The medieval Monastery of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa
French medieval monastery artifacts at the Cloisters ]]>
A dozen architectural elements from the medieval monastery of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, which is located in the northeast Pyrenees, have gone on public display at The Cloisters – the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to the art and architecture of the Middle Ages. Part of the collection of The Cloisters since 1925, the pieces of carved stone have been in storage for nearly 70 years. The carvings, which include decorative elements from three nearly complete arches, and blocks carved with images of a musician, the Lamb of God, and other figures, have recently been embedded in the east wall of the Cuxa Cloister. Although the walls surrounding the Cloister are modern, the series of marble columns, boldly carved capitals, and arches forming the Cuxa Cloister date from the 12th century and also originated from Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa. All are carved from the beautiful pinkish stone of the Pyrenees known as “Languedoc marble.” The installation also will incorporate new lighting and a new sound system.
Conservation and installation has been made possible by the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation.
Lighting has been made possible by the Quinque Foundation.
The Benedictine monastery of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa was founded shortly before 878, and various buildings within the complex were constructed in the centuries that followed. The monastery was sacked by French troops in 1654 during a period of hostilities between France and Spain and, in 1791, after France decreed the Civilian Constitution of the Clergy, the last of its monks departed. The roof of the ancient church collapsed in 1835, the north bell tower fell in 1839, and subsequently much of its stonework was dispersed.
“The newly installed architectural elements are thought to come from the second story or ‘tribune’ of the monastic church,” commented Peter Barnet, the Michel David-Weill Curator in Charge of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. “By displaying them adjacent to the marvelous columns and capitals from the monastery’s cloister, we hope that our visitors will have an improved understanding of the architectural environment at Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa.”
The presentation of the architectural elements in the Cuxa Cloister is part of a larger, ongoing project that has included: new glass and lighting in the Treasury this fall; preservation of three monumental traceried windows from Normandy; refurbished stonework and a new installation of stained glass in the Early Gothic Hall earlier this year; renovation and repair of the Unicorn Tapestries Gallery (completed in 1999); the construction of a new skylight and lighting for the St.-Guilhem Cloister (completed in 2003); and new track lighting and climate control systems throughout the galleries (completed in 2006). The Campin Room – which takes its name from the most important work of art displayed in it, Robert Campin’s Annunciation triptych (often called the Mérode altarpiece after the family that owned it in the 19th century) – will reopen in 2007. The triptych remains on view elsewhere at The Cloisters while the Campin Room in under renovation. These projects have been made possible by the City of New York, The Alice Tully Foundation, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, and other friends of The Cloisters.
Constructed in New York City’s Fort Tryon Park in the 1930s to house part of the Metropolitan Museum’s superb collection of medieval art, The Cloisters evokes the feeling of a medieval monastery without attempting to recreate any single site. Within The Cloisters are four reconstructed medieval cloisters – the Cuxa Cloister, Trie Cloister, Bonnefont Cloister, and St.-Guilhem Cloister – that give the museum its name.
Located in northern Manhattan, The Cloisters is a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Cloisters is the only museum in the United Stated dedicated solely to the art and architecture of medieval Europe.
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