Page 159 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Paris

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Precious Metalwork
The museum has a fine collec­
tion of jewellery, coins, metal
and enamelwork from Gallic
times to the Middle Ages. The
showcase of Gallic jewellery
includes gold torques, bracelets
and rings, all of a simple design.
In between these is one of the
Cluny’s most precious exhibits,
the Golden Rose, a delicately
wrought piece commissioned
by Pope John XXII in 1330 and
the oldest known of its kind.
The earliest enamelwork on
display is the late Roman and The Pillar of the Nautes
Byzantine cloisonné pieces,
La Reine de Saba, the head of a queen from culminating in the remarkable Gallo-Roman Ruins
St-Denis c.1140 Limoges enamels, which
flourished in the late 12th One of the main reasons for
Sculpture century. There are also two visiting the Musée de Cluny –
exceptional altarpieces, the Musée National du Moyen Age
The highlight here is the Gallery Golden Altar of Basel and the is to see the scale and layout of
of the Kings, a display of heads Stavelot altarpiece. its earliest function, the Gallo­
and decapitated figures, Roman baths. The vaulted
originally from Notre­Dame. frigidarium (cold bath room)
There is also a graceful statue of was the largest of its kind in
Adam, sculpted in the 1260s. France. Here, there is another of
In the vaulted room the museum’s highlights, the
oppo site are displays of restored Pillar of the Nautes
fine Rom anesque sculpture (boatmen), unearthed during
retrieved from French churches. excavations beneath Notre­
Among the earliest are the Dame in 1711. Com posed
12 capitals from the nave of of five carved stone blocks
St­Germain­des­Prés, from the representing Gallic and Roman
early 11th century. Retrieved divinities, its crowning element
from the portal of St­Denis is presumed to depict the
is a boldly sculpted head of Seine’s boatmen. There are
a queen, Le Reine de Saba also the ruins of the caldarium
(c.1140) which, though badly Cross from and tepidarium (hot and tepid
mutilated, is still compelling. Italy (late baths), and visitors can tour
Other Romanesque and 15th century) the underground vaults.
early Gothic capitals include
three finely sculpted works
from Catalonia and four of the Lady with the Unicorn Tapestries
mus eum’s most famous statues, This series of six tapestries was
early 13th­century apostles woven in the late 15th century.
made for Sainte­Chapelle. They are valued for their fresh
harmonious colours and the
Everyday Objects poetic elegance of the central
figure. Allegories of the senses are
Household goods show another illustrated in the first five tapestries:
side to medieval life, and this sight (gazing into a mirror), hearing
large collection is grouped (playing a portable organ), taste
in a sensitive way to illustrate (sampling sweets), smell (sniffing
their use – from wallhangings carnations) and touch (the lady
and caskets to kitchenware holding the unicorn’s horn). The
and clothing. Children’s enigmatic sixth tapestry (showing
toys bring a very human jewels being placed in a box)
includes the words “to my only
aspect to the display, while desire” and is thought to represent
travel cases and religious a sixth sense “Heart” and the
emblems evoke journeys of principle of free choice. Unicorn on the sixth tapestry
exploration and pilgrimage.

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