After our tour of Galeries Lafayette and lunch at Printemps, we traveled across town to meet Francoise and Charles, who kindly invited us to go with them to the Musee Pasteur, opened for the Patrimoine.
The Musee is actually the family home of Pasteur, where he lived the last 8 years of his life. We were able to visit the rooms the family used, as well as his home office, library and laboratory. It was given to the French government intact, so the furniture and objects are the actual furniture and objects owned and used by the family. The larger Pasteur Institute is across the street.
We all learned in school that Pasteur was the discoverer of the rabies vaccine and Pasteurization, but I had not realized that he also worked on vaccines and cures for many other diseases like cholera, and that his work saved the French silk industry when silkworms were stricken.
The highlight of the visit was the crypt. Whne Pasteur died, the government wanted to inter him in the Pantheon, but his wife refused, and demanded that a crypt be built under the house. We expected a small, somber memorial. We did not expect a Byzantine chapel with gold mosaic walls and ceilings, encrusted with paeans to the great man.
No comments:
Post a Comment