Musee de Cluny - A Journey Through Roman Gaul and the Medieval World in Paris

Step inside one of Paris's most remarkable and underappreciated museums - the Musee de Cluny, France's National Museum of the Middle Ages, tucked into the Latin Quarter at the intersection of Boulevard Saint-Germain and Boulevard Saint-Michel. In this episode, we explore a building that is actually three places layered on top of each other: a Roman bath complex built around 200 AD, a stunning flamboyant Gothic mansion constructed by the Abbot of Cluny between 1484 and 1510, and one of the world's finest collections of medieval art. We walk through the ancient frigidarium - the cold room of the baths - with its fourteen-meter vaulted ceiling, and spend time with the extraordinary Pillar of the Boatmen, the oldest carved monument in Paris. We visit the gallery of the decapitated Kings of Judah, whose stone heads were lost during the French Revolution and not recovered until 1977. We move through galleries of Visigothic gold crowns, Limoges enamelwork, medieval stained glass from the Sainte-Chapelle, and rich tapestries. And we arrive at the heart of the museum: the circular room where six mysterious tapestries known as the Lady and the Unicorn hang in low light, their meaning still debated after five centuries. For food, we recommend Maison Cluny, the Michelin-listed bistro directly across from the museum garden serving classic French fare, and Le Reminet, a charming small restaurant near the Seine with inventive cooking in an intimate room. Nearby sites to add to your visit include Notre-Dame Cathedral - now fully restored - the Sainte-Chapelle with its extraordinary floor-to-ceiling stained glass, the Pantheon with its burial vaults of France's greatest figures, and Shakespeare and Company, the iconic English-language bookshop on the Left Bank. Visit NorthStarTravelers.com to explore our other podcast shows and browse gear recommendations for wherever your next journey takes you.