The Merovingian Times

The early Middle Ages were characterised by original, yet little-known, forms of expression.

The exhibition "The Merovingian Times" sheds light on this vibrant three-hundred-year period (from the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields in 451 to the end of the reign of the "idle kings" in 751), between the influence of the Roman Empire and the establishment of new forms of power, far removed from the image of "barbarism" once associated with them.

In a unique dialogue, 7th- and 8th-century manuscripts—notably from the Manuscripts Department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the libraries of Laon and Autun, the Vatican Apostolic Library and the French National Archives, are brought into dialogue with the collections of the Musée de Cluny and loans from the National Archaeology Museum in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the British Museum, the Jura Museum of Art and History in Delémont and the Alfred-Bonno Museum in Chelles.

Co-produced by Rmn-GP.
Exhibition organised with the support of MAIF.