MUSÉE NATIONAL DU MOYEN ÂGE

Description

Essentials about the Musée national du Moyen Âge in brief

If you are a fan of medieval history and art, you should definitely see the Musée national du Moyen Âge. The Parisian medieval museum is one of the most important of its kind in the world. Fittingly, the museum is housed in the stylish atmosphere of the Hôtel de Cluny, a medieval palace in the heart of the Latin Quarter student district, just a short distance from the Île de la Cité.

The building of the Musée national du Moyen Âge

Historically, the building goes back to the Baths of Cluny, which the Romans built around the year 200 in ancient Lutetia (=Paris). These were largely destroyed around the year 380. Only the cold water bath survived the destruction and is still integrated into the museum today. With a length of over 20 meters, it is considered to be the largest cold water bath in the Roman province of Gaul.

In 1330, the abbot of Cluny Abbey finally acquired the remains of the ancient complex in order to have its own accommodation in the future during visits to the royal court in Paris. At the end of the 15th century, the Hôtel de Cluny palace was built on the site. It combines stylistic elements of late Gothic and Renaissance. In 1842, the building fell into the possession of the French state. Two years later the museum was opened. However, the beautiful medieval garden of the Hôtel de Cluny was created only in 2000.

The collection of the Musée national du Moyen Âge

The collection of the Musée national du Moyen Âge goes back to the art collector and archaeologist Alexandre Du Sommerard (1779-1842), who once lived in the Hôtel de Cluny. He amassed a large collection of medieval implements and artifacts, which the French state purchased after his death and used as an occasion to create the museum. Today, the museum owns a number of important objects from all periods of the Middle Ages, such as sculptures, gold and ivory works, stained glass and manuscripts.

The main attraction of the Musée national du Moyen Âge is considered to be the six-part tapestry “Lady with the Unicorn”, which was probably created in the southern Netherlands at the end of the 15th century. Five of the works symbolically depict the five senses. The sixth tapestry has the inscription “Mon seul désir” (“My only desire”). Its mystery has not yet been fully solved, but the assumption is that it is about the renunciation of sensual stimuli in the sense of the Christian ascetic moral concept.