BnF Museum

BnF Museum
	Salle des Colonnes
Established	(1560–1574)
Collections	Ancient objects including several from the Treasury of Saint-Denis, books, manuscripts, coins, medals

The BnF Museum or Museum of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, formerly known as the Cabinet des Médailles (French pronunciation: [kabinɛ de medaj]), is a significant art and history museum in Paris. It displays collections of the Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France as well as manuscripts and books from the Library's collections. The BnF Museum is located in the Richelieu site, the former main building of the library bordering rue de Richelieu.

Overview

The Cabinet des Médailles is a museum containing internationally important collections of coins,

duc de Luynes gave his collection of Greek coins to the Cabinet Impérial in 1862, it was a national collection rather than simply an Imperial one he was enriching. The State also added to the treasury contained in the Cabinet des Médailles: a notable addition, in 1846, was the early sixth century gold Treasure of Gourdon

.

The cabinet, in the sense of a small private room for the conservation and display of intimate works of art and for private conversations, rather than a piece of furniture, took a stable shape under Henry IV, who nominated the connoisseur Rascas de Bagarris garde particulier des médailles et antiques du roi, the "particular guardian of the medals and antiquities of the King".

Saint-Denis

, where it was treasured as "King Solomon's Cup".

Among the antiquarians and scholars who have had the charge of the Cabinet des Médailles, one of the most outstanding was Théophile Marion Dumersan, who began working there in 1795 at the age of sixteen, protected the collection from dispersal by the allies after Napoleon's defeat, and published at his own expense a history of the collection and description, as newly rearranged according to historical principles, in 1838^[1]

Earlier printed catalogues of parts of the collection had been published. Pierre-Jean Mariette, urged by the comte de Caylus, published a selection of the royal carved hardstones as volume II of hisTraité des pierres gravées.^[2]

Sully. In order to keep the collections closer at hand, he removed them from the old royal library in Paris to the Palace of Versailles

.

When Louis' great-grandson

Van Loo

.

Following the French Revolution, a number of precious objects previously kept at the Treasury of Saint-Denis joined the collection of the Cabinet.

The Cabinet des Médailles is considered the oldest museum in France. It is located in the former building of the Bibliothèque Nationale, 58 rue Richelieu, Paris I, and can be visited for free every afternoon (13:00–17:00), seven days a week.

Significant objects

Throne of Dagobert
Charlemagne chessmen
Berthouville Treasure
Cup of the Ptolemies
Great Cameo of France
Treasure of Gourdon
Cameo with Valerian and Shapur I
Romanos Ivory
The type vases for several Ancient Greek vase painters, including the Amykos Painter, Class of Cabinet des Médailles 218, the Arkesilas Cup of the Arkesilas Painter.
The Idalion Tablet
Nazareth Inscription
Baal Lebanon inscription

Notes

^ Dumersan, Théophile Marion (1838). Histoire de Cabinet des Médailles, antiques et pierres gravées, avec une notice sur la Bibliothèque Royale et une description des objets exposés dans cet établissement [History of the Cabinet des Médailles, antiques and engraved stones]. Paris. Archived from the original on 4 March 2007. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help). His earlier Notice des monuments exposés dans le cabinet des médailles et antiques de la bibliothèque du Roi ("List of the articles exhibited by the Cabinet des Médailles and Antiques in the King's Library") in several editions, concentrated on the antiquities and gems.
^ Mariette, Pierre-Jean (1750). Traité des pierres gravées [Treaty on engraved stones]. Paris.