One of Paris’ best and least known museums is the Musée de Cluny, within walking distance of the Pantheon.  This museum of medieval art contains remarkable sculptures, paintings, reliquaries, armor and textiles.  They are displayed in the former palace of an abbot of the Benedictine order of monks.  The palace was erected in 1330 and rebuilt in 1515. 


          The Cathedral of Notre Dame was still undergoing restoration after the 2019 conflagration that destroyed much of it.  The current reconstruction, however, is only the latest one in a series spanning centuries.  In 1937, excavations around Notre Dame unearthed carved stone fragments that had fallen or been removed from Paris’ most recognizable Gothic cathedral.   The Musée
de Cluny's curators put these fragments on display in a well-lit gallery.

 Some of the carvings on display were scenes from what Christians call the Old Testament.  This was the top of a pillar showing Noah’s Ark.

        The collection was an impressive one, and the refurbished Benedictine palace was an ideal setting for it.  What had enticed me most, however, was a set of six large tapestries from northern France, or possibly Flanders, woven around 1500.
        The series is known as The Lady with the Unicorn.  In addition to the eponymous noblewoman and the mythical beast, there is a stylized lion in each tapestry.  All have red backgrounds and  botanical motifs in the mille-fleurs (thousand flowers) style.
       

         The five senses are the subjects symbolized in the tapestries.  The sixth is more obscure, and its subject is identified by a French phrase that can be translated as My Sole Desire. 

 This tapestry illustrates the sense of Taste.

                                                                          And this one represents the sense of Sight.

We carried the tapestries’ imagery with us as we left the Musée
de Cluny for the Sunday streets of the Latin Quarter.