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⭐ Core Definition: Cloisters

A cloister (from Latin claustrum 'enclosure') is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm southern flank, usually indicates that it is (or once was) part of a monastic foundation, "forming a continuous and solid architectural barrier... that effectively separates the world of the monks from that of the serfs and workmen, whose lives and works went forward outside and around the cloister."

Cloistered (or claustral) life is also another name for the monastic life of a monk or nun. The English term enclosure is used in contemporary Catholic church law translations to mean cloistered, and some form of the Latin parent word "claustrum" is frequently used as a metonymic name for monastery in languages such as German. Cloistered clergy refers to monastic orders that strictly separate themselves from the affairs of the external world.

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👉 Cloisters in the context of The Cloisters

The Cloisters (also known as the Met Cloisters) is a museum in Fort Tryon Park, straddling the neighborhoods of Washington Heights and Inwood, in Upper Manhattan, New York City. The museum specializes in European medieval art and architecture, with a focus on the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it contains a large collection of medieval artworks shown in the architectural settings of French monasteries and abbeys. Its buildings are centered around four cloisters—the Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem, Bonnefont, and Trie-sur-Baïse—that were acquired by American sculptor and art dealer George Grey Barnard in France before 1913 and moved to New York. Barnard's collection was bought for the museum by financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. Other major sources of objects were the collections of J. P. Morgan and Joseph Brummer.

The museum's building was designed by the architect Charles Collens, on a site on a steep hill, with upper and lower levels. It contains medieval gardens and a series of chapels and themed galleries, including the Romanesque, Fuentidueña, Unicorn, Spanish, and Gothic rooms. The design, layout, and ambiance of the building are intended to evoke a sense of medieval European monastic life. It holds about 5,000 works of art and architecture, all European and mostly dating from the Byzantine to the early Renaissance periods, mainly during the 12th through 15th centuries. The objects include stone and wood sculptures, tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, and panel paintings, of which the best known include the c. 1422 Early Netherlandish Mérode Altarpiece and the c. 1495–1505 Flemish The Unicorn Tapestries.

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⭐ Core Definition: Cloisters
👉 Cloisters in the context of The Cloisters
Cloisters in the context of Arcade (architecture)
Cloisters in the context of Salisbury Cathedral

Cloisters in the context of Arcade (architecture)

An arcade is a succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns or piers. Exterior arcades are designed to provide a sheltered walkway for pedestrians; they include many loggias, but here arches are not an essential element. An arcade may feature arches on both sides of the walkway. Alternatively, a blind arcade superimposes arcading against a solid wall.

Blind arcades are a feature of Romanesque architecture that influenced Gothic architecture. In the Gothic architectural tradition, the arcade can be located in the interior, in the lowest part of the wall of the nave, supporting the triforium and the clerestory in a cathedral, or on the exterior, in which they are usually part of the walkways that surround the courtyard and cloisters.

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Cloisters in the context of Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Salisbury, England. The cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of Early English Gothic design. Built over a relatively short period, some 38 years between 1220 and 1258, it has a unity and coherence that is unusual in medieval English cathedrals. The tower and spire were completed by 1330. The cathedral's spire, at 404 feet (123 m), is the tallest in England.

The original cathedral in the district was located at Old Sarum, about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the present city. In 1197 bishop Herbert Poore determined on a relocation but this was not taken forward until the episcopate of his brother, Richard Poore in the early 13th century. Foundation stones for the new building were laid on 28 April 1220 by the Earl and Countess of Salisbury. By 1258 the nave, transepts and choir were complete. The only major additions were the cloisters, added 1240, the chapter house in 1263, and the tower and spire, which was constructed by 1330. At its completion it was the third highest in England, but the collapse of those at Lincoln Cathedral and Old St Paul's Cathedral in the 16th century saw Salisbury become England's tallest.

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Cloisters in the context of "The Cloisters"

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⭐ Core Definition: Cloisters

👉 Cloisters in the context of The Cloisters

Cloisters in the context of Arcade (architecture)

Cloisters in the context of Salisbury Cathedral