Saint-Hilaire-la-Croix

What is the parish church of the tiny village of Saint-Hilaire-la-Croix today, was the church of a priory, depending from Mozat around 1165.
In the beginning the priory was named "Saint-Hilaire-lac-rouge", but over the time, the old name got a little "deformed". There is not much known about the priory. In the early years it served the pilgrims on their way - and somehow it was important enough, to built (and finance) such an extraordenary church. Bernard Craplet ("Auvergne romane") dates the building phase from around 1100 to 1200. Later Augustinian Canons and Vincentians lived here. Not a sucess story for the next centuries the buildings were sold already in 1742.

This is the most expressive of the capitals around the crossing in Saint-Hilaire-la-Croix. At least for me.

I described most details already, when I uploaded the other photo taken from a more central pov, so now I just point out two details.

Above the elbow of the dancer is a kind of tassel, actually an ornament often seen in medieval carvings, but mostly this ornament is static and symmetric. Here it is assymetric. It really seems to be a swinging textile tassel, just being moved by the elbow.

In case the male musician and the female contortionist, performing here, are professionals, they for sure needed a manager, who organised the gigs - and passed the hat around.
See the manager in the corner to the very right.