Paris: Visiting Musée de Cluny (Museum of the Middle Ages)
Of course we have to put this exquisite carving of dogs at the top of our blog.
UPDATED: 2/4/2023
Note: Some links throughout our site are affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission at no cost to you.
We decided to visit Musée de Cluny, the National Museum of the Middle Ages, because I have always been particularly fascinated by that time period and wanted to see the famous tapestry housed at this museum, the Lady and the Unicorn, that I had studied and fallen in love with in an art history class in college.
The museum is located in the vicinity of the Latin Quarter of Paris near the Pantheon, so if you plan on visiting both, you should do so back-to-back. You can read our blog about the Pantheon here.
The entrance fee for the museum was included in our Paris Museum Pass. I highly recommend purchase of the pass if you plan on visiting museums during your trip - it more than paid for itself. You can learn more about the pass and purchase it online here.
This panel is probably the most famous of the six The Lady and the Unicorn panels.
Musée de Cluny: The Lady and the Unicorn and Medieval artifacts
The museum itself is pretty small but has many fascinating pieces from the Middle Ages. We first headed upstairs, which houses three main sections: (1) an exhibit entitled The Five Senses: An Echo to the Lady and the Unicorn, (2) the tapestry room, and (3) a room with artifacts, reliquaries, and other pieces from the Middle Ages.
The exhibit of ‘The Five Senses: An Echo to the Lady and the Unicorn’ provided a window into the way the five senses were viewed during the Middle Ages, a topic that was entirely new to the two of us. We learned that all five senses were purposefully brought to play in various aspects of life during this time period. For example, the incense during mass introduces the sense of smell into a setting that otherwise would not incorporate that sense.
This exhibit was a perfect segue into the tapestry room just down the hall. The tall, square room houses six themed tapestries collectively called The Lady and the Unicorn! As much as I have always appreciated the tapestry photographed above, I had no idea (or had forgotten), that it is one in a series of six tapestries. Five of the tapestries each represent one of the five senses and the sixth represents understanding, which is (supposedly) housed in the heart. Being in a room surrounded by these six massive tapestries left me in awe of the craftsmanship, artistry, painstaking detail, and amount of time that must have gone in to each of them originally and the more recent restoration. It also provided a sense of scale - for a home to be large enough to house these would be a very spectacular place indeed! Probably created in the early 1500s in Flanders for the Parisian le Viste family, the tapestries were eventually lost to time until they were rediscovered in 1841 in poor condition. In 1882 they were acquired by the museum, restored, and look to be in very good condition today.
For those who enjoy reading novels based upon works of art, Tracy Chevalier brought a fictionalized backstory to The Lady and The Unicorn in her book by the same title. I read the book years ago and remember enjoying it. As a side note: this is the same author who wrote Girl with a Pearl Earring about a Vermeer painting, which was later turned into a movie.
After taking these tapestries in and fantasizing about living in a home where I could hang enormous tapestries - though I think I will hold off a little longer until houses are self-cleaning - we headed back through another room filled with artifacts of the Middle Ages. Reliquaries, golden statues, and other artistic works, often for religious purposes, filled the room. Because this museum is far less popular than some of the big-name museums dotting Paris, we had very few visitors to contend with and could take our time exploring and reading about the objects.
The amazing craftsmanship of these ivory carvings almost makes me forget how ivory is sourced.
The Pentecost Altarpiece is a beautiful gold and enamel work from 1160-1170.
One figure from The Pentecost Altarpiece, crafted in the Meuse area.
Scenes from the Childhood and the Passion of the Christ - in Ivory
A golden rose will never wilt!
Madonna and child carved in ivory. The details are exquisite!
Musée de Cluny: The frigidarium
The Frigidarium at the Cluny Museum
Downstairs, I was ready to head for the exit. Dustin had spotted a sign on the wall pointing to the Frigidarium. It didn’t look to be part of the exhibit and, I admit, I was probably turned off by the word as someone who is always cold. But fine, I followed Dustin, expecting a dead end and a good ‘ole fashioned I-told-you-so.
But no, I was wrong, and I am so very glad!
In the semi-basement of the museum are the remains of a Roman bath! Built around the 1st century and in operation until the 3rd century, these are thought to be the largest ancient remains in Northern Europe today, and we found the space to be quite well preserved. The word frigidarium comes from the first “cold room” of a Roman bath house that proceeded the warmer rooms (ruins from a bath house’s warm room was visible in the nearby Crypte archéologique, which we blogged about here). As if in a cathedral, the vaulted ceiling soared about 45 feet high. It appeared that off-limits to visitors were some rooms below that were part of the warmer rooms (had I been alive at the time, you would have found me there), and from a sign that was in poorly-translated English, it seemed that tickets may be available on occasion for below-ground tours.
Housed in the frigidarium is a notable work of history. The Pillar of the Boatmen, carved out of limestone in around the year 25 AD, is thought to be the oldest monument in Paris and one of the earliest Gallo-Roman works of art to include inscriptions. Featuring Roman gods and Latin inscriptions, the belief that they were stacked into pillars is not confirmed and no one is sure exactly how they were structured. At some point, the pillars, which represented a guild of sailors in the city, were moved from their original home to a spot to reinforce walls on Île de la Cité where they were rediscovered in the early 1700s during work on Notre Dame. For more on the fascinating excavations on Île de la Cité, check out our future blog (coming soon!). In total, we spent just about an hour at Cluny and would definitely recommend it for those interested in the Middle Ages or in Roman history.
One section of the Pillar of the Boatmen
Thousands of years ago Roman citizens would relax here… how many people have sat in this exact tub?
Standing and looking at stone that was laid down over 1,000 years ago is pretty incredible.
Another part of the Pillar of the Boatmen.
Click the image below to save this post to Pinterest!
Check out our other posts about France:
Check out more amazing places in Paris.
We explored much of the city during our week-long stay!