Paris for all of us, Avital Inbar's new book about Paris, appeared in a digital edition inE-VRIT websiteI am happy and proud to bring you a small taste of it in the form of the chapter on the Musée National du Moyen-Age Thermes et Hôtel de Cluny, which reopened in 2022 after many years of renovations.
One of the greatest pleasures in Paris
The National Museum of the Middle Ages – Baths and Hotel de Cluny, or Cluny for short – is one of those museums that was founded, at least initially, on a wonderful collection that one man dedicated his life to collecting, and donated it to the state on the house where he lived and kept the exhibits: Alexandre de Sommerard (1852-1779), an extraordinary collector from the Romantic period.
Unlike other museums whose collections are the result of donations, Sommerard was not immortalized in the name of the museum, only in the name of the nearby street. The museum presents a thousand years of medieval culture and art, a long period that has almost disappeared from the Parisian landscape.
Cluny has a double historical uniqueness, which makes it uniquely suited to serve as a medieval museum: the combination of Roman baths and the adjacent Hôtel de Cluny, one of the only two large houses to survive intact from medieval Paris, outlines, by a wonderful coincidence, the two chronological ends of the collection, which spans 1,500 years, from the end of antiquity, the Roman period in France, to the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance.
The baths, spread over a vast area – perhaps the largest institution in the Lotissement, and whose dimensions suggest the wealth of the settlement – are impressive in their size and splendor. They surround the museum towards the Boulevard Saint-Michel and the garden facing the Boulevard Saint-Germain.
When it was founded in 1843, Cluny was not a specialized museum. Over the generations, other donations were added, such as the Strauss-Rothschild collection of Jewish art (which has since been transferred to the Museum of the History and Art of Judaism). At one time it was said that in some areas it rivaled the Louvre. This was an exaggeration, but it pointed in the right direction.
Since the end of World War II, he has been in his current specialty. As a student, I passed by it hundreds of times, but never went in. It was known as uninteresting and was often closed: an unflattering image. Finally, as a welcome addition to the Grand Tour, it underwent a thorough renovation, and it was reopened in 1997. Then, I started visiting and was enchanted.
Another major renovation that lasted several years was completed in May 2022. A new building was built to serve as a foyer. Ruthie Shimoni visited the site during the work and reported that “they created a stunning new entrance, which pays homage to the previous building and immediately emphasizes the Roman past.” The building is located above and protects an archaeological reserve that has not been excavated in its entirety. The museum, which is the newest in Paris as of 2022, is more comfortable and accessible to the disabled. Part of the collection has been scanned into 3D images..
Cluny is one of the great pleasures of Paris. After the renovation, the pleasure is even greater. The museum is relatively small, and I have never encountered crowds there. It is dedicated to 1,500 years of human history, mainly Europe. The longest period since prehistory is considered the age of barbarism, and its art was considered inferior, especially during the Renaissance that followed. Medieval art was called primitive during the Renaissance, a term that accompanies it to this day. In fact, it is partly a period of great refinement in art, in architecture, especially Gothic, and politically it is less barbaric than the last few centuries, the era of progress.
At the time, I was amazed by the wisdom of the display, and by most of the exhibits – sacred objects and items of art, decoration and ecclesiastical architecture. Gothic ornamentation used not only secular motifs for the decoration of cathedrals, but also pagan, mythological and “scandalous” ones, whose purpose was moral – to present the evil on earth and the expected punishment, in order to preach goodness.
Alongside religious art, secular and royal art is on display, as well as furniture, utensils, ancient embroideries, painted textiles dating back to the first millennium, arts and crafts from Muslim courts – and tapestries. A hall is dedicated to the tapestry of The Lady with the Unicorn (La Dame à la Licorne), a wondrous and mysterious work woven in Flanders in the late 16th century. It hung in the Château de Boussac in central France.
The work, which leaves a strong impression, is dedicated to the five senses and an unexplained sixth sense. In the Middle Ages, various animals – monkeys, dogs, rabbits, birds, and creatures from legends – had a clear, partly erotic symbolism. According to those next to the lady, it is not clear whether she has renounced the pleasures of love, or intends to surrender to them.
At the end of 2000, a large medieval garden was inaugurated next to the museum, adjacent to the intersection of Saint-Michel and Saint-Germain. It includes elements that were significant in the occult wisdom of the time – medicinal plants, a garden of love, a heavenly garden, a locked garden with a carpet of a thousand flowers, symbolizing the tapestries. Some of them relate to the symbolism embodied in the exhibits – mainly the animals and plants in the tapestry of the Lady. Guided visits make it possible to discover the ornamental, nutritional and medicinal functions of the plants and their symbolism, and for comparison, their corresponding symbolism in the art objects in the museum.
Gali Dekel and Arie Refaeli visited the museum, and they recommend:
During our many visits to Paris, we passed by the Cluny Museum countless times. However, something about its medieval structure, torn from its surroundings and the vibrant and energetic Parisian experience, made us postpone our visit. Now, following a course in medieval studies, and its reopening after a comprehensive renovation, it was time to go inside.
