If you live in New York City, chances are there are things you’ve been meaning to do for years, things that many tourists do the first chance they get, but ones that you just haven’t gotten around to (taking a ride on the tram to Roosevelt Island, captaining a row boat in Central Park, even visiting the Statue of Liberty). Here’s a reason to cross one of those “touristy” but worthwhile items off of your list.
The Cloisters, the historic museum and garden overlooking the Hudson River on New York’s (very) Upper West Side, turns 75 this year, and the exhibit marking the birthday is definitely worth a trip up the West Side Highway or a ride on the A train. The celebration has a decidedly whimsical theme, but one that’s fitting given one of the museum’s most-prized and best-known possessions. It’s entitled “Search for the Unicorn,” and is centered around The Unicorn Tapestries, a series of works from the middle ages that were donated to the Met by the Rockefeller family.
The showcase also highlights a collection of forty additional works with a unicorn theme, collected from around the world.
The Cloisters 75th Anniversary Exhibit, which opened in late May, closes on August 18, so make sure you get up there while you still have a chance!