This morning I visited the Cité de l'architecture & du patrimoine at the Trocadéro, for which I'd be seeing adds on the metro since January. I didn't really know what to expect - but what I found was above and beyond all expectations. The museum features moldings from every aesthetically important historic religious edifice in the whole of France. The Galerie des Moulages, which takes up the entire first level of the palace, is divided by period/region (Languedoc Roman, Provence Romane, Gothique Flamboyant, Renaissance). The bulk of the collection comes from churches that were constructed in the XIth - XIVth centuries, and entails many of the middle ages' most important architectural specimens.
So moldings... big deal, right? Actually, these extremely detailed, life-size replications were super-impressive, and (having just been to Chartres this past Wednesday) -- dare I say it -- better than the real thing. When you visit a famous historic church in France, the architectural highlights are often darkened by age and weather, and are built at an elevation which (intended to inspire upwards thoughts towards the heavens) makes viewing them a literal pain in the neck. At the Cité, sculpted stonework is more easily scrutinized up close, under bright lighting and with a flattering red backdrop. Individual pillars and gargoyles are here presented as works of art.
The other advantage of the Cité's collection is contextualization. Each room of the gallery is composed of moldings taken from a single region, from churches built during a single time period - and is accompanied by a one-paragraph description of the dominant trends and important innovations of that architecture. One can follow the evolution from Gallo-roman to Gothic, or note the influence of Islamic aesthetics on the 11th century churches of Poitou (the Muslim advance into Europe was halted at Poitiers in 732). Over the course of an hour, I felt as though I had visited every major site in the history of medieval Christianity (I would add the adjective "French" here, but it seems redundant.
See for yourself - take the virtual tour!
(click at the bottom left on découvrez les visites virtuelles de la galerie, and then either the 1ère or 2ème partie)
When it comes to "seeing France" - touring the many small towns and cities of this country - historic churches are a major draw (Michelin guide multi-star restaurants, vineyards, and chateaus are probably the only other things that make a place a major tourist attraction). The Cité de l'architecture & du patrimoine almost makes such trips superfluous, and it only costs
5 or 7 euro (by comparison, my recent trip to Chartres set me back by about 60 euros). Then again - had I not physically traveled to Chartres, I would have missed out on the pastoral beauty of the river Eure, the unexpected pleasure of an organist practicing in St-Pierre church, and the culinary delight of the chocolaty Mentchikoff. Photos from my trip in the slideshow below:
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