicated on May 10, 1938 and has become a popular attraction for medievalists everywhere. Today, there are more than five thousand pieces of art currently on display.
The rooms are arranged in chronological order from the Romanesque period through the Gothic period (roughly 1000 CE to 1520 CE). There are hundreds of examples representing Western Europe and Byzantium. Easily the most notable and famous works that can be found at the Cloisters are the massive Unicorn Tapestries. They were created in Brussels around 1500 CE as a series of seven tapestries depicting the Hunt of the Unicorn. Woven in fine wool and silk with gold and silver threads, they are extremely complex and detailed. Every individual flower or berry can be precisely identified, and the same goes for fauna.
Just examining these small details has revealed a great deal of information about medieval Europe, though the actual meaning of the tapestries is debatable. In fact, two of the tapestries, the Two Fragments and the Unicorn in Captivity, may not actually be part of the set. Still, the sheer amount of skill is rare among surviving tapestries, making the Unicorn Tapestries a truly unique collection.
Other exhibits include examples of ceramics, metalwork, stained glass, paintings and sculptures. One unusual display is a set of fifty-two playing cards from the south Netherlands in the fifteenth century. Several beautiful aquamanilia are also on display. Aquamanilia are containers usually in the shape of animals that were meant to hold water and were used by priests to pour water on their hands before dining. Perhaps one of the most interesting rooms at the Cloisters is the Treasury, where smaller and extremely precious objects are exhibited. Jewelry, ecclesiastical vestments and beautiful illuminated manuscripts protected in glass and covered with cloths to shield outside light are just some of the objects held there. A famous manuscript, a book of hours created for Jeanne d’Évreux, queen of France around 1324 CE is one of the highlights in the manuscript collection.
As a museum dedicated to the Middle Ages, visiting the Cloisters is a wonderful way to explore history, not only by observing artifacts but also by experiencing the unique design and atmosphere of the museum. The main building of the MET also holds a great deal more of medieval art, as well as a section devoted entirely to medieval weaponry. After exploring the Cloisters, Society members took a bus to the MET and toured the vast amount of swords, shields and pieces of armor on display, including an impressive life-size model display of four knights upon horses fully suited in tournament armor.
To fully tour the MET would take several days in order to appreciate all that the museum has to offer. Because of funding, only a few members were able to go and time was very limited. However, the Society hopes to do similar trips in the future in which more members may join. The Medieval Society is open to anyone interested in the Middle Ages and new members are always welcome.