Cloister

In the first half of the 20th century, many newly founded American museums sought to re-create portions of the original setting of works of art by acquiring period rooms and architectural features imported from Europe. The Nelson-Atkins cloister, installed in1948, is said to have come from an Augustinian Abbey near Beauvais, north of Paris. It was purchased from William Randolph Hearst, the press baron, who had bought it for his mansion at San Simeon in California.

Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust