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Ferocity, glory & demise

The Renaissance musem and a feudal fief
  • A world that is gorgeous and fierce  
"Soldiers' pay" (detail, 16th-century tapestry at the museum)

 

The National Museum of the Renaissance nestles in a fortress turned into château, in Ecouen, 12 miles north of Paris. We can reach it by train with a walk through woods, which removes us from our world and prepares us for another.

 

If we drive, we can also discover stained-glass windows with an unusual focus, an abbey where swallows sweep through the ruins and the kings' burial ground, Saint-Denis.

 

Or we combine the most exceptional of each.

     

     

    • Our visit:  two aspects of special interest...

     

     

    A dish presents a scene of martyrdom.

    •A fascination with war and violence, but built-in brakes limit devastation – please  CLICK.
    Anne de Montmorency

    •The dramatic story of the fief's lords, touchstone to that of France – please CLICK.

     

    •But do begin by the museum itself – please CLICK.

     

     

    • This visit uses certain works that are not in the museum to illustrate its points.

        Most are shown on these pages
     

         

         

        • Costs: please CLICK .  Remember the museum entry fee and lunch.

         

        •Transportation choices


        ° We may take the train, which saves the cost of driver and lunch. But then we miss the the chapel, the abbey and Saint-Denis, places which were once part of the same world. They all the more evocative in that, being relatively little visited, we may have them almost to ourselves. 

         

        To keep the impression of changing worlds that the walk through the forest induces, the driver can leave us at its edge and pick us up at the château.

         

         

         

        Credits: Anne de Montmorency / National Library; photos / Claude Abron