Five minutes' walk south of Place St-Michel, up boulevard St-Michel, the walls of the third-century Roman baths are visible in the garden of the Hôtel de Cluny, a sixteenth-century mansion built by the abbots of the powerful Cluny monastery as their Paris pied-à-terre. The hôtel now houses the richly rewarding Musée National du Moyen Âge, with its entrance at 6 place Paul-Painlevé, off rue des Écoles (daily except Tues 9.15am–5.45pm; €5.50, €4 on Sun; www.musee-moyenage.fr; M° Cluny-La Sorbonne). The two-level museum is a treasure house of medieval art and tapestries, its masterpiece being the wonderful tapestry series of La Dame à la licorne (The Lady with the Unicorn). The building provides a perfect setting for the art – from the huge carved-stone medieval fireplaces and perfect little chapel, to the cool, intricately bricked Gallo-Roman baths filled with sculptural fragments. A pamphlet in English provides a plan of the museum, and while you're wandering around look out for the laminated information sheets in English provided in some rooms.There's no charge for entry to the beautiful, shady courtyard or to the grounds running along boulevard St-Germain, the latter of which harbour lawns, benches and a children's playground. Excellent concerts of medieval music, often featuring vocal groups backed by outlandish-sounding instruments, are usually held inside the museum on Friday lunchtime (12.30pm) and Saturday afternoon (4pm). Call 01.53.73.78.00 for programme information.
Pages in section ‘Cluny’: Ground floor, First floor.
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