Cluny Museum - National Museum of the Middle Ages — Attraction in Paris

Musee de Cluny is a world-class museum of medieval art and artefacts in Paris. The museum is located at Rue du Sommerard. Entrance is normally (€5 per adult) and (€9 per adult) when exhibitions are being held. Opening hours are 9.15-5.45pm (closed on Tuesdays).

Highlights of the museum include an impressive collection of artefacts including well preserved column bases, statue heads, cathedral facade ornamentation and stained-glass window panes, including some from the important St. Chapelle here in Paris. You will be able to walk through the 2nd century Gallo-Roman Baths room, view outstanding medieval period manuscripts and other treasures from the Middle Ages.

Finally, visitors enter the highlight of the museum - the 'Lady with the Unicorn' room where you will find the remarkable collection of six unicorn tapestries. The tapestries where woven in Paris around 1500 and are considered to be amongst the most important Medieval works of art in all of Europe.

Sadly, the Hotel Cluny section of the museum was under renovation at the time of our most recent visit. Not sure when renovations will wrap up but I do look forward to revisiting this portion of Musee de Cluny in the future.

In the end, Musee de Cluny is one of my favourite museums in Paris. It is well worth visiting if you have interest in the Middle Ages and viewing art and artefacts from that...

The Medieval Museum is located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, in the center of the Latin Quarter, in a 13th-century mansion. Here is one of the richest collections of art and household items of the medieval era in the world. The museum complex also includes the Baths of Cluny, located in the neighborhood. The Hotel Cluny is the oldest example of private mansions in Paris built between a garden and a courtyard. It is built in the Flamboyant Gothic style.

Since the 13th century, the abbots of the order of Cluny from Burgundy lived in the building where the museum is now located. From the 17th century the mansion was handed over to papal nuncios. During the French Revolution, the house is for sale; various new owners undertook rebuilding until the building finally passed into state ownership in 1843.

The Cluny Museum has collected 23 thousand works and objects from Roman Gaul to the 16th century, covering not only Europe, but also the Byzantine East, Muslim countries and the Maghreb.

Although the name of the museum refers to the Middle Ages, many of its exhibits were created in previous eras. Thus, the museum collection contains works of art from ancient Lutetia. For example, the oldest Parisian column, donated by the boatmen of Paris to Emperor Tiberius (14-37). It was discovered under the choir stalls of Notre Dame in the...

There were some very interesting artifacts in the museum with no information in English. When I first entered the museum, I walked up to the audio guide desk and the woman waved her hand like I was a fly and directed me away. I later realized she was the one to rent the audio guide from. There were no descriptions in English. The most important room, the tapestries of the lady and the capicorrn had only one laminated booklet booklet in Engish and at least 25 copies in French. It is 6 pages to read through and after waiting 10 minutes, I decided to go complain. That didn't go well. I told the ticketing girl the situation and she wanted to charge me one euro for the headset audio guide even though I had alrady done the entire museum and just wanted info on the tapestry. I asked for the manager and she didn't know how to get him and told me that people steal the laminated booklet so they won't repkace. I guess only English people steal 8 by 11 inch booklets and we must be scolded by having no information about a museum that we paid for to learn about. Interesting that in a high security museum, full of cameras and guards that these bad English speaking tourist can get away with...