Musée de Cluny

Spring disappeared yesterday but I had already planned an outing to the medieval museum, Musée de Cluny. I'm glad I finally made it there. 

It was right in the Latin Quarter area of Paris but this big structure seems almost hidden away.  Here is the very unassuming entrance.

The museum is known best for its collection of tapestries, specifically a series of six that feature a lady with a unicorn. The tapestry photos are from Wikipedia. They are much  better than my attempts to get a photo in these dimly lit rooms.

There are five on one side of the room displaying five senses: taste, smell, sound, touch and site.

The sixth one is a bit more obscure in its meaning but one popular thought is it represents the moral and spiritual heart. All the tapestries have been dated between 1480 and 1508. 

I thought they were all beautiful...the next best thing to having beautiful quilts to hang on your chateau walls. Many of the rooms throughout the museum were painted in this brick red color...an excellent choice for displaying other tapestries and medieval artifacts.

The Cluny is a small, intimate museum that sometimes feels like you are walking through someone's home. I sometimes wondered if I was going the right way with a few little twisting hallways. There were two display areas with stained glass windows where they were at eye level and back lit so you could really see the details in the work. It was unique to see the windows at eye level instead of craning back your neck in a cathedral setting.

I wanted to visit the cathedral Sainte Chapelle but the line to enter was long and my coat wasn't warm enough to wait so it will be an outing for another day. The stained glass windows are supposed to be stunning. Maybe I need to pick a sunny day for that visit?