Manhattan · New York County
The Cloisters Grounds
NYC Parks
- Location
- 99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park, Washington Heights
- Size
- Part of Fort Tryon Park (67 acres) acres
- Hours
- Museum hours: Thu-Tue 10 AM - 5 PM; grounds accessible during park hours
- Type
- NYC Parks
The Cloisters Grounds surround the Metropolitan Museum of Art's medieval branch in Fort Tryon Park, where five medieval European cloisters were reassembled on a hilltop overlooking the Hudson River to create one of the most extraordinary museum settings in the world.
The Cloisters museum was assembled by sculptor George Grey Barnard and purchased by John D. Rockefeller Jr., who donated it to the Met in 1938. Rockefeller also purchased the land across the Hudson (the Palisades) to preserve the views from the museum.
The grounds include medieval herb gardens planted with species documented in medieval texts, the Bonnefont Cloister garden with over 250 species of medieval plants, and the Trie Cloister with its Gothic arches framing views of the Hudson.
Fort Tryon Park, surrounding the Cloisters, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (son of the Central Park designer) and offers some of the most dramatic views in Manhattan, with the Palisades, the George Washington Bridge, and the Hudson River visible from its hilltop paths.
The Cloisters Grounds provide one of the most transcendent experiences in New York City: medieval European architecture and gardens on a hilltop above the Hudson River, with views preserved by a Rockefeller's foresight extending across the valley to the ancient Palisades cliffs.