Musée du Moyen Age (Middle Ages) - Musée de Cluny, Paris

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This museum itself is historical, since it was founded in 1843. The building is the house of the Cluny Abbots, built in the late fifteenth century on the site of the Gallo-Roman baths from the first to third centuries.

Parts of the original Gallo-Roman baths are still (or again) visible, so when you go down some steps you are suddenly dropped from the Middle Ages back into Roman times, more than a millennium earlier.

Second photo: Excavations and building projects in the nineteenth century turned up numerous medieval statues, often without heads, since in some phases of French history it was the custom to behead the statues of people they no longer liked, such as kings or bishops.

Third photo: But the heads were also found and brought to the museum.

Fourth photo: In a temporary exhibition in 2012 the National Museum of the Middle Ages was displaying this intricately carved guiterne from the 14th-century. The guiterne was an ancestor of the guitar, but this one was transformed into a violin in the 16th century, which is why it looks like a mixture of both.

Fifth photo: The National Museum of the Middle Ages in Cluny Abbey sometimes offers concerts of medieval music, but the one I wanted to attend in 2006 was unfortunately cancelled because of the illness of one of the musicians.

Next review from January 2012: Woodcarvings in the Cluny museum

One of my preconceptions about medieval art was that all the people looked the same, with no individual traits or characteristics. But this is not always true, certainly not in this woodcarving of The Kiss of Judas, made in Brabant around the year 1500. Here each apostle is an individual. Each one looks different.

There are numerous woodcarvings in the museum, as well as pieces of antique furniture made of wood. A number of these wooden objects have ominous little holes in them, indicating the presence of wood worms. But presumably these have been treated so that the wood worms are now dead and only the little holes remain.

Next review from January 2012: A thousand flowers

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The National Museum of the Middle Ages is justly famous for its many medieval tapestries on the walls. These were made of wool and silk, woven by hand and contain amazing amounts of detail.

This style of tapestries is called mille-fleurs meaning a thousand flowers. I haven’t counted the flowers in this tapestry (first photo), but I think there might really be a thousand of them, along with five elegantly dressed people and numerous birds.

To learn more about medieval tapestries, please have a look at the many reviews on this subject by VirtualTourist member breughel, who has described tapestries on display in Paris, Krakow, Toulouse, Beaune and Brussels, among other places.

Second photo: Here we have a gentleman on horseback, two ladies on another horse, numerous finely dressed servants on foot, some children and dogs, some castles in the background – the longer you look, the more you find.

Third photo: This tapestry is the last in a series about upper class life in the Middle Ages, showing the funeral of the local ruler, surrounded by mourners and with angels overhead.

Next review from January 2012: The Lady and the Unicorn

Such is the depth of Parisian culture that should you be brave enough ever to start writing up your Paris tips on VT, you'll find yourself having to distinguish your 'must see art museum' from your 'must see museum museum' ... sigh ... So, for what it's worth, here is my top tip for Paris' 'must see museum museum'.

I should prefix this by saying that I am evangelical everything about Gothic bar the black nail varnish, body piercings and studded dog collars, so this was always going to be an surefire winner in my book. Museum about the Middle Ages ... tick. Housed in an ancient building that started life as a series of 3rd century Roman baths and was transformed into a medieval monastic building ... tick. Situated in one of the oldest and most atmospheric parts of Paris ... tick. I wish I were as good at other games!!!

But I digress. The Musée de Cluny (or Musée du Moyen Age - confusingly it's the same place) is located in the former Parisian townhouse for the abbots of Cluny and is devoted to a stupendous collection of artifacts from the Middle Ages. And in all my travels, I've never come close to a collection as complete or of anywhere near such a standard - and that's not for lack of trying! The collection includes wood carvings, stone sculptures, tapestries, manuscripts, ecclestiastical paraphernalia and all of it of mindboggling quality - to put it into perspective, it makes the collection in New York's Cloisters museum look like second grade rejects - and that is still one of NYC's greatest museums.

There are so many things that are remarkable about this museum that it's hard to know where to start. Firstly, the building in whioch it is housed oozes antiquity, and sets the tone perfectly. In most other places, the building would be a major tourist attraction in itself, but here it is merely the setting for the jewels - literally and figuratively - displayed within.

And then there are the collections. Well, the big drawcard is obviously the Lady and the Unicorn series of tapestries, which are every bit as spectacular as you have been lead to believe - the archetypal medieval model of romantic love for the unattainable Lady Fair. And the ivory carvings. And the gorgeously illustrated manuscripts. And the exquisite but ridiculously ornate altarware bought with collections from an impoverished peasantry in expectation of eternal redemption. Each piece echoing a heritage close enough to resonate with the European psyche but distant enough from our current beliefs and priorities to make us question our contemporary takes on society, culture and religion ... exactly the sort of uncomfortable stuff that museums should challenge us with.

I don't have either the space or stamina to explain why you should go ... only to encourage you that you shouldn't dream of missing it, regardless of age, creed, colour or education. To sum it up, I was once lucky enough to visit the museum in the late morning and noticed by chance that there was a free lunchtime concert of medieval music played on authentic instruments from the Middle Ages. When the musicians arrived, they were brandishing objects so outlandish that I hardly knew whether they were weapons, agricultural implements or musical instruments - let alone which end they should blow, pluck or strike! Turns out that these were professional (orchestral) musicians who just played these instruments for recreational purposes every so often, and the ensuing hour was literally spellbinding - music reaching across from across the ages played in a manner that was long forgotten. I have never heard a longer standing ovation - and in the travel experiences of nearly half a century, this stands out as one of the handful of the most memorable.

