The Joy of Nature and ...

... killing it?

This past week has been pretty laid back for Jess and I. I have been on vacation and she is working on papers. To give her a chance to get some work done this afternoon without having me in her hair, I went out. I had seen a museum a couple weeks ago that I kept meaning to see, and I decided to take the opportunity today. The name of the museum is "Musée de la nature at et de la chasse." It literally translates as Museum of Nature and Hunting, but I think the name Museum of Nature and killing it is more entertaining. Below is a picture of the main trophy room.

The museum was quite interesting in that it talked about different attitudes to hunting and wildlife in the middle ages, the renaissance, the humanist era, as well as contemporary attitudes. The primacy of bears, wild boars, and lions in the pantheon of wild animals in the early Middle Ages owing to Celtic, Germanic, and Biblical attitudes. Following this, in the later middle ages, many of these animals were no longer to be found in Europe, and the stag became particularly important as a symbol of grace and beauty, to be killed by nobility (there must be some deeper subtext there that was just glossed over) as did the wolf, which was particularly maligned owing to its role as a predator of lambs, a symbol of Jesus, as well as its benefitting from societal breakdowns during periods of pestilence (I assume labor became more expensive, leaving far fewer shepards for flocks combined with less sport hunting by the nobility, there's a reason the brits chase foxes on horseback, it's the largest predator left on the island). For humanists, nature ceased to be a divine creation and was instead judged on is closeness and utility to man; so the dog became increasingly important.

But it looks like I'm starting to ramble.

This museum is also somewhat interesting in that it is the only place I have seen natural history offerings such as a stuffed stag in front of a centuries old wall hanging manufactured in the great looms of Bruges (as seen below).


After visiting the museum, I walked around a bit. This is a picture of the Hotel de Soubise, one of the grand old mansions of the city. It now holds the Museum of French History.


On the way home, I walked past our neighbourhood garden. It is always crowded, with a big playground that is always packed, but as in other parts of the city, much of the green space is blocked off to the public, including this little pond. Those of you familiar with the story of Rosslyn might recognize a bad idea in my checking in on these ducklings every couple days. But that they have their mother is enough to dissuade me, even if Jess and what I can only assume are rather stringent rules on moving waterfowl across international boundaries weren't also there doing there part. So for now, I just fondly gaze from afar.