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 hil overlooking the
Hudson River. The Cloisters include the museum building and 4 adjacent acres. 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 setting with gardens planted according to horticultural information culled from various medieval documents and artifacts.
Garden at The Cloisters
Fort Tryon Park, New York City
Among the famous works of art held at the Cloisters are seven south Netherlandish tapestries depicting "The Hunt of the Unicorn," Campin's "Merode Altarpiece," and Jean Pucelle's book of hours for Jeanne d'Evreux.
The museum and adjacent park were created thanks to an endowment grant by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Besides purchasing this land and donating it to the city Rockefeller also purchased and donated several hundred acres of land to the State of New Jersey on the other side of the Hudson River in Palisades Park, New Jersey to preserve the view from the museum.
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