Fort Tryon Park - The Cloisters - Inwood Park. The Uptown New York City greenery tour for athletic creatives

“If those people who were overwhelmed by the charm and appeal of this place and let its peace, tranquillity and beauty leave a lasting impression on their souls go home with new courage and hope . . . then the work of the founder and architect was not to no avail”, John D. Rockefeller

This quote is oddly fitting when one thinks about the current Euro currency crisis and the hysteria that prevails on Wall Street. Back in the day, the famous capitalist of the western world wanted to tackle the nationwide depression into which the nation had descended after the Wall Street Crash in 1929.

The Cloisters is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It's located in Fort Tryon Park close to the Northern section of Manhattan and sits on a hill overlooking the Hudson River.

The Cloisters was constructed using architectural fragments of mostly French cloisters and is home to a part of the Metropolitan Museum's collection of medieval artworks. The German contribution to the collection are six windows located in the so-called Boppard room, dating between 1440 and 1447 in Cologne for the Karmeliterkirche in Boppard at the Rhine.

Sculptor and art collector George Grey Barnard (1863-1938), founded the museum and collected both works of art and architectural fragments from five French cloisters,.

Barnard opened his private museum at Fort Washington Avenue and initially called it the 'Gothic Collection' before he renamed it 'The Cloisters'. The collection passed on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1925 when John D. Rockefeller Jr. made a staggering donation of 600,000 US Dollar.

From this very Rockefeller's collection comes the contribution of seven Flemish tapestry series that visually depicts 'The Hunt of the Unicorn' – world famous and legendary.

Rockefeller already acquired the complete premises of the Fort Tyron Park back in 1917 and therefore provided the construction grounds for today’s museum. He also bought – quite the visionary fellow – larger plains on the opposite side of the Hudson River, just to make sure that the view onto an unspoiled landscape remains untouched. This area – called the New Jersey Palisades – is still a nature reserve to this day.

Architect Charles Collens (1873 – 1956) was commissioned to construct the Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park. Construction began in 1934 and incorporated original pieces of European cloisters and the whole building plans were modelled after medieval standards. So, not a plain reconstruction of previously existing cloisters but the attempt to achieve the highest possible degree of resembling the original.

The same goes for the highly landscaped gardens, which were created in keeping with the original layout depicted in several medieval documents. The opening took place in the 10th of May 1938.

Behind Tryon Park and the Cloisters lies Inwood Park, which marks the Northern border of Manhattan and is the only untouched patch of nature on the whole island. Lusciously green, very quiet and quite empty too. An oasis in Manhattan waiting for you to discover it.


metmuseum.org/visit/visit-the-cloisters