An Early Morning at the Medieval Abbey

by Yvonne Wright

Title

An Early Morning at the Medieval Abbey

Artist

Yvonne Wright

Medium

Photograph - Digital Mixed Media

Description

The Cloisters Museum and gardens is a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe, and assembled from religious architectural elements that largely date between the 12th through the 15th century.

The Cloisters is situated on a hill overlooking the Hudson River and incorporates parts of five European abbeys, which were purchased and disassembled in their original countries in Europe ( including the Sant Miguel de Cuixa cloister, and the Fuentidue�a Apse from a chapel in the province of Segovia ) and then shipped to New York City. Between 1934 and 1939, they were carefully reconstructed and integrated with some new buildings purposely designed in the medieval style by Charles Collens.

Today, the Cloisters Museum (also called the Manhattan Cloisters) contains a collection of approximately 5,000 European medieval works of art. The 66.5-acre area around the buildings is landscaped with gardens that were planted according to horticultural information obtained from medieval manuscripts. A legacy of the philanthropist John D. Rockefeller who purchased the Billings Estate and other properties in the Fort Washington area and hired Frederick Olmsted, Jr., son of one of the designers of Central Park in New York City to landscape a picturesque park, which he then donated to New York City in 1935 (Wiki).

Among the magnificent, world-heritage works of art at the Cloisters are seven Flemish tapestries depicting "The Hunt of the Unicorn", "Merode Altarpiece" by Robert Campin, and the Romanesque altar cross known as "the Cloisters Cross" or "Bury St. Edmunds Cross" (shown here).

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February 15th, 2016

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