Reconstructed Portal

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The main portal of the church of San Vicente Mártir was nearly destroyed in 1879, when the nearby tower fell. Here, eighty fragments have been used to reconstruct the monumental doorway. Some of the stones were recycled from earlier buildings. Two openings at the sides of the installation allow a glimpse of the earlier carving. The rich imagery includes biblical subjects (such as the Flight into Egypt) and moralizing subjects, as well as human heads and animals.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art