Blog | HPRG The birth of gothic sculpture exhibition at the Cluny Museum, 10th October 2018 – 21st January 2019 – Hotels Paris Rive Gauche Blog
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The birth of gothic sculpture exhibition at the Cluny Museum, 10th October 2018 – 21st January 2019

Art and Culture, newsletter - eng

The Cluny Museum, very close to our hotels (especially the l’Hôtel Design Sorbonne) is opening its latest exhibition – The birth of gothic sculpture – that will take you back in time tothe year 1135, showing how distinct bulding projects in Saint-Denis, Paris and Chartres managed to keep the same style through a clever system of shared notebooks, while also developing it from something not entirely Roman to something not yet completely gothic…
Exposition Naissance de la sculpture gothique au Musée de Cluny du 10 octobre 2018 au 21 janvier 2019
When people talk about innovation, the years 1135 to 1150 are very rarely referred to! And yet, the era’s three big building projects in the Paris area used a number of innovative techniques, both stylistic and iconographic.

For example, there was the first known use of structural statue-colomns. Other architectural elements from Saint-Denis were referenced and expanded upon or refined. Using the notebooks that were transported between these building projects, each one remained harmonious while also developing the gothic style. Quite an achievement!

To give oyu a close-up look at this creativitity, the exhibition brings together 130 sculpted works, not only from the colleciton of the Cluny Museum, but also the Louvre, New York’s Met and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

There is also a very special loan of some very large statue-columns that were removed from the royal gate of Chartres cathedral in the 1960s, for conservation reasons. This is a very rare chance to see them together in Paris.
Exposition Naissance de la sculpture gothique au Musée de Cluny du 10 octobre 2018 au 21 janvier 2019
Linked with the exhibition there are guided visits for adults or families, and workshops for kids (one of which is about stained-glass windows).

There’s a concert by the Discantus ensemble at Sainte-Chapelle on Thursday 18th October 2018 at 7pm called ‘Musiques au temps du premier âge gothique’.

Other concerts are happening on 25th & 26th November (Musiques au temps d’Aliénor et de Louis VII) with Christmas songs on the 16th & 17th December – ‘Au temps des premières cathédrales gothiques‘

A catalogue of the exhibition is also available (272 pages, 270 illustrations, 39€ here chez amazon.fr).
Exposition Naissance de la sculpture gothique au Musée de Cluny du 10 octobre 2018 au 21 janvier 2019

The exhibition The birth of gothic sculpture. Saint-Denis, Paris, Chartres 1135-1150 is at the Cluny Museum (here) from 10th October 2018 – 7th January 2019

Open every day except Tuesdays from 9.15am – 5.45pm

Admission: 9€ / 7€ (includes the permanent collection)

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