Musée de Cluny

The Musée de Cluny sits behind a high stone wall, recognizable by the jagged medieval crenellations atop its gatehouse and the ruins of Roman baths poking through the garden. This building is a rare collision of eras, where fifteenth century Gothic residential architecture wraps around the massive, crumbling brick arches of a public bathhouse from the Gallo-Roman era. It served as a townhouse for the powerful abbots of Cluny, who needed a secure, comfortable residence while visiting Paris on church business.