简介

This catalogue is published in conjunction with the exhibition “Licornes !” presented at the Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen ?ge, Paris, from March 10 to July 12, 2026. The unicorn is a magical being, not shown in any zoo, its existence never attested, yet it is omnipresent—in popular culture, in advertising, in children‘s bedrooms. The catalogue offers a clear and thorough exploration of this familiar and unknown motif, drawing on more than 175 major works from Antiquity to contemporary art, including illuminated manuscripts, medieval tapestries, Renaissance paintings, and objects from cabinets of curiosities. Essays by leading specialists address the major themes developed in the exhibition: the diversity of unicorn forms between East and West; its role in the Bible and medieval bestiaries; accounts by travelers such as Marco Polo who attested to its existence; its religious interpretation through the figure of the Virgin and the unicorn; and its symbolic uses in the decorative arts and science, from the supposed remedy drawn from its horn to heraldic emblems. The book combines erudition and wonder, revealing how the unicorn—by turns wise, fierce, sensual or healing—reflects the beliefs, knowledge and dreams of each era. It offers a journey through 2,500 years of the history of images and ideas.