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Keys from the Bastille
I love, love, love the Marais, it is one of my favorite places to roam about. A great place there is the Musee Carnavalet. I always enjoy seeing the diverse items they have on display there and always great exhibitions. Here are some highlights. With all of the amazing museums packed into the city it's easy to overlook this one. Of course you go to the Louvre, the D'Orsay, etc. but this is a very nice way to spend the afternoon as well.
The Carnavalet Museum, is dedicated to the history of Paris, it is located near the Place de Vosges. The museum is built around two adjoining mansions: the sixteenth-century hôtel Carnavalet and the seventeenth-century hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau. It contains over one-hundred rooms.
Pieces of old Paris walls ~ I love this
By MuchaThe Hôtel Carnavalet, after which the museum is named, was once the home of Madame de Sévigné, who wrote a series of famous letters to her daughter. It now hosts the museum’s collections from pre-historical times to the reign of Louis XVI, while the Hôtel Le Peletier Saint-Fargeau contains pieces dating from the French Revolution to the present day.
Re~creation of a Paris BallroomCould you just imagine all of us dressing up in our ball gowns, opera length gloves, diamonds and pearls, top hats, and tails! Oh to dream!
Some particularly interesting exhibits are:
Madame de Sévigné's Gallery;
The 20th century, Ballroom of the Hôtel de Wendel;
The Charles Le Brun Ceiling;
The Hotel d'Uzès Reception Room;
An ancient recipe for frog-leg soup, and;
Robespierre's final Letter
I just love this painting and this photoAlso there, a letter the little Dauphin was forced to write while being held captive (poor little thing), Marie Antoinette's shoes (which I posted in my last post). Also must sees are the salons and rooms of grand hotels that have long since disappeared. They are reproduced in every detail, the 19th century writer Marcel Proust's bedroom, a military tavern and a salon from the famous Cafe de Paris.
The museum is just as beautiful outside as it is insideThe famous painting of the doomed Queen Marie-Antoinette by A. Kucharski is also there, as are toys her children played with while in prison, as is some of the families furniture from the Tuileries that they used while being held there. However, just to see the buildings and petite garden are enough to entice a visit from me! I just love seeing how people lived before and to be in that environment, in a historical home (and such a grand one), it's pure heaven to me.
Have a wonderful night my friends, until tomorrow!
~Judith~
