November 2012 trip to Paris: Musee de Cluny

The Musee de Cluny (also called the Musee National du Moyen Age), in the Latin Quarter, is home to some of the most ancient things found in Paris -- Gallo-Roman baths, for one. It's a great place to learn about the history of the city in medieval times.

The heads of the biblical kings of Judah, carved around 1200. Once housed in Notre Dame, they were desecrated in the 1790s, during the French Revolution, when Notre Dame was rededicated to "the Cult of Reason." They were found during an excavation nearby in 1977 and housed at the Musee de Cluny.

A statue in the Musee de Cluny.

Yes, yes, it's a major motif in Christiandom, but I usually don't care for images of the crucified Christ. This one, from the 1400s, got to me, though -- so melancholy, so human.

A medieval tapestry.