Formation & History:

The Cloisters was first opened its doors to the public on May 10, 1938, as a part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most of the pieces and collections in the museum were collected by George C. Barnard, who himself was a sculptor and a collector of Medieval art. He formed his own museum, which he called the Cloisters in 1914. In 1925, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. acquired Barnard’s Cloisters in 1925, and soon realized that he needed a larger facility to house the collections.

Rockefeller donated land to the City of New York located on northern Manhattan in Ford Tyron Park to construct the museum. The “new” Cloisters building that we see today was designed by Charles Collens, a prominent architect in New York. Joseph Breck, who was the decorative arts curator and assistant director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, became the director of the Cloisters. Rockefeller even donated some art pieces from his own private collection to the museum.

Collections:

The entire museum and its collections are purely devoted to the Arts and Architecture of Medieval Europe. Though the actual museum building is relatively new compared to the art pieces it holds, there are some pieces of Medieval Architecture from Romanesque and Gothic churches incorporated into the structure. In 1958, a 12^th century limestone apse was removed from a church in Fuentidueña, Spain and built into the museum.

The Cloisters also features three monastic cloisters that reveal different interpretations of medieval gardens. They were attained from horticultural and gardening documents, interpretations from medieval passages and poetry writings, and observations through artworks. The Cloisters also features collections that are well famous in the Art History realm. These collections include my favorite art piece: The Belles Heures de Jean Duc de Berry, by the Limbourg Brothers. A fine example of manuscript illumination from the late middle ages. There is also the Ivory Cross from the English Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, and the most important of all, The Merode Altarpiece by Robert Campin. One of the finest example of medieval painting from Northern Europe.

Legacy:

The original intention, when the museum was built, was to present the Barnard Collection in a more scholarly approach. The structure is not a replica of a specific historic building, but a collaboration of historical examples from all over Europe. The rooms that house specific collections are also arranged in a chronological manner, and are a combination of Christian and Secular arrangements. There is also the inclusion of medieval architecture pieces such as a chapter house, apse, and vaulting in the structure to add to the historical atmosphere. A great notion about the Cloisters is that the collections are continuously growing through many donations, and because of Rockefeller himself and his endowments. People go to the Cloisters to give them a visual sense of Religious and Secular life during the Middle Ages in a literal perspective. This, in my opinions is what makes The Cloisters museum stand out above all other Art History Museums.

Resources:

“The Cloisters.” History of The Colisters. WEB. January 26, 2015:

< http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/history-of-the-museum/the-cloisters-museum-and-gardens >