Gardens sacred allegorical, and real. (Report from Europe).(gardens, Musee national du Moyen Age-Thermes de Cluny, Paris, France)(Brief Article)

Gardens played an important role, both allegorical and actual, in medieval life. This is the subject of a major exhibition on view until September 16 at the Musee national du Moyen Age-Thermes de Cluny in Paris. Entitled Sur la terre comme au ciel: Jardins d'Occident a la fin du Moyen Age (On earth as in heaven: Western European gardens in the late Middle Ages), the show is intended to coincide with the flowering of the gardens around the museum, which were inspired by their medieval counterparts. Elisabeth Antoine, the curator of the show, has assembled about one hundred works, including illuminated manuscripts, engravings, painted panels, tapestries, and objects from archaeological sites, to evoke aspects of late medieval gardens and their symbolic meanings for those who planted them.

The exhibition is divided into ...