THE MIDDLE

No, not that sappy sitcom about life in Indiana, this is our visit to the Musee des Moyen Ages, aka the Musee de Cluny, the National Museum of the Middle Ages, one of the oddball but totally fascinating gems of Paris.  It was founded in 1843 in this very building, the Hotel (mansion) de Cluny, built in the late 1400’s and surviving almost intact to this day.  It was the first Parisian example of a private mansion between a courtyard and a garden.  

The other half of the museum is composed of the adjacent “northern thermal baths” of Lutetia, a Gallo-Roman structure built in the late 1st century.  It had cold, tepid, and hot rooms devoted to baths and physical exercise.  The only elevated portion remaining is the frigidarium, or cold room.  It’s ceiling reaches nearly 50 feet.

They had some nice examples of stained glass surviving from the early and mid 1200’s.  In this group, we have one showing the Charity of St. Martin, a Chevalier killing a King (“Off with his head!”), a depiction of the troubles of Job (looks like a lot of tortured barnyard animals to me), and one showing Christ toting the cross.

Remember those statues that lined the front of Notre Dame?  The ones that had been hauled down and busted by the mobs, then replaced in the 18th century?  Well, the originals ended up being buried for safekeeping, and later unearthed and installed here.  They were not restored.

Much of the stonework in this part of the museum is not original to the site, but was brought from other locales to be installed and displayed here.  They’ve gone to some effort to preserve the atmosphere of stone passageways and carved walls.

But it’s not all statuary and ancient chambers.  There is some exquisite stuff lurking within, like the gold work in these 7th century votive crowns from Visigothic Spain, and the delicate 1330 Minucchio da Siena Golden rose, from Avignon.

My favorite piece of all, however, was this astonishing folding carved altar piece, the Triptych from Saint-Sulpice-du-Tarn.  I’m just blown away by the fact that each panel was carved out of a single slab of ivory, yet has great depth and graceful detail.  It’s about two feet high, and depicts scenes from the birth and death of Christ.  At the bottom, the Virgin, who had been cradling the Child (which has since disappeared), is between two angels, with the Magi in adoration to her left. To her right is the Presentation to the Temple. The Crucifixion is framed by the Carrying of the Cross to the left and the Removal of the Body to the right.  Dates from the late 1200’s.

There was way too much here to see in just a few hours.  We should have allowed a full day.  There were rooms devoted to arms, shields, and armor, but I found more interesting this medieval manual on the art of hand-to-hand combat.  I should think one good kick with those pointy shoes would do the trick.

Loni really liked the elaborate ceiling supports in the Chapel of the Hotel de Cluny.  How’d you like to dust all that?

But her favorite item was the set of tapestries called The Lady and the Unicorn.  These occupied their own rotunda room, kept very dark to avoid light damage (and to frustrate would-be photographers).  They are deemed one of the most stunning examples of “millefleurs” style tapestries, referring to the background composed of thousands of flowers.  There are six pieces which illustrate the five senses, along with the sixth “sense” of love and understanding.  Well, that’s their story and they’re sticking with it.  When we got there, a class of grade schoolers was doing their best to ignore the nice lady trying to explain it to them.  I had to use my Gorilla Pod to steady the camera for this long exposure.

That’s supposed to be “sight” in the middle (she’s holding a mirror and the unicorn is gazing at its reflection), “taste” on the right (foodstuffs in the basket), and “hearing” on the left (hard to see, but she’s playing a harp).  You’ll have to imagine the other two.  The sixth panel hangs by itself on the back wall.  It contains the words, “A mon seul desir,” an obscure motto (wikipedia speaking now), variously interpretable as "my one/sole desire", "according to my desire alone"; "by my will alone", "love desires only beauty of soul", "to calm passion".

This tapestry has elicited a number of interpretations. One interpretation sees the lady putting the necklace into the chest as a renunciation of the passions aroused by the other senses, and as an assertion of her free will. Another sees the tapestry as representing a sixth sense of understanding. Various other interpretations see the tapestry as representing love or virginity. It is also debated whether the lady in "À Mon Seul Désir" is picking up or setting aside the necklace.

Saturated with history and art, we headed for home via the Metro, boarding at this beautiful station.  Having just left the giant remains of the 2,000 year old Roman baths, I couldn’t help wondering if all this would get buried over the eons, and what some future discoverer would think of this huge space and its cryptic art.