This wasn't all bad because there were two New York City "indoor" attractions that we had heard of, were curious about, and had never visited.....Both are in neighborhoods, off the beaten path for Long Islanders, like us, visiting "the city." Curiosity and adventure has made enjoyable days for us in the past, so, why not again?
By mid morning, we were on the road heading for the very upper tip of eastern Manhattan to visit The Cloisters Museum and Gardens.... After visiting The Cloisters we planned to visit the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine located on Amsterdam Avenue and 112 Street......
The Cloisters is actually a branch of New York's The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe....The creation of The Cloisters, the building and the art collections, were made possible by generous gifts of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
The Cloisters opened to the public in 1938.
Middle Ages architectural fragments are incorporated into the building itself. The Cloisters Collection encompasses medieval works of art from throughout Europe, including ceramics, metalwork's, paintings, sculpture, stained glass, and tapestries.
Lets take a look!
View of the George Washington Bridge and Fort Lee, NJ from The Cloisters
The winding cobble stone road leading to
The Cloisters Museum
Climbing the steps......
The gardens.......
Stone portals from French churches
Entrance to one of several chapels.....
Crucifix and mid twelfth-century apse from church of San Martin At Fuentiduena (Segovia)
Carvings of the Magi.....
The Gothic Chapel....
Beautiful stained glass...
The unicorn Tapestries woven in Brussels around 1500....
Wood carvings........
The renowned triptych of the Annunciation by Robert Campin painted in 1425...
Wood carving of the Apostles at the bedside of the Virgin....
more stained glass.....
The Cloister Gardens -Both medieval and modern species of plants are grown in the garden.
The beauty of The Cloister's, it's Gardens, and liturgical art collection of significant value made for a very enjoyable morning. We took many more photographs than reasonable to post on this blog. We then were off to visit the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, seat of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, the largest Gothic cathedral in New York and located on Amsterdam Avenue and 112 Street.
The answer to when it will be completed is that it will be completed when sufficient people believe in it to pay for the needed construction.
Have a look at what we saw.....
Main entrance...
The interior of St. John the Divine measures some 600 feet from one end to the other....the vaulted ceiling soars 124 feet above the floor. The cathedral seats 3,000 worshipers....
Studying a guide book in front of great bronze doors cast by Barbediienne of Paris, who also cast the Statue of Liberty..
The high altar surrounded by eight massive granite columns...
The magnificent 40 foot diameter Great Rose window designed by Charles Connick of Boston.
Beautiful stained glass window above the high altar.
Barberini Tapestries made on Papal Looms in Rome
During our visit we were fortunate to hear several guest choral groups perform....
The magnificent expanse of the cathedral's nave with arches, windows and vaulting...
Votive candles.............
Surely more to see than can be covered in a single afternoon we headed for home promising to return...
We highly recommend both venues as NYC sites not to miss.
JPK 06/1 9/2010
