The Cernuschi Museum has a sub-title: “Museum of the Asian arts of Paris.” This surprised me, because I thought that was what the Guimet Museum was, but it turns out that the Guimet is a ‘national’ museum, belonging to the French state, whereas the Cernuschi belongs merely to the city of Paris.
Checking vaccination certificates at the front gate of Musée Cernuschi
Like most of the city museums, the Cernuschi Museum does not charge for admission to its permanent collection, but as of August 2021 they were checking vaccination certificates at the front gate. This was a new procedure at the time, but it went very smoothly. I just showed them my German certificate on my smartphone, they scanned it and let me right in. Apparently the software on these certificates is now standardized throughout the European Union, but I don’t know if they can always recognize the certificates from non-EU countries.
Portrait of Henri Cernuschi, by Léon Bonnat (1833-1922)
This portrait of Henri Cernuschi (1821-1896) is on display inside the museum, along with information on his life and travels. He is described as an “Italian patriot” who was active in the 1848 revolts in Milan and Rome. His name was originally Enrico Cernuschi, but he changed his first name to Henri when he went into exile in France. “His first years in Paris proved difficult,” according to the museum’s website, “but he little by little built his reputation as an economist, and published Mécanique de l’échange (1865). His consulting services to investors and shares in various businesses earned him a fortune estimated in the late Second Empire at two million gold francs.”
Because of his republican convictions, he had to go into exile again in 1869, this time to Switzerland, but he “returned to Paris to be present at the proclamation of the Third Republic at the City Hall on 4th September 1870.”
After being “profoundly shocked by the dramatic events of the Commune of Paris,” Cernuschi “embarked on a world tour from September 1871 to January 1873, in the company of a young art critic, Théodore Duret (1838-1927). During the course of his travels in Japan and China, he acquired around 5,000 works of art, which would later form the core of his collection.”
After returning to Paris, Cernuschi bought the last remaining piece of land on the Avenue Vélasquez (an elegant impasse) and had a mansion built for himself and his artworks. Here in later years he gave elaborate parties, to which he invited his fellow celebrities of “Tout-Paris”, the affluent elite of the city.
Buddha in the Cernuschi Museum
The largest and most controversial piece in the museum is this bronze Japanese Buddha. According to Théodore Duret, who later wrote a book about their travels, he and Cernuschi found the Buddha lying abandoned and forsaken among some trees and thatched cottages. They found the owner of the land, who agreed to sell them the Buddha. They immediately detached one of the hands, and the next morning “a whole battalion” of workers came to transport the statue. “We judged it prudent not to join them, thinking that the best chance of succeeding in this operation would be if no one knew for whose benefit it was being carried out.” But the news got around, and a day later a group of protesters squatted in front of their hotel, offering to give them their money back and demanding the return of the Buddha. “You can imagine in what manner we received them! What is done is done.” (Ce qui est fait est fait.)
The bronze Buddha is now displayed in the center of the largest room of the museum.
In the Cernuschi Museum
My subjective impression, after visiting both the Cernuschi and the Guimet Museums of Asian art, is that the Guimet is larger (as befits a ‘national’ museum), but both are well worth a visit.
Parc de Monceau
The Cernuschi Museum is located at 7 avenue Vélasquez in a decidedly huppé neighborhood, directly adjoining the Parc de Monceau, a fashionable park where hundreds of beautiful people go jogging (counter-clockwise only, please) on Sunday mornings.
My photos and text in this post are from 2021.
See more posts on the 8th arrondissement of Paris.
See more posts on Museums in Paris.
Ooh sounds like an interesting museum to check out. Would you believe I’ve never been to Paris? Uffa! I’m definitely going as soon as I can. Ciao, Cristina
What an interesting story. Thanks for sharing. I did not know about Cernuschi.
I didn’t know about him, either, until I went to the museum.
Looks an interesting museum and that Buddha is very striking even if its acquisition was so controversial. For info, our (unfortunately) non-EU NHS certificates can be uploaded to the French app via their QR codes. We’ve done so in advance of our visit to Paris this coming weekend 🙂 But you may want to correct the date above as I doubt that showing vaccination certificates was necessary in 2013!
Sarah, thanks for pointing out the typo. I have just gone in and made the correction.
Have a great visit to Paris this coming weekend!
Da war ich auch und habe darüber geschrieben. Seltsam, wie unterschiedlich die Einrücke doch sein können. Das Museum hat mir gut gefallen. LG Ulrike
Mir hat das Museum auch gut gefallen. Allerdings war ich noch nie in China (außer eine Woche Hong Kong vor vielen Jahren), mir fehlt also dein Hintergrundwissen. Ich halte vor allem die verschiedenen chinesischen Epochen und Dynastien nicht auseinander.
Your visits, like this one, give me the motivation to look as carefully at some our Museums here in Victoria. But I will need to wait until we are out of interminable lockdowns.
As an aside, are vaccination certificates mandatory in all of Europe?
Thanks for your visit and comment. The regulations on masking and vaccination certificates seem to change from week to week or even from day to day. There aren’t any uniform regulations even for all of Germany, much less all of Europe.
When we were at the Cernuschi, we were struck by the various art all having happy, smiling faces up until about 900 AD (or CE) and then becoming the very warlike and stem, angry faces we so often see depicted later. I’ve often wondered what happened in Chinese history in 900 that caused such an abrupt and noticible change in their art.
The Amida Buddha from Meguro is absolutely amazing and I suspect you’re right about the wrong people being paid. It really probably should be returned to Japan but I’m glad it’s in Paris or I never would have seen it.
That’s an interesting observation about the smiling faces being prevalent before about 900. I’ve never heard of that or paid much attention to the dates, I’m afraid.
Glad to stumble on to your blog. Heading to Paris next week for a month so it is nice to see your posts. Bonne journée!
Thanks for finding and following my blog. Have a great month in Paris.
Thanks for the post of Cernuschi Museum! I also wondering how EU recognize our vaccine cards electronically. Of course, we can carry the card with us everywhere😉. Really love to visit Europe!
It’s good to read that Cernuschi collected and payed the artefacts now exhibited in the museum. No robbery, no stealing, like in many of other European museums that are exhibiting “colonial art”.
Yes, but in the case of the Japanese Buddha I’m not sure he paid the right person.