Road Trip

Thursday October 8, the Jobless of Staten Island visited The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The day started out sunny and warm, but while we were visiting the sky clouded up and the temperature dropped a bit. Still, quite a nice day out. I hope I didn’t catch swine flu by leaving my bubble.

The Cloisters Museum is “devoted to art and architecture of medieval Europe” and contains 4 Cloisters, 3 Chapels, and artwork made up of sculptures, stained glass, tapestries amongst other things.

The Cuxa Cloister contains columns and capitals of the Cloister from the monastery of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa in the French Pyrenees. The original Cloister was built in the 12th century. The original Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa can be visited today and has a small community of monks in residence, there is also a music festival in August.

The Abbey is located near Prades, France(tourist info) and the nearest large cities are Toulouse and Montpellier in France and Barcelona in Spain, all three equidistant. Travel is about 2-2.5 hrs by car from all 3 cities. Travel by rail will take longer involving a transfer at Perpignan, France. From Montpellier the trip is 3 hours, Toulouse is 3.5 hours and the trip from Barcelona would be about 4.5 hours.

The cloister contains the Garth (garden) which was usually only planted with grass and on occasion, a symbolic tree.  The Garth always included a water feature and usually crossed paths, more symbolism. I plucked the Garth info from “The Medieval Garden” by Sylvia Landsberg.

These photos are of the Cuxa Cloister in NYC.

The two following photos are of the Cuxa Cloister in France. It is quite a bit larger than the NYC version. Only 35 of the columns at Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa are original, the Abbey was in ruins from the time of the French Revolution until the 1950s, when it was partially reconstructed. In 1906-7, American George Grey Bernard purchased pieces of Romanesque architecture which had been dispersed from the Abbey and shipped the loot back to the United States, included were parts of the Cloister.

The Cloister of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa in Prades, France.

The Trie Cloister, original bits from the 15th century, was planted with plants seen in the Unicorn tapestries. The original Cloister was part of a Carmelite convent at Trie-en-Bigorre in the High Pyrenees. I can’t find much more information about the town or the convent on the web or in some travel books I have on the area.

The Bonnefont Cloister has parts from the 13th and 14th century, mainly from the abbey at Bonnefont-en-Comminges. It is planted as a Monastic Herb garden. When standing in this Cloister it seemed bigger than the Cuxa Cloister, but when viewed from the air, they both appear similar in size. The Bonnefont Cloister is not surrounded on all sides by columns and covered walkways so that might account for the feeling of spaciousness.

The abbey at Bonnefont-en-Commings located in the Midi-Pyrénées section of France suffered the same fate as the Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa Abbey, being dissolved at the time of the French Revolution. The abbey, at one point was being restored, is about 15 minutes from Trie-sur-Baise (a fortified market town). I don’t know if the site can be visited. The closest cities to Trie-sur-Baise are Toulouse and Tarbes, Toulouse having a regional airport and rail service, while Tarbes only has rail service. Rail connections to Paris are on the order of 6 hours. Tarbes is about an hour away from Tris-sur-Baise by bus and Toulouse is about the same by car.

Espaliered trees in the spaces between the buttresses of the Gothic Chapel, the one on the left is a pear tree.Four dying quince trees and wattle fencing. Now to recreate a Cloister in my backyard. Garden layout, easy, covered walkway and open colonnade, not so easy.

Stained Glass

Arms in the Unicorn room .

Look at those colors, I love the blues and the red.

Secular Quatrefoil Stained glass panel: The Imperial Arms of Austria are at the center of this piece and is surrounded by scenes from a tournament. The construction is attributed to the Nuremburg Germany  area(1480-90). Tournaments, depending upon the period could be defined as melees between two groups or applied to the whole festival including combat between knights.

The entrance to the Langon chapel. It looks like the entrance to heaven.

Exterior shots

Gothic Chapel

Buttressed wall on the exterior of the Trie Cloister.

Exterior of the Boppard Room.

Upper driveway with entrance/exit at left.

Part of the ramparts.

While the cloisters is a beautiful place, it is almost like visiting disney world. It looks real, but doesn’t smell or feel real. I was reminded of the same thing when I visited the Chinese Scholar’s garden earlier this week. But it’s the next best thing to being there.