Page 78 - Off The Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 2 of 2)

246 6 PARIS ART MUSEUMS TO RIVAL THE LOUVRE

ART AND CULTURE

“To My Only Desire” tapestry from the Lady and the Unicorn series
Wall of solar shutters on the Institut du Monde Arabe
Musée National Institut du Elegant Winter Garden of the Musée Jacquemart-André

du Moyen Age
Monde Arabe Musée Jacquemart-

Amusingly, the most famous inhabitant of the André
flamboyant ex-home of the Abbots of Cluny is Traditional Arab style meets high-tech here, in
female – the captivating Lady and the Unicorn. the hundreds of solar-activated shutters which
Six 15th-century Flemish tapestry panels, full of cover the Institut’s southern façade. These lovely Banker Edouard André and his society painter wife,
charm and hidden symbolism, are housed in an geometric apertures, that open and close according Nélie Jacquemart, traveled the world amassing
impressive circular room here. Five of the elegant to the intensity of the light, were designed by their treasures. Their splendid 19th-century town-
images are believed to portray the senses – taste, celebrated French architect Jean Nouvel to echo house – which, when glimpsed from the sweeping
hearing, sight, smell, touch – while the meaning the intricate wooden balconies of Moorish palaces. Boulevard Haussmann, looks quite unremarkable –
of the sixth, bearing the inscription “To my only Opened in 1987 with the aim of fostering exchange positively drips with art and atmosphere. The
desire,” remains a mystery. Elsewhere, there are between Western and Arab cultures, the Institut library is hung with Dutch paintings, including
glorious 7th-century crowns; stained glass; armor; houses a library, cultural center, exhibition spaces portraits by Rembrandt and Van Dyck, while the
Limoges enamels; a medieval waffle iron; travel and the “Museum of Arab Museums.” This displays superb upstairs “Italian Museum” boasts Uccello’s St
chests; shoes; and textiles from Iran, the Byzantine several hundred items, many on long-term loan George and the Dragon, Botticelli’s Virgin and Child,
Empire, Italy, and England. Stone heads of the from Syria and Tunisia, that trace the history and Mantegna’s Ecce Homo, and sculptures by
Kings of Judah, ripped from the façade of Notre- art of Arabic-Islamic civilization. There are terracotta Donatello and Della Robbia. The pink Venetian
Dame during the Revolution by angry crowds, are urns; slabs from ancient Carthage; frescoes from the Room is crowned with a grand coffered ceiling by
the treasures of the sculpture section. These were Kairouan Mosque and stuccos from the palace of Murano-born Mocetto. Other rooms house works
discovered in 1977, along with a host of other Sabra al-Mansouriya, both in Tunisia; a mesmerizing by French artists Boucher, David, Chardin, and
damaged statues and fragments, in the basement array of gold astrolabes; costumes and jewelry; Nattier, and the double spiral staircase is presided
of a Parisian bank. Outdoors there’s a flourishing ancient manuscripts donated by Yemen; and a over by Tiepolo frescoes depicting the arrival of
medieval physic garden, with a “unicorn forest” magical collection of carpets. Temporary exhibitions Henri III in Venice. The Smoking Room displays
and “carpet of 1,000 flowers,” as well as the ruins showcase Arab life and culture, and have included Nélie’s eclectic collection of curios picked up on
of the Thermes de Cluny (thermal baths), from the paintings of Algeria by 19th-century French her passages through India, Persia, and the British
2nd to 3rd centuries. The frigidarium (cold bath) artists; Napoleon Bonaparte’s travels in Egypt; Isles, and the private apartments include Edouard’s
retains traces of remarkable mosaics, including Venice and its relationship with the Arab world; anteroom, housing his portrait painted by his wife
the delightfully named “Love Riding a Dolphin.” and Arabian horses and their riders. ten years before they were married.

Practical Information Practical Information Practical Information
Address 6 Pl Paul Painlevé, Latin Quarter; tel. +33 1 45 62 11 59; Address 1 Rue des Fossés-St-Bernard, Latin Quarter; tel. +33 1 40 51 38 38; Address 158 Bd Haussmann, Champs-Elysées; tel. +33 1 45 62 11 59;
www.musee-moyenage.fr www.imarabe.org www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com
Getting There Métro: Cluny-La Sorbonne, St-Michel; Odéon; bus: 21, 27, Getting There Métro: Jussieu, Cardinal Lemoine, Sully-Morland; bus: 24, Getting There Métro: Miromesnil, St-Philippe-du-Roule; bus: 22, 28, 43,
38, 63, 85, 86, 87. 63, 67, 86, 87, 89. 52, 54, 80, 83, 84, 93.
Opening Times 9:15am–5:45pm Wed–Mon. Opening Times 10am–6pm Tue–Sun. Opening Times 10am–6pm daily.

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