Do you have an interest in the Middle Ages?  Do you feel the only way to really immerse yourself in the 11th Century is to travel to Europe and tour the various cities built in those times?  Or is it possible to travel to New York City and get a taste of it there?  Most people in New York head out to the top five or so attractions, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Chrysler Building, Central Park, and so on, but how many take a trip up to a hill that overlooks the Hudson in Fort Tyron Park.  There, you will find a museum covering four acres of ground that contains about five thousand works of art from Medieval Europe, mostly through the 12th through 15th Centuries.  This is the Cloisters Museum.

A branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters is dedicated to the architecture and the art of Medieval Europe.  Even the building and cloistered gardens are a part of the collection, which includes such works of art as the Plaque with Saint John the Evangelist, from the early 9th Century, the Cloisters Cross, from the 12th Century, the actual Chapter House from Notre Dame-dePontaut, from the 12th Century, the Tomb Effigy of Jean d’Alluye, from the mid-13th Century, to the Doorway from Moutiers-Saint-Jean, also from the mid-13th Century.

Absolutely vital to see are the Unicorn Tapestries.  These seven hangings were believed to have been designed in Paris and made in Brussels  somewhere between 1495 and 1505, and are known to be some of the best and most complicated art works that survive from the Middle Ages.  Known as The Hunt of the Unicorn, they’re made of wool, silk, and metallic threads, and these seven hangings depicting, as its title suggests, a hunt for a Unicorn, have been displayed together since the 17th Century.  They’re an amazing sight.

If you’re planning a trip to New York City, find a hotel here at http://www.luxurymanhattanhotel.com, and then make your way to Fort Tyron Park and see this incredible piece of Medieval history in the United States.

Medieval New York City is a post from: Mountain Monkeys

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