Musée Cluny

Musée Cluny


The Museum of the Middle Ages is located in Paris near the Palace Luxemburg. It is most famous for its tapestries, especially the "Lady and the Unicorn," and its illuminated manuscripts, illustrated hand written books. It is also one of the few remaining Roman sites in Paris. The site was originally a Roman Bath.

Illuminated Manuscript from the 1400's.

Wood carving, painted and gilded.

The tapestries and the wood carvings were impressive.

There was a small collection of arms, shields, helmets, swords and canon.

Manuscript illustrating fighting techniques.

One of the techniques for illustrating scenes that caught my eye was the technique of using gold and enamel on top of a copper plate. The scene was carved from the copper plate and then filled with either gold or brilliant enamel colors. The result was very striking.

These aiguière, or pitchers, were used to hold water.

This one is from the mid 1400's and was used to hold water for the washing of hands.

The Lady and the Unicorn.

There are six tapestries depicting the lady and the unicorn. Five of the tapestries depict the five senses; touch, taste, sight, hearing and smell. The most famous, the sixth tapestry seen above, is thought to depict the sixth sense, the sense of the heart, or freedom of choice. Although much is known about the tapestry, it was ordered by a powerful nobleman, Jean Le Viste, as evidenced by his coat of arms on the pennants and it was woven in Flanders, the exact meaning of the sixth tapestry is uncertain.It is a late fifteenth century work and the style is known as, mille-fleurs or thousand flowers, because of the background.
It is commonly interpreted as the Lady taking off the necklace, placing it in the box held by her handmaiden, and returning in rejection of her suitor.
We spent only the afternoon in the Cluny and that was not nearly enough time to see everything. We look forward to a return visit.

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