photography

Visiting the Cloisters

The Metropolitan Museum's Cloisters is definitely worth a visit, if you feel like spending time around stuff that's old. Which I would recommend--it's good sometimes to be reminded how young our culture really is. A few suggestions, if you're in the NYC area and interested:

  1. Early June is an excellent time for the gardens--just about everything is in full bloom or budding

  2. You want full sun if at all possible. The interior lighting is kind of limited, but the windows are big and plentiful. If you want to be able to appreciate the detail, don't go on a cloudy day (as we did)

  3. Good weather also means the place is likely to be less crowded

  4. And you probably want to avoid going on the weekends for the same reason

We, of course, went on a very gray Sunday afternoon and the place was uncomfortably packed with people. But still, glad we went.


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    wetsammy
    I need to build in time to visit on my next trip to New York - thanks for the reminder!
    bratfarrar
    It's well worth the trip! Though I'm serious about making sure to go on a sunny day. Some of the rooms are really dark otherwise, and there's so much detail-work that you want to be able to see things clearly.
    amberdreams
    So I take it the museum's 'cloisters' have genuine medieval stuff built into the structure? That's a cool way to show exhibits off. The bits of building in your photos reminds me of the Natural History Museum in London.
    bratfarrar
    Yup--in some cases entire rooms were disassembled, shipped to the US, and the reassembled as part of this huge hodge-podge building.
    anna_wing
    The Cloisters is lovely. It was one of my favourite places when I lived in New York. Sometimes I'd just go to sit in the different gardens and admire the magnificent views (and in autumn, eye the quinces on the trees jealously).
    bratfarrar
    I can see why! If it wasn't a 2 hour drive, we'd probably visit a lot more frequently than once every four years. ;)
    milly_gal
    That's the kind of place Steve and I would LOVE to go. We adore *old* and history and pretty garden, so yeah LOVELY!
    bratfarrar
    Well, if you're ever in the states (and on the northern chunk of the east coast), I'd definitely recommend checking it out. The gardens are small but lovely--though we all boggled a bit at the enormous thistles being grown in the "used in crafting" section of the one garden. (For tanning, apparently--who knew thistles could be something other than a nuisance?)
    milly_gal
    LOL! I know thistles are used for paint extract in old school art projects here in Brit schools :)
    bratfarrar
    Huh--so odd to think that what I consider nothing but a frightful nuisance is in other times and places a very useful ingredient.
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