The Cloisters, which has been described as "the crowning achievement of American museology" and which opened to the public in 1938, is the Metropolitan Museum's branch for medieval art in Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan. Located in a spectacular four-acre setting overlooking the Hudson River, the building incorporates elements from five medieval cloisters -- Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Bonnefont-en-Comminges, Trie-en-Bigorre, and Froville-- and from other monastic sites located in southern France. The Cloisters possess many beautiful pieces of Italian medieval art, even though the main emphasis is French. Left is an extraordinary piece of 13th-century art, a bronze falcon from southern Italy, cast between 1200 and 1220 by an unknown artist.

"Bishop Saint" from the Umbro-Abruzzo region of Italy, dating 1350 - 1390. It was originally located in the parish church of San Nicola di Bari at Monticchio, L'Aquila and now is housed comfortably in the Cloisters.