{"id":237209,"date":"2025-05-11T22:47:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T22:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/cultural-highlights-thoughts-on-papyrus\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T22:47:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T22:47:29","slug":"cultural-highlights-thoughts-on-papyrus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=237209","title":{"rendered":"Cultural Highlights \u2013 Thoughts on Papyrus"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I have recently returned from my trip to Paris, France and am sharing my highlights. Though the big attraction of my trip was the Mus\u00e9e de Cluny, there are some smaller, \u201coff-the-beaten track\u201d museums in Paris that I have also always wanted to visit, and I present two of them at the end of my post.<\/mark><\/p>\n

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Mus\u00e9e national du Moyen \u00c2ge, Paris @ Thoughts on Papyrus.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Address<\/strong>: 28 Rue du Sommerard, Latin Quarter, Paris; Metro: Cluny \u2013 La Sorbonne. Admission<\/strong>: Ticketed. <\/sup><\/p>\n

The Museum of the Middle Ages is one of the largest collections of medieval art and artefacts in Europe, and is located in the former town-house of the Abbots of Cluny, which also has elements of Gallo-Roman ruins. It has medieval sculptures, <\/mark>tapestries<\/mark><\/a>, metal-work, carvings, religious, household and war items, and stained-glass examples on displays. My highlight was, of course, The <\/strong><\/em>Lady and the Unicorn<\/em><\/strong> series of tapestries, which I have wanted to see for a long time. The beautiful tapestries, with elegant depictions of animals and plants<\/mark>, were woven in the late fifteenth century, and each represents one of the <\/mark>five human senses<\/mark><\/a>: <\/mark>touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste.\u00a0The sixth tapestry, titled A mon seul d\u00e9sir<\/em>, is said to represent the sixth sense of the heart or intuition.<\/p>\n

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A fragment of tapestry The Lady and the Unicorn<\/em>:\u00a0\u00c0 mon seul d\u00e9sir<\/em>, Mus\u00e9e national du Moyen \u00c2ge, Paris @ Thoughts on Papyrus.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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A fragment of tapestry The Lady and the Unicorn<\/em>:\u00a0Hearing<\/em>, Mus\u00e9e national du Moyen \u00c2ge, Paris @ Thoughts on Papyrus.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Other highlights were The Gallery of the Kings<\/strong>, twenty-two stone heads of the Kings of Judah (carved around 1220) and The<\/strong> Stalls from the Saint-Lucien-de-Beauvais Abbey<\/strong>. As I went through the collection, ivory caskets also intrigued me. The one on the left is from the fourteenth century and depicts the allegory of amorous conquest on the lid, while the sides feature courtly love episodes from chivalric literature, including Tristan and Iseult at the fountain. The one on the right is a reliquary (a casket to keep holy relics) from 1200 made in Cologne and depicting the twelve apostles.<\/p>\n

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Mus\u00e9e national du Moyen \u00c2ge, Paris @ Thoughts on Papyrus.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mus\u00e9e national du Moyen \u00c2ge, Paris @ Thoughts on Papyrus.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Some other medieval tapestries in the collection:<\/p>\n

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A fragment of tapestry The Letter<\/em>, Southern Netherlands, Mus\u00e9e national du Moyen \u00c2ge, Paris @ Thoughts on Papyrus.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Letter<\/em> is a millefleur<\/em> tapestry made in Southern Netherlands, showing a woman sitting in a chair and spinning a wool. A young man delivers and reads her a letter. Millefleur <\/em>refers to the 1480-1520 style where the green background is filled with plants and small flowers. The style was later \u201crevived\u201d by\u00a0William\u00a0<\/em>Morris.<\/p>\n

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A fragment of tapestry <\/mark><\/sup>The Arithmetic<\/em><\/sup><\/mark>, Mus\u00e9e national du Moyen \u00c2ge, Paris @ Thoughts on Papyrus.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Arithmetic <\/em>in this beautiful tapestry is personified by a young woman in the centre who is counting tokens while consulting the book presented to her by a man on the right. This tapestry\u2019s style is said to represent the transition from the millefleur <\/em>style to a more realistic style of the sixteenth century.<\/p>\n

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A fragment of tapestry <\/mark><\/sup>Cycle on seigneurial life<\/em><\/sup><\/mark>, part of the four tapestries, Mus\u00e9e national du Moyen \u00c2ge, Paris @ Thoughts on Papyrus.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This is one of the early sixteenth century millefleurs<\/em> tapestries showing the seigneurial life. I love how the people depicted seem to be \u201ccaught in a moment\u201d. The lady\u2019s entourage seem to offer her fruit, while she is turned away from them, listening to the lady on the left who has some herbs\/flowers in her hand.<\/p>\n

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This stunning, rich-in-colour sixteenth century stained glass artwork depicts knight Jacques de Fleckenstein, the commissioner, at the precise time when he assumed the role of a benefactor to his community. Dressed in an armour that shows his elevated social status, he kneels before the Virgin Mary, while his helmet takes the form of a young girl with golden hair. To the right is a wooden medieval altar showing the scenes from the life of Jesus Christ.<\/mark><\/p>\n

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\u00c9glise Saint-S\u00e9verin (exterior), Paris @ Thoughts on Papyrus.<\/mark><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n