Musee de Cluny: France

The Musee de Cluny, officially known as Musee National du Moyen Âge, is a museum in Paris, France. It is located in the Ve arrondissement at 6 Place Paul Painleve, south of the Boulevard Saint-Germain, between the Boulevard Saint-Michel and the Rue Saint-Jacques.

The building

The structure, first started in 1334 combines Gothic and Renaissance elements and was formerly the town house of the abbots of Cluny; it was made into a public museum in 1833 and apart from the name it no longer possesses anything originally connected with the abbey.

It is perhaps the most outstanding example still extant of civic architecture in medieval Paris.

Over the centuries the structure has been many things. Most recently, in 1843, Alexandre du Sommerard, an avid collector of medieval artifacts, bought the property and had it converted into a museum. However, the building he purchased had in turn been partially constructed on the remains of Gallo-Roman baths dating from the 3rd century (known as the Thermes de Cluny), which are famous in their own right and which may still be visited. In fact, the museum itself actually consists of two buildings: the frigidarium (”cooling room”), where the remains of the Thermes de Cluny are, and the Hotel de Cluny itself, wherein reside its impressive collections.

The museum

This museum houses a variety of important artifacts dating to the Middle Ages. In particular, it is renowned for its tapestry collection, which includes La Dame a la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) from the so-called tapestry cycle of the same name, consisting of a series of six.

Other notable works stored there include Gothic sculptures from the 7th and 8th centuries. There are also works of gold, ivory, antique furnishings, and illuminated manuscripts.

Musee du Montparnasse: France

The Musee du Montparnasse is a museum at 21. Avenue du Maine in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France. The museum opened its doors on May 28, 1998. Located at the site of the former early 1900s atelier of the Russian painter, Marie Vassilieff, it was founded by Roger Pic and Jean-Marie Drot as a non-profit operation.

The museum provides visitors with a history of the multitude of artists who came from around the world to live and work in Montparnasse at the beginning of the 20th century plus it puts on temporary exhibitions of works by Montparnasse artists, both past and present. During the years before and during World War I, Marie Vassilieff operated a canteen for artists where food and drink was provided as cheaply as possible to struggling painters such as Amedeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutine, Pablo Picasso and others. Before long it became the gathering place for others in the area and by 1913, Vassilieff’s canteen was so widely known that Fernand Leger gave two lectures there on the topic of Modern art.

Today, as part of a membership program, the Musee du Montparnasse offers a once-a-month evening where members gather to enjoy a variety of cultural events.

Monnaie de Paris: France

The Monnaie de Paris (Paris Mint) or, more administratively speaking, the “Direction of Coins and Medals”, is an administration of the French government charged with issuing coins, as well as producing medals and other similar items. Many ancient coins are housed there.

Building in Paris

A Neoclassical edifice, the Hotel de la Monnaie was designed by Jacques-Denis Antoine and built from 1767-1775 on the Left Bank of the Seine. The Monnaie was the first major civic monument undertaken by Antoine, yet shows a high level of ingenuity on the part of the architect. Today it is considered a key example of French Neoclassicism in pre-Revolutionary Paris. The building is typified by its heavy external rustication and severe decorative treatment.

It boasts one of the longest façades on the Seine; its appearance has been likened to the Italian palazzo tradition. The building, which housed mint workshops, administrative rooms, and residential quarters, wraps around a large interior courtyard. It remains open to the public and includes a numismatics museum, located within what was once the main foundry.

Institut de France

The Institut de France (French Institute) is a French learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is probably the Académie française.

The institute manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and chateaux open for visit. It also awards prizes and subsidies, which amounted to a total of 5,028,190.55 euros for 2002. Most of these prizes are awarded by the Institute on the recommendation of the académies.

Les Invalides: France

Les Invalides in Paris, France consists of a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement containing museums and monuments, all relating to France’s military history, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building’s original purpose. It is also the burial site for some of France’s war heroes.

King Louis XIV initiated the project by an order dated November 24, 1670, as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers: the name is a shortened form of hopital des invalides, the hospital for invalids. The architect of Les Invalides was Liberal Bruant. The selected site was suburban in the 17th century. By the time the enlarged project was completed in 1676, the river front measured 196 meters and the complex had fifteen courtyards, the largest being the cour d’honneur (”court of honour”) for military parades.

Then it was felt that the veterans required a chapel, in which Jules Hardouin Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and finished it in 1679 to Bruant’s designs after the elder architect’s death. The chapel is known as Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides. Daily attendance was required.

Shortly after the veterans’ chapel was completed, Louis XIV had Mansart construct a separate private royal chapel, often referred to as the the Eglise du Dome from its most striking feature (ill. right). Inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (left) the original for all Baroque domes; it is one of the triumphs of French Baroque architecture. Mansart raises his drum with an attic storey over its main cornice, and employs the paired columns motif in his more complicated rhythmic theme of ||u||uu||u||. The general program is sculptural but tightly integrated, rich but balanced, consistently carried through capping its vertical thrust firmly with a less emphatically ribbed and hemispherical dome. The domed chapel is centrally placed to dominate the court of honor. It was finished in 1708.
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Museum national d’Histoire naturelle: France

The Museum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN) is the French national museum of natural history and is classed as a grand etablissement.

History

The museum was formally founded on 10 June 1793, during the French Revolution. Its origins lie, however, in the Jardin royal des plantes medicinales (Royal Medicinal Plant Garden) created by King Louis XIII in 1635, which was directed and run by the royal physicians. The royal proclamation of the boy-king Louis XV on 31 March 1718, however, removed the medical function, enabling the garden-which became known simply as the Jardin du Roi (King’s Garden)-to focus on natural history.

For much of the 18th century (1739-1788), the garden was under the direction of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, one of the leading naturalists of the Enlightenment, bringing international fame and prestige to the establishment. Incorporated as the Museum national d’Histoire naturelle in 1793, it continued to flourish over the next century, and, particularly under the direction of chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul, became a rival to the University of Paris in scientific research.

A decree of 12 December 1891 ended this phase, returning the museum to an emphasis on natural history. After receiving financial autonomy in 1907, it began a new phase of growth, opening facilities throughout France during the interwar years. In recent decades, it has concentrated its research and education efforts on the effects of human exploitation on the environment.

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