The beautiful building on top of the hill is a bit of a hike if you get off the wrong subway stop. I recommend alighting the New York subway’s A train at 190th Street for the elevator to the top. Better to walk a little further horizontally than to suffer a long flight of stairs. The building was never used religiously. After John D. Rockefeller donated the land in 1925, the museum was purpose-built to display European works.
The museum focuses on medieval European art and tapestry. I don’t know much about carpets but I did learn that unicorns were thought to have the ability to purify water with their horn. The elegant building has elements of European structures integrated into it being the perfect place to host such a museum.
It reminds me of seeing artifacts of Charlemagne in Aachen. There are lots of French, Spanish, and German objects in their collection with a few Scandinavian and Italian artifacts sprinkled throughout. The Bloomberg Connect app is a handy interpretation tool but I’d appreciate an actual sticker on the wall for more accessibility.
The glass room downstairs features thematic rotating exhibits that interpret 10th to 15th century Europe through historical items, it was on class struggle when I visited. The treasure room is reminiscent of the Schatzkammer in Dresden, the only other place I’ve been in the US that matches The Met Cloisters are the museums at Yale University. Keep your ticket for complimentary same-day access to The Met at Central Park.
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