Sculptures of the Paris Notre-Dame Cathedral at the Cluny museum

A large part of the sculptures that were originally in the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris have disappeared. Many of the statues were damaged during the French Revolution, especially the statues called the Gallery of Kings – otherwise known as the Heads of the Kings of Judah.

Many of the lost statues have subsequently lbeen found and are exhibited at the Cluny museum. Claude-Philibert Barthelot (1781-1869) – Count Count Rambuteau – who was instrumental in transforming and renovating Paris in the first half of the 19th century, put some fragments of the statues in the frigidarium of the ancient Roman baths (which are now part of the Cluny Museum in Paris). These pieces are part of the Museum's Fund from its inception in 1843.

One of the highlights of the Museum's collection, from a historical as well as an artistic point of view, is the series of Heads of the Kings of Judah from the Gallery of Kings. They are from the portals of the western façade of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. There are now 21 of the original 28 Kings of Judah.

Next to the Heads of the Kings of Judah is the two-metre-high statue of Adam (circa 1260). It is the only surviving element of the monumental group of sculptures in the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and is considered one of the finest nudes of the Gothic era.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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