Post by kerouac on Nov 13, 2010 13:53:27 GMT -5
In olden times, I fell in love with this museum for a quite perverse reason: it is perhaps the most unpopulated major Paris museum that I had ever seen. As wonderful as the Louvre or the Orsay or the Pompidou are, let's face it: they are stuffed full of people, and you absolutely never have them to yourself. There are dozens of small museums in Paris where you can wander almost alone, and many of them are delightful -- the Musée de la Vie Romantique dedicated to George Sand comes to mind, and it is even free. But the big places obviously draw a crowd, like it or not.
Not this place, though. It used to be called the Museum of French Monuments (Musée des Monuments Français), which was a bit confusing. Aren't the monuments already in their various places? What could possibly be in such a place? And then, if you investigated a bit, it didn't really sound much better. The museum merely presents copies of other monuments. WTF?
In spite of this handicap, anybody who accidentally visited the museum was generally surprised and enthralled and yet it remained an unvisited secret. The government, which cannot be accused of ignoring culture, decided that something had to be done, and therefore early in the 21st century, the Museum of National Monuments closed for a few years and was reborn in 2007 as the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine. The change of name was quite clever, because an "architecture museum" sounds new and different while an old museum full of dusty copies of monuments sounds like a bore.
The location is one of the best in the world, but it is strangely ignored by just about everybody. If you go up the Eiffel Tower, one of the main things that you will see is the Palais de Chaillot.
(Oh, gee, there is La Défense in the background!)
Most of the right side of the building is the Cité de l'Architecture.
Why do people not imagine that there might be something worth seeing in there? Oh, I guess they get distracted by this thing, which is what 99% of them have come to see.
Well, I paid my 8€ and was happy to be mostly alone.
The plaster copies of the monuments are totally perfect and indistinguishable from the real thing. The majority of them in the "old" section are details of cathedrals and churches all over France.
There are also scale models to show places that no longer exist.
And there are even models of places that were proposed and which never existed, such as this proposition for the Paris opera.
I was never in the presence of more than 3 people at the same time in most of the areas of this museum, and often I was completely alone.
There are displays and explanations about the various types of column ornamentation and the various models of gargoyles.
Some of the major monuments of France are brought down to a size where you can see the details -- for instance, the Sainte Chapelle in Paris.
When you get tired of the ornateness of gothic and renaissance architectural flourishes, there are always fortresses and military châteaux to look at.
But frankly, the whole place is a feast for the eyes.
It is also a great place to take an art class.
I took one of the lifts up to the next level.
Upstairs, one could admire reproductions of frescoes, murals and other items from really old architectural vestiges, as well as some well preserved ones.
There was a place with a window to get a glimpse of the back side of a decorated dome, and it really helps you to understand how these things can crumble to nothing in an earthquake.
There was also a bit of stained glass, but not much, since that is not the point of this museum.
I was happy to see that the model of the Crac des Chevaliers was still there. Although not exactly a piece of French architecture since it is located in Syria, it was bought by France in 1933, which completely restored it. It was later returned to the Syrian government and finally was designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 2006.
Lawrence of Arabia saw it for the first time on his 21st birthday and said that it was the most admirable castle in the world.
The thing that looks like a bridge is actually an aqueduct.
I spent a bit of time in the modern architecture section, which was of course "interesting" but not "impressive" compared to the other things I had seen.
Oops! It turned out that photography is forbidden in the modern section, probably to protect artist rights of the architects. One of the guards gently informed me of this. Sorry, I'll be more careful next time!
Well, I had just about finished my visit, so I went back down to the ground level. It was hard not to find more things to look at, like this lovely column from Notre Dame de Strasbourg.
The last thing I noticed on my way out was that the museum snack bar (accessible to everyone, even if you do not visit the museum) definitely had one of the finest views in Paris.
Not this place, though. It used to be called the Museum of French Monuments (Musée des Monuments Français), which was a bit confusing. Aren't the monuments already in their various places? What could possibly be in such a place? And then, if you investigated a bit, it didn't really sound much better. The museum merely presents copies of other monuments. WTF?
In spite of this handicap, anybody who accidentally visited the museum was generally surprised and enthralled and yet it remained an unvisited secret. The government, which cannot be accused of ignoring culture, decided that something had to be done, and therefore early in the 21st century, the Museum of National Monuments closed for a few years and was reborn in 2007 as the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine. The change of name was quite clever, because an "architecture museum" sounds new and different while an old museum full of dusty copies of monuments sounds like a bore.
The location is one of the best in the world, but it is strangely ignored by just about everybody. If you go up the Eiffel Tower, one of the main things that you will see is the Palais de Chaillot.
(Oh, gee, there is La Défense in the background!)
Most of the right side of the building is the Cité de l'Architecture.
Why do people not imagine that there might be something worth seeing in there? Oh, I guess they get distracted by this thing, which is what 99% of them have come to see.
Well, I paid my 8€ and was happy to be mostly alone.
The plaster copies of the monuments are totally perfect and indistinguishable from the real thing. The majority of them in the "old" section are details of cathedrals and churches all over France.
(sorry - automatic slideshow function doesn't work on this site, but you can see what's missing here at Any Port in a Storm if you want)
There are also scale models to show places that no longer exist.
And there are even models of places that were proposed and which never existed, such as this proposition for the Paris opera.
I was never in the presence of more than 3 people at the same time in most of the areas of this museum, and often I was completely alone.
There are displays and explanations about the various types of column ornamentation and the various models of gargoyles.
Some of the major monuments of France are brought down to a size where you can see the details -- for instance, the Sainte Chapelle in Paris.
The spiral staircase inside is reproduced full size.
When you get tired of the ornateness of gothic and renaissance architectural flourishes, there are always fortresses and military châteaux to look at.
But frankly, the whole place is a feast for the eyes.
It is also a great place to take an art class.
I took one of the lifts up to the next level.
Upstairs, one could admire reproductions of frescoes, murals and other items from really old architectural vestiges, as well as some well preserved ones.
There was a place with a window to get a glimpse of the back side of a decorated dome, and it really helps you to understand how these things can crumble to nothing in an earthquake.
There was also a bit of stained glass, but not much, since that is not the point of this museum.
I was happy to see that the model of the Crac des Chevaliers was still there. Although not exactly a piece of French architecture since it is located in Syria, it was bought by France in 1933, which completely restored it. It was later returned to the Syrian government and finally was designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 2006.
Lawrence of Arabia saw it for the first time on his 21st birthday and said that it was the most admirable castle in the world.
The thing that looks like a bridge is actually an aqueduct.
I spent a bit of time in the modern architecture section, which was of course "interesting" but not "impressive" compared to the other things I had seen.
Oops! It turned out that photography is forbidden in the modern section, probably to protect artist rights of the architects. One of the guards gently informed me of this. Sorry, I'll be more careful next time!
Well, I had just about finished my visit, so I went back down to the ground level. It was hard not to find more things to look at, like this lovely column from Notre Dame de Strasbourg.
The last thing I noticed on my way out was that the museum snack bar (accessible to everyone, even if you do not visit the museum) definitely had one of the finest views in Paris.