Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Welcome Home...

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 Mucha


The 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 Ballroom

Could 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 photo

Also 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 inside

The 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.

Here's a fun link...Scholars Resource

Pics are from Flickr

Have a wonderful night my friends, until tomorrow!
~Judith~

Pin It

8 comments:

  1. Hello Judith. I know exactly what you mean by the feeling we get when we see how people once lived. Like traveling through time- I'm totally transported there. Thanks for another fabulous post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your blog is simply delicious. I feel as I'm actually in France as I look at the pictures and read the words. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great tip Judith! I can't believe I did not hear about the
    The Carnavalet Museum. It's definitely a must see the next time I visit. Isn't the Marais great. I could never visit Paris without spending at least a day there. Thanks for the morning inspiration. xoxoxoxo

    ReplyDelete
  4. I LOVE this museum and all that it holds. I have always enjoyed history, especially French history. Thanks for a great post Judith, I was able to drift off for a few minutes to the Marais! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Judith,
    This was my favorite museum and the first one I wanted to go to in Paris. I was so lucky, I had the place almost entirely to myself. I just walked around ooohing and aaahing all alone!! Sharing it with YOU would have been a blast!
    Catherine xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful post. Transported me back to the Marais and the Musee Cavarnalet. The afternoon I visited was one of the most exquisite days during my trip--sunny, flowers blooming in the garden, crepes at a cafe down the street. Le sigh. Wish I was back there NOW!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I always took visitors to the Carnavalet and they always loved it. It gets overlooked by most people but really shouldn't be - it's such a treasure!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by. I love to hear from you!