gothic doorway in Musée de Cluny, Paris
The Musée de Cluny is a museum in Paris housing a collection of art from the Middle Ages: the Musée National du Moyen Âge.
The museum stands on the site of a Roman baths complex (called the Thermes de Cluny). The building seen in this picture was built in the 15th-16th century as the Hôtel de Cluny for abbot Jacques d'Amboise of the Cluniac monastic order. It replaced the original Hôtel de Cluny which was built in the 14th century.
The courtyard is decorated in the Flamboyant Gothic style. The doorway seen here leads into the octagonal tower looking onto the courtyard.
The motto above the door reads "Servire Deo Regnare Est" (Latin meaning "to serve God is to reign").
The scallop shells surrounding the motto symbolise the pilgrimage to the shrine of St James in Compostela, Spain (the Camino de Santiago), the route to which began near the Hôtel de Cluny.
gothic doorway in Musée de Cluny, Paris
The Musée de Cluny is a museum in Paris housing a collection of art from the Middle Ages: the Musée National du Moyen Âge.
The museum stands on the site of a Roman baths complex (called the Thermes de Cluny). The building seen in this picture was built in the 15th-16th century as the Hôtel de Cluny for abbot Jacques d'Amboise of the Cluniac monastic order. It replaced the original Hôtel de Cluny which was built in the 14th century.
The courtyard is decorated in the Flamboyant Gothic style. The doorway seen here leads into the octagonal tower looking onto the courtyard.
The motto above the door reads "Servire Deo Regnare Est" (Latin meaning "to serve God is to reign").
The scallop shells surrounding the motto symbolise the pilgrimage to the shrine of St James in Compostela, Spain (the Camino de Santiago), the route to which began near the Hôtel de Cluny.