Hey friends, did you know there’s a collection of medieval gardens, courtyards, and unicorn art just north of Washington Heights in Manhattan? Yes, motherfuckin’ unicorns. If Europe’s not in the budget, then The Met Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park is the best alternative for a Saturday staycation.

If you’re a New York resident, you can pay whatever you want for admission instead of the standard $20.00. There are also several different tours, including a daily afternoon Garden Tour, which are all free with admission. Parking is even free!

First Stop – The Judy Black Garden in the Cuxa Cloister

From the main entrance, the first garden you’ll come upon as you wind your way around is the Judy Black Garden in the Cuxa Cloister. The Cuxa Cloister (built with stone from the 12th century Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa), is reconstructed at about a third of its original size and is filled with reimagined medieval magic.

Though I wandered the gardens earlier in the afternoon, I stuck around for the guided tour to get the real dirt. The Cuxa garden is divided into four quadrants, each with an ornamental crab apple tree planted in the corners. Fun fact: I’m 90% sure our guide said it was Albertus Magnus who recommended planting trees a healthy distance apart, not because it’s good for their growing roots, but because spiders will otherwise weave their webs between trees that are too close, and that is annoying.

In addition to strewing herbs like lavender, you can find plants with historical magical significance, such as lady’s mantle and foxglove. Lady’s mantle leaves are covered in fine hairs, which causes water to bead on the surface. Apparently this was enough for certain medieval folks to deduce that lady’s mantle was an alchemical plant, and therefore magical. Similarly, the doctrine of signatures dictated that plants resembling certain body parts should be used to treat said body part, a not-so-scientific, but also kind of logical approach to healthcare.

Once we reached the roses, our guide explained that their popularity waned for a time because the Catholic Church didn’t approve of them, associating this particular flower with the excesses of the Roman Empire. However, the rose came back into vogue as Crusaders traveled East and returned to Europe, bringing with them a renewed appreciation for the plant which we haven’t shaken since. Because roses set fruit in the fall, rose hips were, and still are, also used medicinally.

Next Up, the Saint-Guilhem Cloister

This interior cloister feels the most like a Game of Thrones set piece to me, though it’s the smallest with only sparse greenery, mostly potted palms. It’s bright and ascetic, and I can just imagine the Sand Snakes (the bad bitches from the books, not the show) plotting some revenge in this mini Dornish courtyard.

According to the info placard, the French monastery from which this cloister came was called Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert, founded in 804 AD by a member of Charlemagne’s court amidst a landscape of waterfalls and gorges. The monastery was a popular pilgrimage site on the road to further religious destinations in northern Spain, and the columns surrounding the space feature designs of ancient Roman leaf types and vining plants, including hops.

The Magical Bonnefont Herb Garden and Cloister

My absolute favorite is the Bonnefont Herb Garden and Cloister, which is located next to the small cafe and more wild-planted Trie Garden. After you grab lunch and a drink (maybe a cold beer or hot tea depending on the time of year), you’ll move to the largest garden featuring raised beds dedicated to different medieval purposes, such as magic, medicine, love and fertility, and arts and crafts.

I’m bummed the apothecary display wasn’t open during this visit, but it’s definitely worth asking about! A couple years ago I was able to get a list of all of the plants in the Bonnefont garden for the 2017 seasons, which is still a great personal reference sheet to have. See the gallery below for a photo of part of the apothecary display.

Lastly, hops are one of my favorite plants, and not just because they’re a key ingredient in beer (also a magical substance). Hop buds are beautiful, and cascading walls of hop vines and tendrils make me so happy. Hops feature heavily in the Cloister gardens, with designs carved into columns, canopies growing in the Bonnefont garden, and 16th century instructional texts about growing hops in very old English on display inside the museum.

Unicorns, Fuck Yeah!

Moving back inside the museum, what would a trip to the Cloisters be without stopping to visit the famed unicorn tapestries? I may have to do a separate post to dive deeper into the badass botanical/Biblical symbolism and artistry in these tapestries. But for now, here are some highlights I gleaned from our tour guide:

• According to myth, a unicorn’s horn could purify a water source if/when the Devil poisons the water overnight in the form of a serpent.
• People at the time thought they were purchasing unicorn horn for healing, but really they were getting pieces of narwhal tusk.
• Botanists from the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) were able to identify 101 unique plants in the tapestries, and were able to name 84 of these plants.
• There’s a hell of a lot of Christ/crown of thorns and Virgin Mary plant imagery, including Irises a.k.a. Sword lilies a.k.a. Sorrows of the Virgin (dope).
• The patron who commissioned the seven tapestries (initialed A.E.) has never been identified and remains a mystery for historians.

Until Next Time…

Whether you’re a local or visitor to New York, The Met Cloisters is an easy-to-get-to destination for a faux European afternoon of garden life and people watching. One of the best pieces I overheard was a little boy explaining all the plants to family, including the “Frankenstein” plant (a.k.a. frankincense). I’ll certainly be back in the Fall with a book or magazine, and I hope you can take the time for yourself too. You deserve it.

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