The Cloisters

The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum devoted to European medieval art and architecture, located in Fort Tryon Park in the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods of Upper Manhattan, New York City. Governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the museum specializes in European medieval artworks, with a particular focus on the Romanesque and Gothic periods. It holds approximately 5,000 works of art and architecture, mostly dating from the 12th through the 15th centuries. The institution is distinguished by its integration of authentic medieval architectural elements, centered around four historic European cloisters, which provide the original architectural settings for the collection. The museum opened to the public on May 10, 1938.

The museum originated from the collection of American sculptor and art dealer George Grey Barnard, who lived in France between 1905 and 1913. Barnard acquired medieval sculptures and architectural fragments from French monasteries, often purchasing stones reused by local farmers after centuries of pillage and revolution. By 1914, he had gathered enough artifacts to open a private gallery on Fort Washington Avenue, initially called the Gothic Collection, which he later renamed The Cloisters. Suffering recurring monetary crises, Barnard sold his collection to financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1925. Rockefeller acquired the collection for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with art critic Roger Fry acting as an intermediary. Rockefeller purchased the Fort Washington site in 1930 and donated it to the Metropolitan in 1931, also acquiring land across the Hudson River in New Jersey to preserve the museum's view. Construction of the new museum building began in 1934 and was completed in 1938. Other major sources of objects included the collections of J. P. Morgan and the art dealer Joseph Brummer.