Cluny – Musée Nationwide du Moyen Age
6, place Paul Painlevé, fifth
M° Cluny-La Sorbonne or Saint-Michel, RER Saint-Michel
Tel 01 53 73 78 00
www.musee-moyenage.fr
Within the coronary heart of the Latin Quarter, this nationwide museum — reopened in 2022 after in depth renovations — holds a wealthy assortment of artwork from the Center Ages inside a medieval mansion as soon as belonging to the Cluny Abbey, itself constructed up towards ruins of Gallo-Roman baths relationship again to the 2nd century. Noteworthy works embrace the well-known Unicorn Tapestries.
Regardless of its prime location, the Cluny Museum was typically a quiet little museum that appeared to keep away from the highlight — and the crowds. However after a number of years of renovations, it’s now on everybody’s must-see listing. It’s price a go to in the event you’re involved in studying concerning the evolution of the (largely non secular) arts from the early by the late Center Ages into the early Renaissance interval, in addition to the Gallo-Roman vestiges of Paris when it was often called Lutetia.
The setting is necessary right here, as a result of the museum itself is constructed inside two historic monuments, price a go to in their very own proper: the ruins of the Gallo-Roman bathhouses relationship again to the 2nd century AD, and the Fifteenth-century mansion constructed up towards the ruins by the Abbots of the celebrated Cluny Monastery to make use of whereas in Paris (it was constructed within the Latin Quarter close to the Sorbonne because of this).
When the mansion initially grew to become a museum within the mid-Nineteenth-century, it had been the non-public residence of a collector of Medieval artwork. A lot of the museum’s decor was, apparently, extra Medieval “themed” than authentically historic. For those who recall visiting the museum earlier than the renovations all through the 2000s, you would possibly bear in mind it as a little bit of a darkish and dusty place, a bit like an outdated Gothic church with creaky picket flooring. What it has misplaced in environment after the latest renovations, it has gained in consolation. It’s clear, climate-controlled, simple to get round (with elevators), and straightforward to learn the descriptions (that are in English and Spanish in addition to French now).
Listed below are a couple of photographs from my go to final week (click on to see full dimension and caption):
The brand new entrance is spacious, with free lockers to retailer your coat and further baggage. You should use the printed map or simply observe the indicators to every room, beginning downstairs, then the bottom flooring, and ending on the first flooring (which People name the 2nd flooring). Your entire assortment might be visited in two hours simply, with a pause on the newly-opened café (which has additional seating within the courtyard, now solely open to museum guests).
The recommended route by the museum is generally chronological. You may breeze by and simply cease to benefit from the art work or items that catch your eye, nevertheless it’s price taking your time and searching on the artworks shut up, as it’s possible you’ll discover one of many many hidden particulars that may be fairly enjoyable and naughty (even in supposedly non secular artworks). There are audio guides accessible (€4) and smartphone apps that may give you additional element, however in the event you can take a guided tour you’ll get a greater thought of the context for the artworks in Medieval Paris. In case your French is sweet (or you will have a great translator app), there are themed “parcours” of the artworks on the French model of the web site, together with “Medieval Girls, Trendy Needs”.
Extra photographs (click on for the captions):
Opening Hours: Day by day besides Monday, 9:30am-6:15pm (final admission 5:30pm). Open Thursday nights 6:15-9pm, final entey 8:30pm. Closed January 1, Could 1 and December 25. Closing at 4pm on December twenty fourth and December thirty first.
Tickets: Entry to the museum is €12 (€13 if you buy prematurely on-line); €10 for college kids, and everybody on Thursdays after 6pm. Museum passes accepted.
Free Entrance : Youngsters below 18, academics, EU nation college students and disabled guests; everybody on the primary Sunday of the month.
Information and Providers: There’s a bookstore with some present objects accessible to the general public till 6pm, and a casual café inside the museum (solely open to ticket holders) with seating within the courtyard. Surrounding gardens are open every day to the general public without cost (closed in 2022 for renovations).
Don’t miss it: There are sometimes stay musical live shows (Renaissance and Medieval classical music) and sketching excursions accessible on the museum, remember to test the program!
