Travel and Adventure by Various Travel Authors

By Karen Kenyon

The Cloisters, a museum of medieval art and architecture in north Manhattan, seems to be a well-kept secret. There are no throngs of visitors, no lines in which to wait, no traffic rushing by its front door. Instead it is in the verdant, peaceful hillside area of Fort Tryon Park, overlooking the Hudson River. It sounds wonderful, and it is.

I had come to New York to check out the art, and after the hectic rush of Manhattan, I couldn't wait to visit The Cloisters. I'd heard that visitors felt like they were in the Middle Ages, and no wonder. It's the only museum dedicated exclusively to medieval art in the United States.

But first I had to take the subway. It was a short distance from my hotel to Union Square and past beautiful vegetable stands before entering the dark underworld. Once at Times Square I hiked a block or two underground to the next connection, all the while keeping the image of the peaceful Cloisters in my mind. Once the second train came to the 190th Street stop, I exited and found the steps to the upper world.

And what a world. Was this still Manhattan? There were hardly any people around, but there was lots of greenery and quiet. I was gawking around like the puzzled tourist I was when two bikers greeted me.

"Are you going to The Cloisters?" the girl asked. When I nodded, she gestured gracefully and said, "Just take that path right there, through the park, and soon you will come to it. You will love the park, and you will love The Cloisters."

In 1905, George Gray Barnard, an American sculptor living in the South of France, began collecting medieval art as well as pieces and columns of ruins from five different medieval cloisters and abbeys. These treasures had been looted and damaged during wars, including the French Revolution. Near the beginning of the 20th century they were sometimes purchased from others who had incorporated them into their homes, or they were found in fields and carried off.

Barnard eventually brought his extensive collection back to New York City and built his own Cloisters Museum in northern Manhattan. When the cost of upkeep became more than he could manage, he put his collection up for sale. John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated funds that made it possible for the Met to purchase the prized possessions. Then the Met found a site above 190th Street, and Rockefeller offered to finance the convergence of 66.5 acres of surrounding land into a public park that is now Fort Tryon Park.

As I walked through the lush, verdant park the silence was truly as heavy and comforting as the surrounding overhanging trees. Wild, thick gardens with bushes and plants lay to the side of the path. Butterflies and birds flitted around me or settled on leafy branches.

I passed only a handful of other people, including a couple who sat on a bench simply gazing at the Hudson River as I meandered through this timeless space. A lone woman walking my way joined in to walk for a while, then dropped back.

Then I saw the stone structure just ahead. I felt I'd stepped back in time. Though it doesn't look like any particular medieval abbey, it feels genuine. And in truth, when architect Charles Collens designed it he chose not to replicate an actual medieval structure but instead to use medieval proportions and style from various sources.

The structure contains four cloisters (a cloister is an open-air courtyard surrounded by a covered passageway) and three cloistered gardens planted with herbs and flowers that would have been in such gardens in the Middle Ages.

Trie-en-Bigorre cloister is on the bottom level. It was a Carmelite convent near Toulouse when the Huguenots destroyed all of the monastic buildings. Eighteen of the 81 original capitals (the tops of columns or pilasters) are now at The Cloisters.

This garden has a fountain in the center and is surrounded by a flowery meadow. In summer it is bordered with periwinkles.

The blooms are similar to the millefleurs seen in medieval tapestries.

The Bonnefort cloister is also on the lower level. This abbey was founded in 1136 in Burgundy. The carving style of the 21 capitals incorporates curled leaves and flattened foliage. Here herbs and plants used for medicinal and culinary purposes are grown, as well as those used for pigments for medieval manuscript painting.

On the upper level is the cloister from St. Michel-de-Cuxa. This abbey was founded in the ninth century in the Eastern Pyrenees. These capitals are designed with fanciful images such as crouching apes and naked men. The garden includes mantle and columbine, popular Middle Age plants are also seen in the famous unicorn tapestries.

This is the only garden visible during the winter months, when the museum puts up glass panels through which visitors can gaze. According to Egle Zygas of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "People can look out, but they cannot go outside. This keeps the indoor temperature regular, which is good for art and people and some potted plants."

The Cloister from St. Guilhome-le-Desert has around 140 elements (columns, pilasters and capitals) with a distinct classical influences such as acanthus leaves and tree trunks. The abbey, founded in 804, was a regular stop on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. Also incorporated are doorways, stained glass and chapels so that visitors feel immersed in medieval France.

And the art! I loved especially Enthroned Virgin and Child (France, 1260). This small ivory sculpture conveys so well the communication between mother and child, as does the reclining figure of St. Anne with the infant Mary (Nativity of the Virgin, Germany, 1480).

Needing a little repast yet not wanting to break the spell, I moved outside to the small informal lunch and refreshment area in the Trie Cloister by the garden. There was only one other visitor, and she was having tea and creating small watercolors of the garden with postcard-sized papers and a tiny paint palette. I made a mental note to return one day with my own small pack of watercolors.

Back inside, tapestries cover walls and depict the hunt of the magical unicorn. Probably designed in Paris but woven in Brussels, these unicorn tapestries hung in a chateau of a wealthy family until they were looted during the French Revolution. One of the most famous and much-loved images is of the captured unicorn resting in a flower-filled meadow inside a circular fence. Rockefeller donated six of the seven tapestries.

There was still one last treasure I needed to see before leaving The Cloisters. Because I have a copy of "The Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux, Queen of France" sitting at home that I found at a yard sale a few years ago, I wanted to see the genuine article, created by one of the greatest artists of the 14th century. Indeed it is there. Queen Jeanne was the third wife of Charles IV and would have used the book for her devotions.

Though I left The Cloisters later that afternoon and returned to the hustle and hurry of Manhattan, the experience lingers. Once a person has stayed for a while in that quiet sanctuary-like place, surrounded by the artistry that brightened the lives of so many people so very many years ago, it's impossible to ever be the same.

WHEN YOU GO

For more information, visit www.metmuseum.org/visit/visit-the-cloisters or telephone 212-923-3700.

By subway, take the IND A train to 190th Street.

By car, drive on Henry Hudson Parkway north to the first exit after the George Washington Bridge.

On display until April 22, 2012, is "The Game of Kings: Medieval Ivory Chessmen From the Isle of Lewis" (70 chess pieces from the 12th century). On Dec. 27 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. there will be a free holiday concert.

Karen Kenyon is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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