Two Exhibitions at the Medieval Museum of Cluny in Paris celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame de Paris. One features the scriptural legacy.
The history of Notre-Dame is not only that of its famous building; it is also a story about the scriptorium and the library with its vast collection of books, manuscripts and printed materials used for worship or study.
Since 1756, the BnF has held the majority of the medieval manuscripts of Notre-Dame, some 300 works. During the Revolution, the liturgical manuscripts and printed works that the cathedral chapter had excluded from the 1756 transaction were added. The exhibition shows the wealth of this collection through the selection of some forty pieces: precious medieval manuscripts held in the Manuscripts department and the Arsenal library, but also some illuminated books, chapter registers and a plan from other institutions (National Archives, Historical Archives of the Archbishopric).
Built around four themes – the management of the library, the study of books, the witnesses to worship, and the destiny of the medieval library in the modern era – these treasures will witness the richness of the intellectual and artistic life of the Cathedral during the Middle Ages and the multiple interests of its many benefactors. It will also present to the public for the first time the two heritage acquisitions recently made by the BnF to complete the Notre-Dame collection in the Manuscripts department, a missal from around 1400-1410 and a 16th liturgical handbook.
The National Library of France (BnF) and the Cluny Museum organised the exhibition. A third partner is the National Archives.
The exhibition “Browsing through Notre-Dame. Masterpieces of the Medieval Library” has been organised by the National Library of France (BnF) at the Cluny Museum as part of the program “In the collections of the BnF” with the participation of the National Archives.
PHOTO:
Manuscript from Notre-Dame de Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Musique, RES VMA MS-1410. PD
VISIT:
Feuilleter Notre-Dame. Chefs-d’œuvre de la bibliothèque médiévale
19.11.2024 – 16.03.2025
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