Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Les Invalides
MUSEUM
MUSÉE MAILLOL-FONDATION DINA VIERNY
10.30am-7pm Sat-Thu, to 9.30pm Fri; Rue du Bac)
This splendid little museum focuses on the work of sculptor Aristide Maillol (1861-1944)
and also includes works by Matisse, Gauguin, Kandinsky, Cézanne and Picasso. All are
from the private collection of Odessa-born Dina Vierny (b 1915), Maillol's principal model
for 10 years from the age of 15. The museum is located in the stunning 18th-century Hôtel
Bouchardon.
CHURCH
CHAPELLE NOTRE DAME DE LA MEDAILLE MIRACULEUSE
rue du Bac, 7e; 7.45am-1pm & 2.30-7pm Mon & Wed-Sun, 7.45am-7pm Tue; Rue du Bac or Vaneau)
Tucked away at the end of a courtyard across from Le Bon Marché department store, this
extraordinary and beautiful chapel is a place of pilgrimage. In 1830, the Virgin Mary spoke
to 24-year-old Catherine Labouré. In a series of three miraculous apparitions that took place
here, the young novice seminary sister was told to have a medal made that would protect
and grace those who wore it. The first Miraculous Medals were made in 1832.
The same year a cholera epidemic plagued Paris and the medals' popularity spread rapidly
as wearers of the medal found themselves miraculously cured or protected from the deadly
disease. Devout Roman Catholics around the world still wear the medal today.
Catherine Labouré (1806-76), the eighth child of a Burgundian farmer, was beatified in
1933 and her body moved to a reliquary beneath the altar of Our Lady of the Globe (to the
right as you face the main altar) inside the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.
ART MUSEUM
FONDATION DUBUFFET
2-6pm Mon-Fri Sep-Jul; Duroc)
Situated in a lovely 19th-century
hôtel particulier
(private mansion) at the end of a court-
yard, the foundation houses the collection of Jean Dubuffet (1901-85), chief of the Art Brut
school (a term he himself coined to describe all works of artistic expression not officially re-
cognised). Much of his work is incredibly modern and expressive.
CHURCH
BASILIQUE STE-CLOTILDE
