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

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A test with pictures comments at the beginning

Pictures, from 1 to 5: A suffering worker playing the gargoyle on the south western side (rue du Sommerard); richly decorated gables above the windows (19th century addition, as you can see comparing with the original decorations on the lower part); a general view from Square Pau Painlevé; the Renaissance entrance, and the St Jacques scallops and the sundial decorating the small tower of the mansion; even the gutter is decorative!

Beauties of the Middle Age. . . but first generalities.
Formal definitions of Middle Age make it begin with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and end with the “discovery” of America, or the take over of Granada by the Spanish Catholic Kings, or the invention of printing by Gutenberg.
The National Museum of Middle Age -- or short ”Musée de Cluny”-- displays some wonders of the middle age pictorial and statuary art and the creativity of people of that time in glass working, wood carving, tapestry, etc.
Many masterpieces come from French castles, churches, monasteries or more modest places, but there are also many pieces coming from all over Europe, and this museum gives a very deep insight to European art of that time (except painting, may be), and how art was closely linked to religious life.
One of the masterpieces is of course the famous Lady and the Unicorn, and she deserves a separate “tip”.
The building hosting the museum itself is a Renaissance U-shaped mansion (Hotel de Cluny), built by Jacques d’Amboise, abbot of the Cluny monastery, at the end of the 15th century; It is a typical early Renaissance building, interesting to look at, walking around, before entering the museum. The mansion has been built next to an old Gallo Roman thermal baths building complex, which is currently closed and under renovation. There is a medieval garden on the northern side of the building.
Walking around you will see a number of gargoyles decorating the top of the walls, notice the rich decoration of the gables above the windows; you enter the yard of the mansion through a Renaissance porch, built in the wall closing the U (from the U-shape of the mansion) and will not miss the St Jacques scallops, reminding this place was a resting place for pilgrims walking to Santiago da Compostella; an old sundial is also catching your eye. It is worth to take your time before you enter the museum and discover the marvels!

Days and hours of operation
Every day except Tuesday, from 9:15 to 5:45
Desk closes at 5:15
Closed 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
-Plein tarif : 7.5 €
-Tarif réduit : 5.5 €

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Place Paul Painlevé is opposite the entrance of the Middle Age Museum of Cluny and if you arrive a bit in advance to visit the museum (recommended!), you can have a short tour in the garden in the middle of the square, there are a few surprises there (surprises, if I write about in VT?). On the opposite of Musée de Cluny is the Sorbonne University.
Paul Painlevé was a mathematician (You certainly know the transcendent functions of Painlevé, differential equations with non-algebraic solutions. . . stop! I’m lost) and ministry of education at the beginning 20th century, but interesting here is the garden!
Is it not a surprise to meet Romus and Remulus sucking milk from the she-wolf? Roma here in Paris! It is a replica (pictures 1 and 2) of the wolf of the Capitol, offered by Rom to Paris in 1962 when they became twin-cities.
In this charming square, between the trees, behind an Althea shrub you will also meet Puvis de Chavanne (picture 3), a symbolist painter who had a big influence on the impressionists painters and even Picasso admitted he owed him a part of his inspiration; there is also on the East side a fountain-monument dedicated to Octave Greard (picture 4). It is a really nice walk in this little garden, and on the southern side, outside, Rue des Ecoles is a bronze statue of Montaigne, the great philosopher and writer, a former mayor of Bordeaux during the reign of Henri IV. Look at his foot! Many people passing by formulate a wish and believe that touching his foot and saying: ”Salut Montaigne!”, the wish will become true! It is probably a student tradition (the Sorbonne is on the other side of the street), specially in exams times. On the pedestal of the statue is a beautiful sentence of Montaigne about Paris I try to translate here: Paris has my heart since childhood. I am French only because of this great city, great and overall incomparable in variety, the glory of France, and one of the most beautiful ornaments of the world.

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Since Dr’s Guillotin invention, there is a tradition of cutting heads in France (this has been abolished in 1981!) and the revolutionaries, long before the International was written, wanted to “Of the past let us wipe the slate clean”. . . ! So they beheaded the king, counts, vice counts, innocents, lots of people, and. . . . thousands of statues in the French churches! When you look at the beautiful façade of Notre Dame de Paris, you see it as it has been renovated by Viollet Le Duc, the chief architect of the French Historical Monuments Service in the middle of the 19th century: the beheaded statues of the kings (in fact these are the kings of Juda, not the French dynasties as the revolutionaries were convinced to cut the head off) were removed and replaced by new ones. They are made with soft “Lutetian limestone” and have been renovated 20 years ago and look nice, but the originals are not anymore visible! The original heads have been recovered in 1977 in the basement and cellar of an old house in the Chaussée d’Antin (Hotel Moreau), and these are the ones you can see in the Museum of the Middle age (pictures 1 and 2): the originals are here! A visit to Notre Dame would not be complete if you do not visit this museum and see the statues (mainly their heads)! Time has made its work, but the faces are still beautifully expressive.
Other beautiful statues are displayed, like these musician angels, with very elegant details (picture 3), this hermit or priest (picture 4) with his incredible twisted beard. The beheaded statues you see on picture 5 come from the St Denis Basilica, near Paris, the place where the kings of France are buried (with their heads), and the remains of Louis XVI joined them in 1815, during the first Restoration (of monarchy).