On a sleepy Sunday afternoon, we made our way to the renovated museum, not before enjoying a succulent tarte Tatin at the nearby Place Sorbonne. The dominant feelings that arise from a visit to Cluny are modesty and humility. In the world of medieval art, man is never at the center of the work, and a loftier idea will always serve him. The motif recurs in a wide variety of medieval works, and the exhibition at Cluny illustrates this well.
We especially liked that, unlike other large museums, you cannot escape to modern works, and so you are forced to surrender to that humble form of existence that recognizes the fragility and transience of man. During the visit, slowly, we enter a different 'mode' of existence and thinking, and this is the main purpose of art: to look at reality anew.
A chronological route guides the visitor from the early Middle Ages in the first millennium to the beginning of the Renaissance. It introduces the visitor to religious objects, crafts, decorative objects, jewelry, copper household items, as well as stained glass windows, icons made of wood carvings, and more; a variety of objects from various walks of life, which provide a vivid and moving glimpse into the center of the world of people in the Middle Ages.
The most interesting item in this display is the Golden Rose, which Pope John XXII gave as a tribute to the Count of Manche in 22. A life-size rose, made entirely of gold leaves, but without the thorns (it was created by an Italian artist in Avignon, the residence of the popes at the time).
But the highlight of the visit is undoubtedly the splendor of medieval art; the work 'The Maiden and the Unicorn', dating from the late 15th century. It was created to glorify a powerful noble dynasty whose emblem is displayed in various places in the work. Six mysterious tapestries depict dream scenes of a young woman and a unicorn, against a playful background in the mille-fleure (thousand flowers) style, covering the walls of an entire room.
According to the conventional interpretation, each image represents one of the five senses, and the last image (which is believed to represent the "sixth sense," the metaphysical) remains an enigma. The viewer cannot help but stand in awe of this magnificent, innocent, and moving work.
Also on display at the museum is the Hall of the Heads of the Kings – a striking series of marble statues of the bodies and heads of the kings of Judah, partially shattered – statues that the revolutionaries removed from the facade of Notre-Dame, thinking they were the kings of France, and that miraculously survived… as well as statues fromChurch of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Sainte-Chapelle And other churches in their various incarnations.
The museum building is immersed in a garden with well-preserved remains of Roman baths discovered underneath. Guided tours are offered, combined with singing – we stumbled upon one of these, with a singing guide – which transports the visitor ultimately and directly into the atmosphere of the Middle Ages.
Useful information for those interested in visiting the Cluny Museum
Address
28, rue du Sommerard. The nearest metro is Cluny–La Sorbonne but it can also be reached by metro Luxembourg and Saint Michel.
Opening days and hours
Tuesday-Sunday 0930-1815. Nocturne until 21.30 every first and third Thursday of each month. Closed Monday, January 1, May 1 and December 25.
Tickets
Ticket price is €12-10. Free for those under 18 or 25 for EU residents. Free for everyone on the first Sunday of each month.
A few words about “Paris for all of us”
"This is my second book about Paris in twenty years. The previous one was called Pleasures ParisThe name of the new book, Paris of all of us, reflects a new and original approach: pluralism. About forty women and men, the vast majority Israelis who love Paris and are passionate about French culture and gastronomy French, shared their experiences and recommendations with me. Subjective, like me in all the books I've written. And to enrich the book, I asked for opinions different from mine on every topic.
Each recommendation bears the name of the recommender. The book contains hundreds of photographs. Many of them I received from my collaborators on the book. I also dug up and obtained antique photographs of historical events and figures.
The book is based on more than sixty years of familiarity with France in general and Paris in particular. It is very comprehensive, very up-to-date, foresees the future, and almost nothing is missing. It tells about dozens of sites of all kinds, about countless recommended restaurants, and also patisseries, chocolatiers, and boulangerie in general. It presents processes, trends, and panoramas. And most importantly, it offers many tours.
Two chapters detail "instructions for use" for visitors to Paris. Chapter one contains advice and recommendations before traveling. Chapter two contains various collections of information and recommendations on essential topics such as transportation, security, emergencies, and more. At the end of the book, a detailed table of restaurants and small eateries, including recommendations at various levels.
Of course, not everything is equally good and beautiful or delicious. I don't give out numerical grades. But the book clearly shows what is highly recommended, what is not to be missed, what is recommended in moderation, and what is less so. And what is not at all.
In 2019, France granted me citizenship as a token of appreciation for my many years of work to deepen its culture in Israel. But the book is not a hymn to France. Like all my books, it is interwoven with sharp criticism of the attitude of the French government and many of its citizens towards Jews during World War II, and comments that are not always flattering on other subjects.
Alongside more than a hundred books that I have translated from French, and some from English, since 1998 I have published a series of books that form a kind of series, the Books of Pleasures: The Pleasures of France, The Pleasures of Provence, The Pleasures of Paris, The Pleasures of Southwest France, The Pleasures of Bordeaux Wines, Alsace, 50 Delights of France, Hungry in Tokyo (printed by Moden 2023, e-book and audiobook on the Hebrew website). Also several e-books, including Parisian Pictures, Hungry in Tokyo, Gourmand on Tokyo in English and Les Plaisirs de Provence in French, both on Amazon. Very, Hungry in Tokyo as an audiobook, on the Hebrew website.
Michal Rash