However, on a smugly - adoptive - German note, I have yet to discover a Tilman Reimenschneider sculpture - the foremost wood carver of the High Gothic era - in the collection. Please let me know if I'm wrong so that I can go and pay homage (and address the oversight)!

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The National Museum of the Middle Ages is reputed for its magnificent collection of tapestries.

The so called "Mille fleurs" thousand flowers tapestries are typical of the 15th c. and owe their name to the multitude of flowers and blooming branches spread over them. This is a background on which persons and animals are represented. The most sumptuous examples of these "mille fleurs" tapestries are the six "Lady with the Unicorn - Dame à la licorne " tapestries in this museum of the former Cluny Abbey hotel.
The name Cluny comes from the famous Abbey de Cluny in Burgundy to which belonged this Parisian abbey residence.

"La Dame à la Licorne" is the title of a series of six Flemish (Brussels?) tapestries from around 1490, made of wool and silk, often considered as one of the greatest works of art of the Middle Ages. The cartons were made in Paris. The harmony of the range of colours is exceptional as well as their iconography and the fact that they always remained together.
These 6 tapestries of about 3 x 4 m are on display in a special very dark circular room of the museum
Five of these tapestries illustrate each of the five senses : taste, hearing, sight, smell and touch. In each there is the Lady with the unicorn, a lion, other animals, a maidservant.
The sixth tapestry, wider than the others, shows the lady standing in front of a tent which reads "A Mon Seul Désir - To My Only Desire".
There are various interpretations, the meaning of this sixth piece remains mysterious.

These six tapestries were discovered in 1841 by the French author Prosper Mérimée in the castle of Boussac. They were probably manufactured for Jean Le Viste, a personage close to King Charles VII.

As there is some mystery about this "Dame à la Licorne", books were written about these allegoric tapestries, recently by Tracy Chevalier author of the book "Girl with the pearl earring".

There are other beautiful tapestries such as the "Seigniorial Life", the "Grape Harvest", "The Liberal Arts" etc all of Flanders begin 16th c.

Open: each day 9.15 h - 17.45 h. Closed on Tuesday and 1/01,1/05 & 25/12.
Price (2011): 8 €, reduced 6 €. Free < 26 yr from EU.

This museum is an absolute must for all tapestry lovers.
There is not only the amazing ensemble of the "Dame à la Licorne" but there are many other remarkable art works nearly all of Flanders (part of the Duchy of Burgundy in that time) at the end of the 15th begin 16th c.

Among the best known are "Les Vendanges - The Grape Harvest" (Flanders around 1500).
It is typical of the noble daily life theme found in the tapestries of the 15th c.
The Lord and Lady are shown overseeing the grape harvest and the pressing of the grapes. Everyone, including the servants, wears the finest clothing and jewellery!
This scene represents the two techniques of pressing known in the Middle Ages: pressing with the foot, where the peasant tramples the grain to crush it (a technique used for the not very important vines), and the press with screw which the peasants turn with a stick to crush the bunches and to extract the juice from them. The liquid is then collected in wooden barrels to be preserved.

The tapestry is set against a "mille fleur" (thousand flower) background, a popular design feature in many tapestries of the middle ages.
Replicas of this tapestry are still produced and proposed for sale.

Open: each day 9.15 h - 17.45 h. Closed on Tuesday and 1/01,1/05 & 25/12.
Price (2011): 8 €, reduced 6 €. Free < 26 yr from EU.

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We usually like many things from middle ages, so we went here. I´m not sure why, but we both felt like this wasn´t what we expected. There were some intresting objects, but nothing very expressive I think. Some people were really excited on famous art textils, but we aren´t keen to them. It´s interesting how well thay are saved, but we rather see more normal peoples normal life things, and metal objects. (Actually I´m an art metal smith from my first education, so that might be the reason..)
The museum is o.k., and there are some nice things, and the building is nice, but if I would skip some museum from what we did see, it would be this. I´m sorry we choosed this over Museum d´Orsay, because we didn´t actually have time to visit it at all then. But next time then ;)
This was included in Paris Museum pass.

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One could say that medieval art was very often synonym of religious art.
This museum shows a large number of religious art works of the highest quality.
I insist on the high quality for what is on display in the Musée de Cluny because what I saw over the years in churches, monasteries and museums made me conclude that religious art, like secular art, has a fair number of highlights but much more minor works.

In my review here on the wooden sculptures I showed already some good works to which I would like to add this "Virgin of Sorrows" in front of a town landscape (oak, France 1520 photo n°2).

There is a category of religious art works i.e. wooden altarpieces also well represented in this museum (room 14). They are important features of the medieval arts culture. Many of them were carved in the towns of Antwerp, Brussels and Mechelen in present-day Belgium (ref. my review on Brussels, Cinquantenaire museums).

There is a beautiful altarpiece "La Rencontre d'Abraham et de Melchisedech, la Messe de Saint Grégoire" carved in polychrome wood by Jan de Molder, Antwerp 1514, of which my photo represents a part "la Cène - Last Supper" (photo n°1). Another remarkable one is the "Childhood and Passion of Christ" in polychrome wood (3 x 3 m) also made in Antwerp begin 16th c. (photo n°3).
There exist also small altarpieces for use in the private chapels of the noble. A fine example is the "Deploration du Christ" by Arnt of Kalkar (Germany in 1483) with dimensions of 1 m x 0,5 m.

Open: each day 9.15 h - 17.45 h. Closed on Tuesday and 1/01,1/05 & 25/12.
Price (2011): 8 €, reduced 6 €. Free < 26 yr from EU.