Gothic Chapel Glass Gallery

NYC Vignettes: The Cloisters

November 27, 2013

Effigies in the Gothic Chapel Glass Gallery, The Cloisters

The first time I visited NYC with my husband, we simply ran out of time before we had a chance to trek north to The Cloisters, a part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This time one of my top priorities was to remedy that oversight. I took the subway train to the 190th Street Station and disembarked to face a lovely 10- or 15-minute walk through the grounds, which overlook the Hudson River, to the Cloisters Museum entrance.

The Cloisters’ grounds

The Cloisters Museum entrance

The Cloisters is a collection of medieval art and architecture. The various cloister walks make you feel as if you were back in a medieval monastery or nunnery. I loved the stained glass windows and their reflections, the massive and somber stone walls, the unicorn tapestries and madonna statues.

One of the pillared cloisters

Langon Chapel

Stained glass reflections

Another of the cloisters

And as stunning as the art and architecture was, the most impressive part of my visit was a sound installation in the Fuentiduena Chapel. This celebration of sacred music, called The Forty Part Motet by Janet Cardiff, featured the Choir of England’s Salisbury Cathedral. Each voice was recorded separately and then played back through 40 speakers placed in a oval-shape. The music, a blend of sounds, resounded and resonated in the small chapel. I had first read about this special sound exhibition in Gwarlingo, a blog I follow. The way she describes her experience listening to Cardiff’s work inspired me to make a special effort to include The Cloisters on my NYC itinerary. That post also includes a link to the music, and I urge you to take 10 minutes or so to listen to the full cycle. The music is the best part of today’s post, I assure you!