Days and hours of operation
Every day except Tuesday, from 9:15 to 5:45
Desk closes at 5:15
Closed 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
-Plein tarif : 7.5 €
-Tarif réduit : 5.5 €

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On the first floor, mainly in two rooms you will discover (among others) religious gothic artefacts where the artists show incredible skills, mixing the materials, mastering the shapes, expressing “messages”; it is just amazing beauty! This processional cross from the 15th century is to me one of the most achieved (is it correctly expressed?) works of arts of that museum: calm face of the ascetic man, a red spot on the chest. . . . no violence with death.
I do not know who are the characters at the extremities of the cross, they have wonderfully expressive faces (picture 2).
I looked at this foot (picture 3), amused and full of respect in the same time: just a reliquary, and the toes are not stiff, ready to walk!
I retrospectively envy the people who read their books with that sort of book binding (picture 4). . . And what is the sense of this reliquary plaque (picture 5)? In the 13th century the faces of the characters were not as elaborated as in the 15th, but they are incredibly expressive, and in the sky full of stars, I see Justice, Destiny. . . . . Even if you do not know, (like me) just let the beauty and the poesy invade you. . . Be careful, you may come out of this museum. . . converted! Warning and danger “tip”?

Days and hours of operation
Every day except Tuesday, from 9:15 to 5:45
Desk closes at 5:15
Closed 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
-Plein tarif : 7.5 €
-Tarif réduit : 5.5 €

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There is a beautiful representation of the five senses in the National Museum of Middle Age. A circular room is dedicated to the famous tapestries of the Lady and the Unicorn, and there under dim light, you can speculate about what the sixth sense may be. . . . Five big tapestries cover a big part of the wall and between the doors, facing them, is the sixth. My documentation says the tapestries have been woven in Flanders at the end of the 15th century, based on a German tale; the authors are not identified and there are lots of stories about these tapestries, which are in the “Hotel de Cluny” since 1882, after having changed of owner several times. Prosper Mérimée, chief inspector at the “historical monuments directorate” of the French ministry of culture (and among other works, author of Colomba and Carmen, the story of Bizet’s opera) discovered the tapestries in a castle in Central France and imposed their “classification”; thanks, Prosper! Thanks, because he saved them from becoming upholstery, pillow cases, and other things like that, as the owner of the tapestries had other tapestries he already had cut and used for that purpose, or for decorating his carts!
Mon seul desir”, my only wish, my only desire, is written on the tent in front of which the lady picks some items from a jewel box hold by a maid; the animals witness her; I see generosity there, like some medievalists, but other have sorts of “naughty” interpretations; it is a matter of mood when you look at! I give what I want to whom I want!
And the five senses? Look! The unicorn sees her (his?) face in the mirror presented by the lady (picture 3) The other senses are represented by the lady playing organ; taste, the lady taking a sweet, smell, the monkey smells a bunch of flowers, feel, the lady puts her hand on the unicorns horn. . . . . There are lots of details on the tapestries, you can spend hours looking at all of them! Just examples with the chained monkey, (like “chaining” naughty thoughts on the scene where the lady feels the horn of the unicorn?) on picture 4 or the thinking face of the lion wearing a shield (picture 5), like telling bye to his lady before going to the battle (?).
Days and hours of operation
Every day except Tuesday, from 9:15 to 5:45
Desk closes at 5:15
Closed 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
Plein tarif : 7.5 €
Tarif réduit : 5.5 €

I have to give credit again to yooperprof for this tip, had he not mentioned it, I probably would have passed by it every day on my way to the metro station without giving it another thought.

The highlight of the museum is the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, a delightful series of 6 tapestries, 1 for each of the senses and the last called "A Mon Seul Desir".

Included on the museum pass (an excellent place to buy the pass BTW as this museum was never crowded/

This probably isn't a museum you would consider visiting in your very first trip to Paris, but after you have seen most of the "must see" tourist places you want to see something new...

I guess most people would consider this as an "off the beaten path" place, but I think it's really worth the visit. I wasn't expecting to see much but I found a lot of interesting stuff instead.... from stained glass and tapestries to various items used by people in the Middle Ages to a huge cooling chamber with its original stone walls preserved... I thought it was a small museum but in fact it's pretty big, so be ready to spend at least a couple of hours here. It's worthwhile to take the time to enjoy all there is to see here. Also, since it isn't such a popular place, it won't be as crowded as the Louvre or D'Orsay museums, although there were several visitors when I went there. But there aren't any long lines to go inside or anything like that. I arrived there early in the morning anyway, so there might be more visitors later in the day.

Maybe this isn't really important but some people might want to know it: once you have spent many hours walking through one museum after the other you really want to sit down for a while. Well, this museum doesn't have many spots to sit down so be ready to walk almost non-stop while you're inside. There are a few benches in the patio next to the entrance, but other than that there aren't really many places where you can rest. There is a small park/garden across the street, so you may want to relax there for a little while after your visit is over.

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Sometimes called the Mussee de Cluny, the National Museum of the Middle Ages is actually two separate structures - the cooling room (frigidarium) which is home to the Roman baths and the Hotel de Cluny which is considered to be the finest example of medieval civil architecture in all of Paris.

Although the museum is home to a host of weapons, sculptures, tombs, and Roman artifacts, by far and away the key to this museum are the La Dame a la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) tapestries. These huge creations from the Netherlands hang in circular room 13 on the 1st floor - and are a sight to behold. The lighting is very low and the room quiet so you can really absorb the beauty.

The gift shop has some really cute little things for sale. A large amount of books in French take up a majority of the room, but around the edges of the shop you can find illuminated postcards and lots of cute little children's toys.

Admission is 5 Euro for adults, 6.50 for students and 18-25 year olds, and under 18 are free. The 1st Sunday of the month is free. Hours are 9:15am-5:45pm Wednesday-Monday.