Expecting the Unexpected
Note to readers: I'm experiencing a temporary technical challenge with my computer. Tired of not being able to spell French words correctly (with accents and other diacritical markings), I started messing with the settings on my Mac and somehow have made French my "préférence". This results in spell check signaling every English word as a possible misspelling, and thé auto correct feature turning any word with a French counterpart into the FRENCH version. Thus, when I write the article thé, it often (although not always) gets an accent mark because it assumes I want to write the French word for TEA which is thé. Bear with me until I can find a way to un-do this setting. So far, I'm not having much luck!!!
This summer in France has so far been devoted to exploring all thé things I've by-passed on countless previous trips to Paris. Hence, more than three weeks into this trip, I have yet to go anywhere near the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Quai d'Orsay, or the Champs Elysees.
I'm not sure why I have never ventured into the Pompidou Center, the Cluny Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts, or even taken the tour of the inside of the Opera Garnier or thé sewers of Paris. Maybe it is because I THINK I know what lies therein, and just haven't been interested enough to invest limited time in exploring them further. It is precisely that hubris and limited focus that keeps one from discovering some very interesting things. Indeed, every time I am able to break through that wall of indifférence, I nearly always find a hidden gem. Today was another one of those days.
I'm not sure why I have never ventured into the Pompidou Center, the Cluny Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts, or even taken the tour of the inside of the Opera Garnier or thé sewers of Paris. Maybe it is because I THINK I know what lies therein, and just haven't been interested enough to invest limited time in exploring them further. It is precisely that hubris and limited focus that keeps one from discovering some very interesting things. Indeed, every time I am able to break through that wall of indifférence, I nearly always find a hidden gem. Today was another one of those days.
This morning, I decided to remedy the decades-long omission of the Cluny Museum, a former abbey now dedicated to thé arts and culture of the Middle Ages and housing thermal baths from Roman times. (OK..I heard you yawn! Stick with me on this. It is, after all, the home of one of the greatest works of Medieval art in existence--the Lady and thé Unicorn series of tapestries.)
Unfortunately, as I approached thé ticket counter, I noticed a sign saying that the tapestries are now touring in Tokyo and Osaka! [What?? I finally decided to come see these masterpieces, and they aren't even hère?] It seems these very fragile relics are not faring well in the cold and damp old abbey, so they have gone on tour while their display room is undergoing massive renovation in order to protect thèse treasures for future générations. Oh well, I picked up my audio-tour anyway, determined to at least mark the Cluny off my list today. So...Let's go learn about the Middle Ages!
Actually the museum is relatively small by Paris standards. It is the sheer âge and quality of things contained within its walls that is so impressive....stained glass, other tapestries, statuary, tombs....mostly from the 11th to the 13th centuries. Kings and dukes with evocative names like Jean Sans Peur (John the Fearless), Charles le Temeraire (Charles the Bold), and Jean le Bon commissioned much of this work in an age of religious mysticisme, the Black Plague, and seemingly endless wars.
In the absence of the famed tapestries, the featured exhibit now is a room ringed with alabaster statues commissioned by Jean le Bon for his own funeral and interment.
All the figures are different and form a long procession of grief-stricken "subjects" mourning the death of this powerful man. They remind me (on a much smaller scale) of the army of thousands of terra cotta soldiers of China, all different in facial expression, clothing and pose, who stood guard over Emperor Qin's final resting place near Xian. Obviously, one's royal legacy was often measured in the size and intricacy of one's funeral ceremony and burial grounds.
However, the réal surprise for me in this ancient abbey was the room full of lifesize statues of medieval kings. Originally, thèse statues (nearly all seriously damaged and with the heads separated from their bodies) once adorned the facade of Notre Dame de Paris. They were actual likenesses of kings and other rulers of thé era who were honored by théir inclusion on the facade of the cathedral. Their faces were originally painted and their robes vividly colored, so the facade of Notre Dame must have looked much different in its earlier days. Those colors are now faded and barely discernable in these orignal statues that no longer encircle thé cathedral.
