Thursday Doors – September 22, 2016

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time), by using the blue link-up button below. 

The Cloisters – #MetMuseum in NYC – Part 1

Opened as a separate branch of the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1938 The Cloisters is dedicated to Medieval European art, architecture, gardens, and religious artifacts.

I recently had the good fortune to spend an afternoon exploring this place on the upper west side of Manhattan that offers visitors sweeping views of the Hudson river as well as an astounding collection of pieces recovered from abandoned, ransacked, and otherwise forgotten Abbeys throughout 12th to 15th century Europe.

Stepping onto the grounds of The Cloisters leaves one with the feeling of having stepped back in time.

Peaceful natural surroundings, iron gates, cobblestone pathways, stone buildings, and hidden nooks and crannies deliberately carry you back to the secluded monastic life of Gothic and Romanesque periods of Europe.

Within a matter of minutes it becomes very easy for the visitor to forget that they’re still in one of the most populated and bustling cities on earth.

Shall we head on inside and take a look at some of the amazing doors that are part of The Cloisters collection?

In retrospect my biggest mistake during this visit was being so agog at the history in front of me that I forgot to take pics of the information signs that accompany each piece.

D’OH!

What can I say? I was truly overwhelmed…and with good reason.

So unfortunately if you ask me if this one is from Spain or France or Italy, I honestly don’t remember 😦

Keep in mind, that what I’m showing you is simply the doors.

Just imagine the sculptures, tapestries, paintings and mosaics, carvings, pottery and other artwork.

What I can tell you is that each of these is handmade, hand-carved, and dates back at least 450 years.

If you appreciate this sort of stuff, then by all means if ever you are in the New York City area do yourself a favor and set aside part of a day to visit this place for yourself.

You will not be disappointed.

Stay tuned, I’ll have more in part 2 next week.

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