The Cloisters

I am one of those people who absolutely LOVES all of the cathedrals in Europe. During both of my study abroads, particularly my one to Spain, I found each one fascinating and different. Professor Sherman was one of my Spanish literature teachers and he too shared my love of cathedrals and he told me that I would have to visit the Cloisters museum sometime in NYC. It has taken me about a decade to make it there, but I finally did. And it was definitely worth the trek.

It is clear up on the Upper West Side at about 190th Street. It is in the middle of a park and so it was about a 10 minute walk through the park from the subway which normally would be fine, but it snowed the night before and most of the park had not been plowed and the park is on top of a hill so there was snow blowing EVERYWHERE. It was freezing. I was just happy that I had the internet on my phone so that I was able to take the bus directly from the Cloisters to the Metropolitan Museum of Art after my visit.

The outer tower of the Cloisters

The cloisters has moved not only artifacts but even portions of cathedrals inside the museum. My favorite was the inner cloister below.

An old chapel

Many beautiful stained glass windows

All of these bricks are original (the white plaster in between is new)

If you are a fan of churches, I highly recommend this museum. If you aren't, it is probably one that you can skip.