11 May 2017 / leggypeggy

A quick trip to the Middle Ages

dogs, jewellery, metalwork, Musée Cluny, museums, Paris, pottery, sculptures, statues, tapestries, travel

Detail of dog in tapestry on Taste

Detail of girl on the tapestry on Taste

The Lady and the Unicorn, Taste, flowers

Detail of flowers on the tapestry on Taste

The whole Taste tapestry

The National Medieval Art Museum in Paris, also known as the Musée Cluny, holds one of Europe’s most important collections dedicated to the arts, daily life, and social and religious history of the Middle Ages in France.

It’s also one of the few places in Paris that Poor John and I agreed we had to visit again on this trip.

So we set out on a rainy morning, umbrellas in hand, to walk about 40 minutes from Libby’s flat to the museum. It’s amazing how compact much of Paris is, and how easy it is to get around on foot or using buses or the underground Metro.

Soon enough (and dry enough) we reached the museum, which is housed in the gothic-style Hôtel de Cluny, a 15th century mansion which was itself built atop the foundations of Roman thermal baths.

I should mention here that use of the word ‘hôtel’ for almost any old structure in France usually refers to a mansion or house and not an actual hotel.

Altarpiece

Resurrection

Honouring an idol

Joseph being sold

Box from 1200

Reliquary, 11th century

Brooch

small box

Anyway, there were some renovations being carried out so admission was about 8 euros, which is less than usual I think.

One of our main aims was to revisit the iconic Flanders tapestries known as The Lady and the Unicorn. I devoted an entire post to our last viewing of these magnificent tapestries, so most of the pics I’ve chosen for today are tapestry close-ups and other museum pieces.

For example, there is a large altar piece from the 15th century and stained glass panels from the 12th and 13th centuries. Many of the panels come from important chapels and churches, including Sainte-Chapelle and Saint Denis.

Other fine tapestries show aspects of daily life and celebrations. One room displays the choir stalls from the church of Saint-Lucian at Beauvais and the Saint Etienne’s Tapestry set. This set was woven around 1500 for the Cathedral of Auxerre.

Reading the labels for statue of Adam

Poor John heads into the Frigidarium

Heads of kings

Frigidarium

There is a small collection of jewellery, and precious Romanesque and Gothic sculptures made of stone, wood and ivory, as well as remarkable examples of medieval metalwork. Some ivories date back to the 4th century.

Sadly some of the statues are in pieces. There are the heads of kings without bodies and plenty of bodies without heads. The frigidarium (cold room) is an enormous vaulted space with a ceiling soaring almost 15 metres high. The room is a major remnant of the northern thermal baths of Lutetia, and has been extensively renovated.

In fact, much of the museum is currently being renovated and we couldn’t get to all the places and see all the items from our visit in 2015. I’ve included several images from that previous visit.