Musee National du Moyen Age

By parisian on 20/08/2009 in Attractions

Musee de Cluny Paris

The Musee de Cluny, officially known as Musee National du Moyen Age (National Museum of the Middle Ages), is a museum in Paris, France. It is located in the 5th arrondissement at 6 Place Paul Painleve, south of the Boulevard Saint Germain, between the Boulevard Saint Michel and the Rue Saint Jacques.Among the principal holdings of the museum are the six La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) tapestries, from the late fifteenth century, often considered one of the greatest works of art of the Middle Ages in Europe.

The Hotel de Cluny

The structure is perhaps the most outstanding example still extant of civic architecture in medieval Paris. It was formerly the town house (hotel) of the abbots of Cluny, started in 1334. The structure was rebuilt by Jacques d’Amboise, abbot in commendam of Cluny 1485-1510; it combines Gothic and Renaissance elements. In 1843 it was made into a public museum, to contain relics of France’s Gothic past preserved in the building by Alexandre du Sommerard.

Though it no longer possesses anything originally connected with the abbey of Cluny, originally the hotel, was part of a larger Cluniac complex that also included a building (no longer standing) for a religious college in the Place de la Sorbonne (just south of the present day Hotel de Cluny along Boulevard Saint-Michel). Although originally intended for the use of the Cluny abbots, the residence was taken over by Jacques d’Amboise, Bishop of Clermont and Abbot of Jumièges, and rebuilt to its present form in the period of 1485-1500. Occupants of the house over the years have included Mary Tudor, who was installed here after the death of her husband Louis XII by his successor Francis I of France in 1515 so he could watch her more closely, particularly to see if she was pregnant. Seventeenth-century occupants included several papal nuncios including Mazarin.

In 1793 it was confiscated by the state, and for the next three decades served several functions. At one point it was owned by a physician who used the magnificent Flamboyant chapel on the first floor as a dissection room.

In 1833 Alexandre du Sommerard moved here and installed here his large collection of medieval and Renaissance objects. Upon his death in 1842 the collection was purchased by the state and opened in 1843, with his son as the museum’s first curator. The present gardens, opened in 1971, include a “Forêt de la Licorne” inspired by the tapestries.

The Hotel de Cluny is partially constructed on the remains of Gallo-Roman baths dating from the third century (known as the Thermes de Cluny ), which are famous in their own right and which may still be visited. In fact, the museum itself actually consists of two buildings: the frigidarium (“cooling room”), where the remains of the Thermes de Cluny are, and the Hotel de Cluny itself, which houses its impressive collections.

The museum

The Musee de Cluny houses a variety of important medieval artifacts, in particular its tapestry collection, which includes the fifteenth century tapestry cycle La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn).

Other notable works stored there include early Medieval sculptures from the seventh and eighth centuries. There are also works of gold, ivory, antique furnishings, and illuminated manuscripts. Official website is www.musee-moyenage.fr (Text Source: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)

Musee National du Moyen Age is located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. So, you may want to see;