The Cloisters

In 1925 John D. Rockefeller, Jr., presented to The Metropolitan Museum of Art a sum of money with which to purchase and maintain the collection of mediaeval sculpture and architectural  material assembled by George Grey Barnard and since 1914 open to the public in a brick structure built especially for it on Fort Washington Avenue. The Barnard collection was perhaps the most extensive of its kind in America at that time. Both the way in which it was displayed were remarkable achievements of enthusiasm and industry on the part of a single individual.