Cloisters Museum (Metropolitan Museum of Art) - same day admission to Met

The Cloisters Museum & Gardens is located on four acres of riverfront property in northern Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park, and contains the mother-load of medieval art and sculpture, housing approximately 3,000 pieces dating from the ninth to the sixteenth century. The Cloisters is described by former Director of Musée du Louvre in Paris as “the crowning achievement of American museology”. The building is modeled after five different medieval French cloisters, with quadrangle galleries set under a vaulted passageway, making for a very authentic experience as you move from hall to hall. The Cloisters’ collection emphasizes the Romanesque and Gothic periods of European art and architecture, containing not only art and sculpture but also illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, metalwork, enamels, ivories, and ornate tapestries.

Some highlights of the Cloister’s collection that you can expect to see include: a refurbished collection of seven tapestries depicting ‘The Hunt of the Unicorn’; an early-fifteenth-century French illuminated book of hours; a twelfth-century ivory cross attributed to the English abbey of Bury Saint Edmunds; stained-glass windows from the castle chapel at Ebreichsdorf, Austria; a stone Virgin of the mid-thirteenth century from the choir screen of Strasbourg Cathedral in France; “The Antioch Chalice” dated to 500BC; and stained-glass scenes from “the Legend of Saint Vincent of Saragossa and the History of His Relics”.

The sheer size of this medieval collection makes it likely that you will want to spend a good deal of time perusing its galleries and walled gardens. After your visit is complete, light meals and snacks are available at The Trie Café, a quaint eatery located under the covered arcades of The Cloisters. (Bonus: your ticket to The Cloisters Museum & Gardens will also get you same-day access to The Metropolitan Museum of Art!).

To learn more about the MET visit: NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art.

To learn more and see NYC area locations for stores at the Metropolitan Museum of Art visit: New York MET Store.