Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: chimaera

I have uploaded already many photos taken in Chauvigny, so I will cut it down for now. Just a few. A small community of Canons in Chauvigny was founded by the Seigneurs de Chauvigny around 1025. Bishop Isembert I of Poitiers (+ 1047) was a Seigneur de Chauvigny, as well as his sucessor. The erection of the Collegiate church started end of the 11th century. It took about a century to complete the structure. The church was in the centre of the heavily fortified stronghold, that has a long history of sieges, lootings captures and recaptures. The "Cité Médiéval" was in ruins end of the 18th century. Mid 19th century the restoration process started. Since then the interior of Saint-Pierre is known for the capitals, that are indeed extraordinary. They all have this distinctive colour-scheme of white and red. I will not uplaod them again, just "search" them in my stream. Here is a little scene from outside. A hare hunted by a dog awaited by a very strange chimaera. The creature has the head of a dog and the body of a fish. Below some snakes..

One of the first printed records about this gate stated in 1859 "Of all old monuments in the Rhine valley, none as mysterious as the portal (...) near the church in Remagen". The Pfarrhoftor (= Gateway to the parish close) still is enigmatic. It may have been erected for a nearby monastery, that centered around an St. Apollinaris shrine, it may have been in deed a gate to a parish close. Actually it known since the 17th century, when parts of it were found, walled in between the rectory and the encircling wall. The parts were recovered and like pieces of a puzzle joined together. Though the cope stone was lost, the large arch was easy to reconstruct. Wether the smaller side portal originally was left or right is unclear. The 22 carved reliefs here have triggered more than a dozend different theories. I will quote some. The carving style was not appreciated by the art-historians. Already Wilhelm Bode ("Geschichte der Deutschen Plastik") wrote in 1887 that the carver was "without any artistic ambition". For me this portal has parallels in Linden and Goegging. All three portals are roughly carved - and enigmatic, blending christian, pagan and ancient icons. The only point, that is undisputed is, that the portal was erected in the second half of the 12th century. It may be, that the reliefs, seen here, are just single icons, that are not interconnected to a certain "iconographic program". This is claimed by Paul Clement (1938), Georg Dehio (1933) and Josef Minn (1942). In 1947 Albert M. Koeniger published the results of his research, interpreting the reliefs as icons of eight (!) deadly sins as described by Bishop Burchard of Worms (965-1025), author of a canon law collection (aka "Decretum Burchardi"). A fish-tailed bird with bearded human face. Is this a male bird-siren? But then it should have a bird´s tail. Or a merman with wings? Some claim it is a harpy. For Koeninger this icon stands for vanity and/or foolishness. The artistic style of this carving is clearly different. It is way more ambitious. The beard of the chimaera is curly, the hair is nicely combed. Note the tip of the wing! The artist even used a stone driller here.

"Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay" is a church outside of Aulnay, in the center of an old graveyard. The setting has not changed for centuries. For the pilgrims of the 12th century this church was a major halt - and it still is for all the tourists... A predecessing church „Saint-Pierre-de-la-Tour“ had been here, that, when the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella got more and more popular, was obviously to small, as Aulnay was conveniently situated between Poitiers and Saintes on the Via Turonensis. A new, larger church was needed, so the place was handed over to the chapter of the cathedral in Poitiers. The canons then probably planned this church, that was erected from about 1130/1140 on. "Saint-Pierre d'Aulnay" is a gem of the "style saintongeais". For Peter Strafford ("Romanesque Churches Of France") this is "one of the best examples of late Romanesque architecture in what used to be Aquitaine". The most damage to the facade was done by the repairs during the 15th century, when the buttresses were built, but of course the French Revolution left scars here as well, as the revolutionists used heavy hammers. Here are some mythical creatures on one of the capitals flanking the entrance.