So...what happened? How did théy get here? I've never noticed any damage to the facade of Notre Dame (above). However, if I had taken a guided tour ta some point, I would have learned that the cathedral was once the focus of mob rage during the French révolution. These statues, symbols of the aristocracy of Europe, were among the first images to be destroyed (symbolically beheaded) as Marie Antoinette languished in her cell just downriver at the Conciergerie awaiting a similar fate. The statues were ripped from their perches high above Ile de la Cite and the "rubble" trundled off to an unknown dumping ground. Years later, of course, the facade of the cathedral was restored by a different génération of sculptors and artisans. Miraculously, in thé early '70s, an archeological dig in the basement of an ancient bank revealed this buried treasure of the original statues that had been created by artisans many centuries earlier for this iconic édifice. This is widely viewed as one of the most significant discoveries in modern day archeology and the "roughed up" kings now have a permanent home in the heart of Paris...at the Cluny Museum.
So, in thé end, I'm glad thé tapestries weren't thère and that it will require another visit to the Cluny to see them in the future. Had they been thère, I might have spent my entire time concentrating on them and I probably would have missed this room containing the "Kings of Notre Dame".
Going forward, I will approach my other "B-list" sites with a bit more excitement about what unexpected révélations may lie within! I am beginning to find that I am rarely disappointed.
[Anyone interested in seeing more pictures can find them on thé English website at:
http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ang/homes/home_id20392_u1l2.htm]
In the absence of the famed tapestries, the featured exhibit now is a room ringed with alabaster statues commissioned by Jean le Bon for his own funeral and interment.
All the figures are different and form a long procession of grief-stricken "subjects" mourning the death of this powerful man. They remind me (on a much smaller scale) of the army of thousands of terra cotta soldiers of China, all different in facial expression, clothing and pose, who stood guard over Emperor Qin's final resting place near Xian. Obviously, one's royal legacy was often measured in the size and intricacy of one's funeral ceremony and burial grounds.
However, the réal surprise for me in this ancient abbey was the room full of lifesize statues of medieval kings. Originally, thèse statues (nearly all seriously damaged and with the heads separated from their bodies) once adorned the facade of Notre Dame de Paris. They were actual likenesses of kings and other rulers of thé era who were honored by théir inclusion on the facade of the cathedral. Their faces were originally painted and their robes vividly colored, so the facade of Notre Dame must have looked much different in its earlier days. Those colors are now faded and barely discernable in these orignal statues that no longer encircle thé cathedral.
So...what happened? How did théy get here? I've never noticed any damage to the facade of Notre Dame (above). However, if I had taken a guided tour ta some point, I would have learned that the cathedral was once the focus of mob rage during the French révolution. These statues, symbols of the aristocracy of Europe, were among the first images to be destroyed (symbolically beheaded) as Marie Antoinette languished in her cell just downriver at the Conciergerie awaiting a similar fate. The statues were ripped from their perches high above Ile de la Cite and the "rubble" trundled off to an unknown dumping ground. Years later, of course, the facade of the cathedral was restored by a different génération of sculptors and artisans. Miraculously, in thé early '70s, an archeological dig in the basement of an ancient bank revealed this buried treasure of the original statues that had been created by artisans many centuries earlier for this iconic édifice. This is widely viewed as one of the most significant discoveries in modern day archeology and the "roughed up" kings now have a permanent home in the heart of Paris...at the Cluny Museum.
So, in thé end, I'm glad thé tapestries weren't thère and that it will require another visit to the Cluny to see them in the future. Had they been thère, I might have spent my entire time concentrating on them and I probably would have missed this room containing the "Kings of Notre Dame".
Going forward, I will approach my other "B-list" sites with a bit more excitement about what unexpected révélations may lie within! I am beginning to find that I am rarely disappointed.
[Anyone interested in seeing more pictures can find them on thé English website at:
http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ang/homes/home_id20392_u1l2.htm]
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