| Musée du Moyen Age (Middle Ages) - Musée de Cluny tips and photos posted by real travelers and Paris locals.
Boulevard St-Michel
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One of my favorite things about the Musée de Cluny, besides the wonderful Lady & the Unicorn tapestries inside, is just the medieval feel of the building - its facade & courtyard. Particularly striking are the ancient well and the sundial.
Note the scallops on the wall near the sundial. On many old buildings in Paris you'll see these especially along the rue St-Jacques, the ancient cardo road that led to Campostela di Santiago. Pilgrims would go to Campostela de Santiago (or people would come to Paris to see St-Denis) via the rue St-Jacques. They'd bring back scallop shells that were particular to that area as proof they'd completed their pilgrimage. Hence the name Coquilles (shells) St-Jacques (the road) which is now a famous dish.
E-mail: lettreinfo.musee-moyenage@culture.gouv.fr
Hours of operation: Every day except Tuesday, 9:15am-5:45pm ~ Closed Jan 1, May 1 & XMAS
Admission:
Regular admission: 5.50€ & 6.70€ museum & exhibit
Discount: under 25 years & on Sunday: 4€ & 5.20€
Free: under 18, unemployed, teachers on duty, students, disabled, & 1st Sunday of the month
Bookstore/Giftshop:
9:15am-6pm except Tuesdays
PH#: 01 53 73 78 22
FX#: 01 40 46 03 39
Carte Musées et Monuments accepted here.
Photos: Feb 2006 Leave a Comment Phone: 01 53 73 78 00Directions: Métro Cluny-La Sorbonne, south on bd. St-Michel, left r. du Sommerard Bus: 21, 27, 38, 63, 85, 86, 87 RER: lineC St-Michel/lineB Cluny-La Sorbonne Parking: R. de l'Ecole de Médecine, r. Soufflot & Parc St-Michel (via pl Saint-André-des-Arts)Website: http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ Other Contact: 01 43 25 85 27 fx#
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This was my second trip to the Cluny museum this past February. Of course, I had to bring back photos of the accoutrements of war for the men in my family: crowns, chess pieces (helpful in honing the mind for war strategy), chainmail, swords, and other items associated with knight errantry. My husband is a huge chess freak so he was excited to see the alabaster chess pieces from the middle ages.
E-mail: lettreinfo.musee-moyenage@culture.gouv.fr
Hours of operation: Every day except Tuesday, 9:15am-5:45pm ~ Closed Jan 1, May 1 & XMAS
Admission:
Regular admission: 5.50€ & 6.70€ museum & exhibit
Discount:
under 25 years & on Sunday: 4€ & 5.20€
Free:under 18, unemployed, teachers on duty, students, disabled, & 1st Sunday of the month
Bookstore/Giftshop
9:15am-6pm except Tuesdays
PH#: 01 53 73 78 22
FX#: 01 40 46 03 39
Carte Musées et Monuments accepted here.
Photos: Feb 2006 Leave a Comment Phone: 01 53 73 78 00Directions: Métro Cluny-La Sorbonne, south on bd. St-Michel, left r. du Sommerard Bus: 21, 27, 38, 63, 85, 86, 87 RER: lineC St-Michel/lineB Cluny-La Sorbonne Parking: R. de l'Ecole de Médecine, r. Soufflot & Parc St-Michel (via pl Saint-André-des-Arts)Website: http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ Other Contact: 01 43 25 85 27 fx#
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 Entrance, Musee National du
Moyen-Age by jrs1234
While you're there don't forget to head up the stairs to the room with the collection of large 15th century tapestries with the collective title of the "Lady and the Unicorn" - definitely worth a look.
The museum is closed on Tuesdays, and open 9.15am to 5.45pm the rest of the week. Museum cards are accepted - adult entrance is otherwise 5 Euro 55 at present. Leave a Comment Directions: Where Boulevard Saint-Michel meets Boulevard Saint-Germain... couldn't be easier. Metro Cluny-Sorbonne (closer) or Saint-Michel (not far at all).Website: http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/
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The Cluny is two important museums in one. It contains the finest Roman ruin and local artefacts in Paris and it is THE MUSEUM of the Middle Ages (only the Cloisters in upper Manhattan, NYC, USA emulates it anywhere else).It contains medieval art,(except paintings) crafts and architecture (See subsequent Tips). It is housed in the Hotel de Cluny built in 1485 by the richest and powerful group of Benedictine Abbots who needed better accomodations than were usually provided to guest lecturers at the Sorbonne nearby. It was also a good place from which to recruit up and coming clerics. (The Cluniacs were the sharpest entrepreneurs of the Middle Ages).
First study the outside of the building because it is the only Gothic residence in Paris (except for recent attempts to restore the Hotel de Sens). You enter through a gateway in a crenellated security wall on the South into a trapezoidal courtyard with a rare large carved 15C stone well cover to your right. It has a wrought iron top and an unique gargoyle-like overflow. Note the Flamboyant carved stonework throughout: balustrades, mullioned windows, decorations, prominent among them are many scallop shells (the icon-logo of pilgrims who have been to Compostella) The Cluniacs were the hoteliers of the money-making tourist business (pilgrimages) and they were the employers of the builders of innumerable pilgrimage churches. Look at the turrets (one enclosing a staircase) and the fine arcade to the left. Now enter the museum through the "flame" doorway to the right.
