visiting the cloisters with abigail

we've had a friend visiting from florida. abigail is the daughter of a high school friend of greg's, and she is visiting while on her way to france to work on a farm. this morning we had breakfast with chanda at sweet life cafe, before driving with abigail up to the cloisters.

 it was a raw and grey day, but the cloister gardens felt warm and inviting. they put up a glass barricade in the winter, probably more to protect the artwork than for the comfort of the visitors.

 at one o'clock with joined the museum tour with a wonderful guide. we started out in the cloister of saint-guilhem, from the late 12th century. 140 stone fragments were taken from this benedictine abbey located in montpelier, france.

 we then moved into the large cloister that makes up the center of the museum which is the benedictine monastery of saint michel de cuxa, from near the pyrenees. the artisans carved many strange figures into the pillars: demons clutching ape-like figures, beasts devouring men, and "hunkering" lions. to help reconstruct the fragments here in the city, they obtained stone from the original twelfth century quarry.

 an unknown knight who was buried with his sword which must have been special to be depicted with him. our tour guide pointed out how more life-like this sculpture is, as the leather scabbard is falling to the side from the weight of the sword.

 at his feet is a lion, watching over him and symbolizing his bravery.

 explaining one of the meanings of the unicorn tapestry . . marriage and fertility symbolized by pomegranate seeds and carnation and orchid flowers.

 overlooking new jersey in the herb garden . . 

 the sleeping winter herb garden . . 

taking photos of the inwood neighborhood below.

at the cloisters with lucia and tsameret

 our friends have been visiting from ann arbor, michigan. they are on their way to athens for an isadora duncan dance workshop and fly out of jfk this evening. they arrived early tuesday morning (after traveling all night on the bus from ann arbor!) and have been enjoying visiting old haunts and old friends as they lived in the east village up until about six years ago. korrina, morgana and chanda have babysat for them at various times in the past . . when all the girls were younger . . and chanda, greg and i visited them in pittsburgh (before their move to michigan) when on our way to san francisco in 2017 (you can see that post here).

 we always like to bring our sandwiches and then have tea and pound cake . . however we had to settle on chocolate chip cookies today as they no longer stock pound cake . . i might have to begin bringing that too, now, and just get the tea.

 we had egg salad sandwiches on black bread and sprouted onion/dill bagels. the little sparrows were very busy begging for crumbs.

 a plant in the medieval herb garden . . 

 st. jerome in his study, crafted in brussels in 1520.

lucia really enjoyed this visit and i'm glad i made sure we got there.

saying good-bye to morgana . . their plane took off at 11 pm this evening. they have a long flight ahead of them, with a transfer in london.

monday afternoon at the cloisters

 we drove up to the cloisters in fort tryon park this afternoon and were surprised to find a crowd of people visiting today, since it's a holiday. thankfully, we were able to find a parking spot and didn't have to wait too long on the entrance line.

 cuxa cloister, from the benedictine monastery of saint-michel-de-cuxa, near perpignan, france, which is on the mediterranean near the spanish border.

 

 observing foreign coins in the fountain . .

from places such as mexico, argentina and saudi arabia . . and she threw one in from england . .

 the cloister was constructed between 1130 and 1146.

 

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below are photos from a met exhibit titled heavenly bodies--fashion and the catholic imagination, which has been ongoing since may. today was its last day, and i think that added to the current crowds that we saw.

 many of the dresses were incredibly beautiful and i could have taken many more pics, but i put my camera away and limited myself to the few that you see here. the dress above is by maria grazia chiuri and pierpaolo piccioli for valentino and was influenced by german painter lucas cranach the elder's depiction of the garden of eden in adam and eve, 1526.

 a dress with a print inspired by hieronymous bosch's triptych the garden of earthly delights, 1490 to 1500, a garden with fantastical plants and animals  . .

 i'm sorry i neglected to photograph the shoes, as they featured the same print as the dress and were just as fantasical looking. the arm bands and the shoulder straps and the bodice's trim are all done in leather.

 this is another valentino evening dress inspired by van gogh's wheat fields, symbolizing humanity's cycles of life.

 the bodice is decorated ears of wheat, made with hand painted gold fabric and coq feathers.

 gold silk tulle . .
 

 i thought it was an incredibly beautiful gown.

we then visited the medieval herb garden . . on the right is a pomegranate tree . . 

 

finally . . lunch in the cafe . . 

 we brought our sandwiches (roast beef on black bread with butter) and bought tea and shared a brownie dessert. we usually have pound cake, but they were sold out of the marble cakes they usually have.

over lunch we talked about how we really missed this janet cardiff exhibit  . . we thought it would have been a nice compliment to the fashion exhibit. we really think it would have been nice as a permanent exhibit.

today . .  was such a dark day . .