The product of the very first joint collaboration between several medieval art museums in Europe, the ‘Travelling in the Middles Ages’ exhibition invites the visitors of the musée de Cluny to embark on a journey through space and time.

The exhibition looks at various types of medieval travellers, merchants and pilgrims, princes and artists. The objects on show tell some personal stories as well as highlight marking moments of the experience of travelling. They allow to better comprehend the way medieval men and women travelled and to draw comparisons with the present times.

From the street corner to the far end of the world

The exhibition questions the motivations of travellers who left their homes, their land or their country to embark on an adventure which started right at home. Some journeys would only be a few miles long, some would be the size of a continent. There were the symbolical ones which would last one hour or only took you across the street, like a bride reaching her new household. There were also the ones initiated to save souls, to conquer new lands, like crusades, to gain scientific knowledge or more social prestige. Of all these peregrinations, the ones that are the most significant for a museum are naturally of an artistic nature and are exemplified by the evocation of Dürer’s journeys between Germany and Italy.

Tell me the way you travel and I will tell you who you are.

Consisting of only time and space, with each city, each road, each place on the earth being both a starting and an ending point, only a few traces of travelling remain. However, the exhibition produces a multiplicity of material accounts regarding these past practices. Transportation was the key element to travelling and varied according to the length and purpose of the journey, performed on horseback, on a carriage or by boat. Visitors of the exhibition discover noteworthy pieces such as the remains of a wrecked pinnace – a wooden boat used for the carriage of goods kept at the Bilbao Archaeological Museum. A mandatory item for orientation, maps are represented, including the 6 meter long Peutinger table which indicated the entirety of the European road network. Travel could also be a synonym of comfort and practicality, as is reflected in the furniture, including candlesticks, trunks... Written records, from mere letters to richly illuminated manuscripts, give an insight into the events which occurred during these trips and provide suprising details, such as the outstanding mortuary roll of SaintBénigne in Dijon which was used to notify the death of clergymen to a network of abbeys to honour their memory. This overview of medieval travelling will be completed by the showing of engravings and paintings.

The medieval legacy

No different from the Middle Ages, our contemporary society is pervaded by the idea of travelling. The exhibition reflects on the influence of the customs and traditions of the former on the latter and reveals some still very vivid practices. From The Way of St. James to the pilgrimage to ‘Our Lady of the Bikers’ at Porcaro, the medieval legacy is to be found everywhere in our daily life as evidenced by the medallion of St. Christopher, the patron of travellers.

A european collaboration

Travelling in the Middle Ages’ presents more than 160 pieces in and exceptional setting, the frigidarium of the thermae of the musée de Cluny. This marks the first step of a longterm project in collaboration with the major medieval museums of Europe : the Episcopal Museum of Vic in Catalunya, the National Museum of Bargello in Florence and the Schnütgen Museum in Cologne, These renowned institutions share the same goal of spreading knowledge on the medieval world by sharing and exchanging major pieces of art.