This is the easiest and place in Paris to buy a museum pass. If you come on a Music Day (see Tip) get your free admission ticket too.
The grounds that the Cluniacs purchased included a big mound of stones from some "old buildings"; they incorporated a found east wall into their palace and some edges into their back garden facing the Blvd. St. Germain. These stones were later to be remembered as the Roman Baths.
The Chateau at Ecouen(the Musee National de la Renaissance) has Cluny holdings (from after 1500). Leave a Comment Directions: Where Boulevard Saint-Michel meets Boulevard Saint-Germain, walk S. 1 block, lt on rue Sommerard 1 block along the wall to the entrance.Website: www.musee-moyenage.fr ( Eng. or Fr.)
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There are 6 Lady & the Unicorn Tapestries; as follows are II - VI. These are 15th-century tapestries (made famous by the writer George Sand) from the Middle Ages showing allegories scenes representing the senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing. The 6th tapestry is called "To my only desire" and shows the lady putting in or taking out a necklace; does it represent a gift to her from someone who considers her his only desire or is the necklace itself the object of her desire?
E-mail: lettreinfo.musee-moyenage@culture.gouv.fr
Hours of operation: Every day except Tuesday, 9:15am-5:45pm ~ Closed Jan 1, May 1 & XMAS
Admission:
Regular admission: 5.50€ & 6.70€ museum & exhibit
Discount:
under 25 years & on Sunday: 4€ & 5.20€
Free:under 18, unemployed, teachers on duty, students, disabled, & 1st Sunday of the month
Bookstore/Giftshop
9:15am-6pm except Tuesdays
PH#: 01 53 73 78 22
FX#: 01 40 46 03 39
Carte Musées et Monuments accepted here.
Photos: Feb 2006 Leave a Comment Phone: 01 53 73 78 00Directions: Métro Cluny-La Sorbonne, south on bd. St-Michel, left r. du Sommerard Bus: 21, 27, 38, 63, 85, 86, 87 RER: lineC St-Michel/lineB Cluny-La Sorbonne Parking: R. de l'Ecole de Médecine, r. Soufflot & Parc St-Michel (via pl Saint-André-des-Arts)Website: http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ Other Contact: 01 43 25 85 27 fx#
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 by roamer61
The museum houses many works of art from both roman and mediaval times. Most famous are the Lady and Unicorn tapestries which are masterpieces from the 15th Century. Directions: Where Boulevard Saint-Michel meets Boulevard Saint-Germain... couldn't be easier. Metro Cluny-Sorbonne (closer) or Saint-Michel (not far at all).
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What a fascinating place. I loved sitting in the darkened, cooled room with the famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. Make sure to borrow the handout that tells the story of these ancient wall hangings.
There is also a very old chapel in there with a terrific gothic arched ceiling. Please...
Take care and DO NOT USE your flashes in here. I just about died when some women started flashing away in this tiny masterpiece built in the 15th c. Leave a Comment Phone: 01 53 73 78 00Directions: Where Boulevard Saint-Michel meets Boulevard Saint-Germain... couldn't be easier. Metro Cluny-Sorbonne (closer) or Saint-Michel (not far at all).
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Imagine a museum of the middles ages combined with the ruins of a Roman thermal bath and you have ... The Cluny.
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It has to be my favorite, mostly for the wonderful Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, but in general for the tapestries and the wood-carved furniture.
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The museum was begun in 1843 with the collections of Alexandre Du Sommerard. The H?tel de Cluny itself dates from the 15th century.
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The pictures are of details of the outside of the building itself. Leave a Comment Phone: 33 (0)1 53 73 78 00Directions: Where Boulevard Saint-Michel meets Boulevard Saint-Germain... couldn't be easier. Metro Cluny-Sorbonne (closer) or Saint-Michel (not far at all).Website: http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/
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It is difficult to take picture of The Lady .. but I tried!
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The most famous exhibit at this museum are the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries entitled "Mon seul desir" -- here the lady considers and then rejects the pleasures of the senses in order to serve God more fully. The relatively new reinstallation of the tapestries protects them from environmental hazards as well as makes them very beautifully visible and accessible.
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The additional pictures include a gothic ribbed vault ceiling. Leave a Comment Phone: 33 (0)1 53 73 78 00celing of theDirections: Where Boulevard Saint-Michel meets Boulevard Saint-Germain... couldn't be easier. Metro Cluny-Sorbonne (closer) or Saint-Michel (not far at all).Website: http://www.musee-moyenage.fr
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There used to be Roman baths on the site of the Cluny back when Paris was the Roman settlement of Lutetia. They share the room with some stuff from Notre Dame.
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In the 13th century it became an abbey that was expanded into the present shape, and the name stuck. The garden has recently been replanted with the medieval wild flowers and herbs that would have originally constituted the garden. Leave a Comment Phone: 33 (0)1 53 73 78 00Directions: Where Boulevard Saint-Michel meets Boulevard Saint-Germain... couldn't be easier. Metro Cluny-Sorbonne (closer) or Saint-Michel (not far at all).Website: http://www.musee-moyenage.fr
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