The Cloisters , the Metropolitan Museum's collection of medieval art, is housed in a beautiful ersatz monastery in Fort Tryon Park. Unequivocally, this is a must, and if you're game for riding up on the subway you'll find an additional reward in the park itself, the stone-walled promenade overlooking the Hudson and English-style garden making for a sweepingly romantic spot.
Starting from the entrance hall and working counterclockwise, the collection is laid out in roughly chronological order. First off is the simplicity of the Romanesque Hall , featuring French remnants such as an arched, limestone doorway dating to 1150 and a thirteenth-century portal from a monastery in Burgundy. The frescoed Spanish Fuentidueña Chapel is dominated by a huge, domed twelfth-century apse from Segovia that immediately induces a reverential hush. Hall and chapel form a corner on one of the prettiest of the five cloisters here, St Guilhelm , ringed by strong Corinthian-style columns topped by busily carved capitals with floral designs from thirteenth-century Southern France.
The highlight of the collection, however, are the Unicorn Tapestries ( c .1500, Netherlands), which are brilliantly alive with color, observation and Christian symbolism, more so now than ever, as all seven were recently repaired, restored and rehung in a refurbished gallery with new lighting.
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