[MR] Wikipedia: The Cloisters Museum

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

"From Today's Featured Article" on Wikipedia is about The Cloisters museum
in New York City, part of the Metropolitan Museum (aka "The Met"). I've
discussed The Cloisters before in the context of other museums that were
built from salvaged European ruins, such as Agecroft Hall in Richmond.
Thanks to Wikipedia, the focus today is on The Cloisters itself.

The Cloisters' buildings are reconstructed from a number of salvaged
medieval abbeys, in particular Cuxa, Saint-Guilhelm, Bonnefort and Trie.
The ruins were purchased and shipped to America before World War I by the
somewhat eccentric art dealer/collector George Gray Barnard. He lacked the
money to build the museum, so the disassembled buildings and the core
collection were sold to John D. Rockefeller in 1925. He later donated them
to the Met circa 1931. The museum opened in 1938. It certainly helps to
have deep pockets for a project like this.

The Cloisters contains over 5,000 medieval treasures dating from the 12th
to the 15th centuries. Among them are the "Hunt for the Unicorn" tapestries
and Duc de Berry's "Belles Heures" illuminated book. The collection
continues to grow as pieces are seldom de-accessioned.

The full article is found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cloisters .

The museum's own web site is at https://metmuseum.org/visit/met-cloisters .
Their digital collections can be explored at
http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15324coll6 .

I will admit I've never been to The Cloisters, but it is on my bucket list.
Until then, I will have to content myself with Virginia House and Agecroft
Hall, both in Richmond, Virginia.

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