Musée de Cluny — Musée national du Moyen Âge

The Musée de Cluny — Musée national du Moyen Âge in Paris's 5th arrondissement stands on one of the most layered archaeological sites in France, combining Roman thermal baths from the late 2nd to early 3rd century CE with a 15th-century Gothic abbot's residence and a collection of medieval art and artefacts that ranks among the finest in Europe. The museum occupies the Hôtel de Cluny, built from 1485 by Jacques d'Amboise as the Paris residence of the Benedictine abbots of Cluny, making it one of the best-preserved examples of civil Gothic architecture in France. The building's flamboyant Gothic chapel, octagonal staircase tower, and turreted roofline are visible from Boulevard Saint-Michel. The Roman baths (Thermes de Cluny) immediately adjacent are among the best-preserved Roman structures in northern France. The frigidarium — the cold-water hall — survives to nearly its full original height with Roman vaulting intact, making it one of the only complete Roman vaulted interiors in Paris. The museum's basement extends into the original Roman structure, with excavations revealing successive layers of occupation from Gallo-Roman times through the medieval period. The collection of approximately 23,000 objects covers late Antiquity through the early Renaissance. The undisputed masterpieces are the six tapestries known as La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn), woven in the late 15th century, most likely in the southern Netherlands, and representing the five senses plus a sixth panel commonly interpreted as the free will or spiritual sense. These tapestries occupy a specially designed oval room with controlled lighting and are internationally recognised as among the greatest surviving medieval textile works. Other significant holdings include the original stone heads of the Kings of Judah from Notre-Dame de Paris — decapitated during the Revolution and recovered from beneath a demolished building in 1977 — medieval goldsmithery including the Golden Rose of Basel, Romanesque ivory carvings, stained glass from Sainte-Chapelle, and architectural sculpture from Île-de-France churches. The museum reopened in 2022 after a comprehensive renovation that redesigned the galleries and improved lighting for the tapestry room.