As I was reminded yesterday, by dear friend Anna, everyone has their favorite museum in Paris – and mostly, we’re finding, it’s not the Louvre, it’s generally the Musee d’Orsay! Oh well! Definitely difficult for us to get away from the Near Eastern section, that’s for sure, which is superb…so, to begin the day. First off, it wasn’t actually bitterly cold this morning! The thermometer indicated 37 degrees, although it was very overcast. I think the overcast kept in whatever heat was generated yesterday, and as the wind wasn’t blowing, it wasn’t too bad outside. Yay! Interesting, though, that it’s only supposed to get up to 38 degrees in total today!
We decided to go for a simple breakfast again, toward the Luxembourg, but when we arrived there, around 8 am, nothing was open! Very surprising! I realize that it’s still dark outside, but 8 am is still 8 am, right? So, we took the 27 bus over to the Louvre and once again went through the Carousel. But even the Carousel, while the building itself was open, was closed up tightly! Even the McDonald’s!! Surprise!! We were able to find a place to sit until 8:30 when we made our way over to the Louvre Carousel entrance. This time, though, we had our “credentials” (tickets) with us, and were second in line to get in. The time passed fairly quickly, and right on time at 9 am the gates were opened and we passed very quickly through security and were “in!” Note: We got the tickets on-line through the Louvre.fr website. However, the tickets themselves indicated that we needed to enter through the Pyramid entrance. That, however, was NOT true! Entry through the Carousel was ONLY with reserved tickets, so go figure!
Our first visit was to the Tresoir’s du Notre Dame – basically, what had been in Notre Dame’s Treasury when the building caught fire in 2019. It wasn’t everything, obviously, as I’m sure many of the articles are still in storage elsewhere, but there was quite a collection of reliquaries and real “treasures” to see. I know that whenever we’ve visited Spain, we’re always blown away by the amount of pure gold that is in those churches and cathedrals – but wow, some of the pieces that were on display today were incredible. Turns out, that the French Revolution didn’t necessarily deal too kindly with the Catholic Church at the time, and many things were raided and looted out of Notre Dame, but after the restoration, a great deal of time, money and resources were spent on recreating - and creating anew many new pieces – including some “monstrances” that were enormous! (Note: A Monstrance in the liturgical sense houses the consecrated Eucharist host and is a very holy thing for Catholics.)
There were also quite a few ancient illuminated manuscripts that were beautifully presented, as well as a variety of truly stunning chasubles, the liturgical vestments (outermost garments) worn by Catholic priests when conducting mass. All in all, an interesting exhibition – and it just feels so good to know that everything will very shortly be returning “home” to their newly cleaned and polished places!
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| Reliquary |
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| Reliquary |
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| Crown of Charlemagne made for Napoleon I's coronation |
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| Lots and lots of gold... |
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| Monstrance for the altar |
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| We've arrived at French sculpture! |
From the special exhibition – oh, at this point, we decided to devest ourselves of our coats! – not that it was that warm, but it’s such a huge building, that we didn’t want to have to carry things everywhere. I headed back down to the cloakroom, which has now become completely self-contained and self-serviced! You find a locker that is free, follow the directions on what to key in, and you’re done! It’s quick and very convenient! Just to be on the safe side, I put the locker number and the 4-digit combination I used into NOTES on my phone …
We then decided to head to our favorite area – the Near East – to see some old friends, as well as to see what’s new. (The nice thing about the Louvre collections, is that there is generally something new with every visit! And this time was no different!) This time, there was a new section on the Amorites and a voyage taken by one of their kings from Ugarit down the Euphrates to Mari, complete with artifacts; very interesting!
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| Victory Stele of Narim-Sin |
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| Statue of Gudea |
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| Lamassu from Khorsabad, Palace of Sargon II |
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| Bull statute from the Amorites |
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| Law code of Hammurabi |
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| Part of the Lion frieze from Palace of Darius I, Persepolis |
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| Ain Ghazal statue, Jordan - discovered 1985; at 9000 years old, |
the oldest work on display in the Louvre museum!
We wound our way (eventually, although we did have to go through an interminable collection of French enamels, porcelain and tapestry … ) to the Near East, and there was our old buddy, Gudea, a ruler from the city of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia. Like I say, we can see some of the same things time and again and not get tired of them – the huge Lamassu (bull-man) from the citadel of Sargon II dynasties; the wall carvings; I mean, these folks did things in a BIG way, and we can just wander for hours. They have a wonderful array of artifacts from the Persians at Susa and Darius I’s palace, as well as things from Persepolis. The colors are still wonderful, all these thousands of years later. (So why do we have to repaint our houses so often??) We, of course, took photos (yes, again!) of the first (actually, not really, but it’s always described that way) Law Code of Hammurabi as well as the victory stele of Naram-Sin, which is mentioned in many books and articles about the Near East. These are just some of our favorite pieces…
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| More from Darius and Persepolis |
From there, we headed to the Egyptian artifacts, to see if by chance the door to Robert’s very favorite Louvreartifact had been left open … we check most every time we visit, and it hasn’t happened yet, but hope springs eternal. R really would like to have the Gebel el-Arak knife. It’s an ivory and flint knife dating from the Naqada II period of Egyptian prehistory, showing Mesopotamian influence. It is almost 1,000 years older than the Great Pyramid in Cairo, and is really not only a beautiful artifact in and of itself, but is so beautifully carved and put together that it somehow doesn’t seem like it can be that old!
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| Fascinating how they incorporate the artifacts into a former palace! |
By this time, it was getting on for noon, and we were definitely getting hungry! (And I should probably mention right now that we did NOT need to see any of the big 3 – Venus, Winged Victory or the Mona Lisa, as we have visited them many times in the past, and don’t need to do that again…Philistines that we are!)
So, headed for Café Angelina, and LUNCH! We were able to get a table overlooking the Pyramid – where there were still people waiting to get in … and took a look at the menu. Lots and lots of pastries, but that wasn’t why we were there. I ended up ordering a fabulous croque monsieur (ham and cheese on grilled bread with bechemal sauce) with green salad, and R ordered their Cesar salad with grilled chicken and parmesan. Turned out, while the croque monsieur was a perfect size, the Cesar salad was HUGE! Also, he forgot until it was too late to take a picture of it! We also got coffee for him (he was feeling more than a bit sleepy) a delicious cup of Angelina hot chocolate with whipped cream for me, and two bottles of Perrier for us. Altogether, a terrific lunch, and one which I know will hold us until we meet Alain and Graciela tonight for dinner at Coup de Torchon, just down the street!
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| Note entrance Pyramid behind Robert! |
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| My wonderful croque monsieur! |
From the Louvre, then, we headed back toward the hotel, with one final stop at the flat to take out the trash and check over everything and make sure all was well. We’ve let the landlord know that we have departed, so that he can get it ready for the next guests – can only hope that he keeps the heat on for them, as it had heated up a bit during our absence! As I say, the location was great … Then, back to Relais Saint Jacquesand our lovely, warm room. R has already had one nap, while I’ve been blogging. I plan on getting everything posted except for dinner, which I will take care of tomorrow. We’re meeting at 7:30 pm tonight, and as we need to be up and out and back to the airport tomorrow by 9 to pick up the rental car, I want to make sure I at least get to bed early for once!
So! More later!
Much love,
m
xxx
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