Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: tongue

With more than 500.000 inhabitants Hannover is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Hannover was founded in medieval times on the east bank of the River Leine. It was a small village of ferrymen and fishermen. It became a comparatively large town in the 13th century, receiving town privileges in 1241, owing to its position at a natural crossroads. It was connected to the Hanseatic League city of Bremen by the Leine and was situated north-west of the Harz mountains so that east-west traffic passed through it. In the 14th century the main churches of Hanover were built, as well as a city wall with three city gates. Between 1714 and 1837 three kings of Great Britain were concurrently also Electoral Princes of Hanover. As an important railway and road junction and production centre, Hannover was a major target for strategic bombing during World War II. More than 90% of the city centre was destroyed in a total of 88 bombing raids. So today Hannover lacks it´s medieval heart. Only a few buildings got rebuilt and restored. - The Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus) was the first town hall of the city of Hannover. It is Hannover´s oldest secular building, erected in the Brick Gothic style. The erection of the building started in 1410. But it underwent several reconstructions and extensions. The original first floor became today's basement due to late medieval fills. In 1844, a renovation of the wings took place and one half-timbered wing of the 16th century was demolished and replaced by what is now nicknamed the "Doge's Palace", which houses the registry office. When the old town hall was to be demolished at the end of the 19th century, a citizens' initiative was formed. The building was ultimately spared. It was renovated from 1877 to 1891, restoring it to the assumed condition from the time it was built, as this was considered a "pure" architectural style. The air raids on Hanover in 1943 led to the partial destruction of the building complex. Restorations took place in 1953 and in 1964 the show gable on the west side was reconstructed. A peculiar little relief on the town hall. What did the mayor want to tell his citizens with it?

A settlement has existed here already before Romans and Gauls settled here, the town Belleville was actually founded by the House of Beaujeu. Humbert III de Beaujeu (+ 1194), the 8th Sir de Beaujeu, had a city wall built and founded a commanderie that in 1158 was converted into a Augustinian priory and 6 years later became an abbey. The church, that now serves the parish is the only remaining structure of this abbey. The construction of the large church (63m long) started in 1168. It was completed only 11 years later and was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin in 1179. The nave (and the choir) seem already early Gothic in some parts. The church was the burial site for the House of Beaujeu. Though much of the interior got destroyed durig the Wars of the Religions, there are still nice (and well restored) Romanesque carvings and capitals here. There is a hand, holding a knife, piercing a tongue. How gruesome. Is this torture? Punishment? I remember a similar icon in Conques. There devils torture the poor souls in hell with this.

Saint-Genès, erected in the 11th and 12th century, was the church of the priory Saint-Etienne, dependent from the important Abbaye Notre-Dame in Déols. This abbey, now in ruins, had been founded in 917 and developed into one of the most powerful regional institutions. It was one of the first in the Cluniac network. Odo of Cluny (+ 942) was abbot of three monasteries: Cluny, Massy and Deols. This is important, as Saint-Genès has architectural parralells to Cluny II. The building got severely damaged, when Louis VII (aka "Louis le Jeune", 1. husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine) burnt down the town in 1152 during a feud with Abbo II de Déols, a supportet of Henri Plantagenêt (aka Henry II, "Curtmantle", 2. husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine). In 1569 the Huguenots set fire here - and many restorations followed that. During the French Revolution the bell tower was destroyed and the church became a "Temple of Reason". The walls of the nave are embellished with many sculpted capitals and corbels. A day before, I had visited La Celle, as well a priory dependent from the abbay Notre-Dame de Déols, just 35kms northwest. There I had come across the icon of "enormous tongues". Here are two examples from Saint-Genès. What does these tongues stand for? Still today a "split tongue" is connected to lying.