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The Musée national des Monuments Français (; ) is today a museum of plaster casts of French monuments located in the Palais de Chaillot, 1, place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. It now forms part of the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, and is open daily except Tuesday. An admission fee is charged. The museum's name evokes the earlier Musée des Monuments français opened in 1795 by Alexandre Lenoir, which displayed actual monuments of French Medieval and Renaissance art, removed from churches and châteaux after the French Revolution. Lenoir's museum remained open until the Bourbon Restoration of 1816, and was highly influential on French taste, making the medievalism of the Troubadour style popular, and providing inspiration to its artists.


History

The architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc suggested gathering reproductions of French sculpture and architecture at a single site in the
palais du Trocadéro Palais () may refer to: * Dance hall, popularly a ''palais de danse'', in the 1950s and 1960s in the UK * ''Palais'', French for palace **Grand Palais, the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées **Petit Palais, an art museum in Paris * Palais River in t ...
in 1879, in buildings left vacant after the Exposition universelle in 1878. His proposal was accepted on 4 November. Edmond Du Sommerard would be designated on 20 December to form the musée de la Sculpture comparée. The institution opened its four rooms to the public on 28 May 1882, three more in 1886 and finally its library and foundational documents in 1889. The
palais du Trocadéro Palais () may refer to: * Dance hall, popularly a ''palais de danse'', in the 1950s and 1960s in the UK * ''Palais'', French for palace **Grand Palais, the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées **Petit Palais, an art museum in Paris * Palais River in t ...
, refaced and widened by a second gallery but deprived of its central hemispherical hall, under the direction of architect Jacques Carlu for the Exposition universelle of 1937, became the palais de Chaillot. Wholly redesigned, the museum became the musée des Monuments français. Very avant-garde in terms of its museographic conception and intellectual experimentation, notably through the efforts of the archaeologist Paul Deschamps, it had to close down due to an insufficient budget. In July 1995, a fire partially destroyed the building. Its planned reopening in 1998 was pushed back to 15 September 2007 in connection with the creation of the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine.


Today

It occupies the aile Paris of the Palais de Chaillot and is made up of three galleries. The galerie Davioud (1878) and galerie Carlu (1937) form a gallery of plaster casts. The upper gallery serves as an exhibition space for modern and contemporary architectural models. Wall paintings and stained glass windows are located at the end of the modern and contemporary architecture gallery; they are shown on two levels. There is also a library as well as rooms for temporary exhibitions.


Collections

It contains about 6,000 casts of sculptures of all periods including
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, and
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, but with a strong emphasis on French sculptures of the Romanesque and Gothic periods. It also contains scale models of buildings, copies of architectural elements, sculpture,
fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
es, and
stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
from French churches and châteaux, as well as a collection of about 200,000 photographs. Most casts were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Of particular interest is the Galerie Davioud, which displays casts of sculptures from Strasbourg Cathedral (13th century), Bourges Cathedral (late 13th century), and Notre-Dame de Reims. The museum also contains casts of elements from
Angoulême Cathedral Angoulême Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic church in Angoulême, Charente, France. The cathedral is in the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque architectural and sculptural tradition, and is the seat of the Bishop of Angoulême. Architecture and ...
, Aulnay,
Autun Autun () is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the e ...
, Cluny, Conques, Jouarre, Moissac, Sainte-Marie-des-Dames at Saintes, Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, Saint-Trophime d'Arles, Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines, Saint-Sernin at
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
, and Notre-Dame du Port at
Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...
. File:Cité de lArchitecture et du Patrimoine 2008 001.jpg, Galerie Davioud, romanesque Languedoc room File:Cité de l'architecture 008.jpg, Galerie Davioud, gothic room File:Cité de lArchitecture et du Patrimoine 9, Paris 2012.jpg, Galerie Davioud File:Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine 2.jpg, Galerie Carlu, Provence File:Cité de l'architecture 014.jpg, Galerie Carlu, XVIth c. File:Cité de lArchitecture et du Patrimoine 2008 007.jpg, Gallery of modern and contemporary architecture File:Cité de l'architecture 036.jpg, Gallery of paintings, cupola of Cahors cathedral File:Cité de l'architecture 037.jpg, Gallery of paintings and stained glasses, crypt File:Exposition Lyon Confluence (Cité de larchitecture et du patrimoine) (6768146251).jpg, Temporary exhibitions galleries


See also

* List of museums in Paris * Musée de Cluny


References


External links


Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine









''International Herald Tribune'', "France's Monuments Museum: A History of Change", January 8, 1994
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musee national des Monuments Francais Monuments Francais Monuments Francais Monuments Francais Monuments Francais 1882 establishments in France Plaster cast collections Buildings and structures in the 16th arrondissement of Paris National museums of France