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Curriculum Resources for Middle School Community: 5th Grade

Best of the Best

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Cloisters in New York

The Met Cloisters, which opened to the public in 1938, is the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. Located in Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan, on a spectacular four-acre lot overlooking the Hudson River, the modern museum building is not a copy of any specific medieval structure but is rather an ensemble informed by a selection of historical precedents, with a deliberate combination of ecclesiastical and secular spaces arranged in chronological order. Elements from medieval cloisters—Saint-Michel-de-CuxaSaint-Guilhem-le-DésertTrie-sur-Baïse, Froville, and elements once thought to have come from Bonnefont-en-Comminges—and from other sites in Europe have been incorporated into the fabric of the building. (from MET website: https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/history#cloisters)

This silent film features footage of The Met Cloisters being constructed.

Watch the 28-minute documentary chronicling the dismantling of the twelfth-century apse from the church of San Martín in Fuentidueña, Spain, and its reconstruction at The Cloisters, between 1958 and 1961.

Take a look at the slideshow of The Cloisters as it was being constructed.