Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: twins

An earlier church was recorded in Newbald in the Domesday Survey but the present was built circa 1140. St Nicholas is a fine Norman church. It has a large cruciform plan with a tall central tower and is almost unique in having four Norman Doorways, the largest and most elaborate being at the west end of the nave, forming the main door. The chancel is 14th and 15th century. Looks like the father is looking over at his twins.

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany - and one of the oldest. A Germanic tribe, the Ubii, had a settlement here, this was named by the Romans "Oppidum Ubiorum". In 50 AD, the Romans founded "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", the city then became the provincial capital of "Germania Inferior". -- During WWII Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids. The first ever 1,000 bomber raid by the RAF ("Operation Millenium") was conducted on Cologne in May 1942. In April 1945, when the American armee reached Cologne, the city was completely ruined. About 90% of all houses in the inner city were - gone. In 1939 Cologne had had a population of more than 700.00. In spring 1945 there were only about 40.000, living in the ruins. So the very most houses and facades in the ctity of Cologne are - young. -- The Aachener Strasse follows the antique Roman road "Via Belgica" that once passed through "Aquae granni" (Aachen) in Roman times, when necropolises lined these roads near the city. The well dressed twins, seen here, are only just about a century old. They contemplate about modern times.

Manegold of Lautenbach, a celebrity of his time, lived here in the 11th. century. During the Investiture Controversy, Manegold sided strongly with Pope Gregory VII. Emperor Henry IV was so annoyed about this, that he sent an army to Lautenbach, to destroy the monastery and churches. About 50 years later Augustinian Canons settled here - and rebuilt the church, reusing a lot of old material. Many changes took place in and around the building (now the parish church) over the time, but the ground floor of the westwork seen here, seems still unchanged. Having seen the delicate structure of the narthex with slim pillars -and fine capitals, both friezes are kind of shocking. The naiv style of these carvings differs totally from the others. These friezes may have been part of the church destroyed 1086 - and be reused here. As you see, this frieze consists out of three frames, of which two are nearly identical - and one is rather large. I will start from inside. Robert Will does not mention the first two "frames", so there is no help from "Alsace romane", Éditions Zodiaque. There are two men. Wrestling. The anatomy of the two bodies is strange, maybe even bumbling.. It is not clear, why these men are wrestling. I do not know, what "to wrestle" did mean within the 11th century. I can imagine, that wrestling was not a "knightly" form of fighting. Sofar I have seen fighting men, wearing armours and having weapons of any kind. Some even on horses. Here the men, that look like twins are naked. Obviously the wrestling takes place "outside", as there are leafs around the heads. Or - are these naked men not wrestling at all? Are they kissing each other? That would of course add some very different flavour! Please note, that the two profiles of the wrestlers form one "full" face. An idea, that Picasso had later as well. This "frame" is very cryptic. The strangest is, that next to this - is the same frame again. So if there is someone, who knows, what this could mean - write a comment please.

The parish church Saint-André, here seen from the old graveyard, is placed on a little hill in the center of the village (pop. 300) - since more than 800 years. The church got renovated, when the late Gothic style was in full swing, what has left some marks. The apse is unchanged and many wonderful corbels are under the roof. Most of them are in perfect condition. Here are two mermaids. They look very sad, as they would rather be in the near sea. They are probably twins.

Raoul de Bourges (aka "Saint Raoul"), archbishop of Bourges, son of the Count of Turenne founded an abbey on the banks of the Dordogne river in the 9th century with the help of monks from Solignac, where Raoul had started his clerical career. After feudal quarrels, the abbey Saint-Pierre joined the Cluniac movement in 1076 and soon after the erection of this church started. It was completed already mid 12th century. Though not situated at the busy pilgrim routes (eg "Via Podensis" runs about 60kms south) a large, typical "pilgrim church" was created here. It may well been, that the relics, that were on display here (Saint-Prime, Saint-Félicien, Sainte-Félicité) and the proximity to Rocamador (30kms southwest) motivated many pilgrims to do a detour. The abbey slipped into difficult times, when the number of pilgrims shrunk and feudal claims emerged again. The abbey and the city of Beaulieu suffered of the Wars of Religion. The Huguenots took over Beaulieu in 1569 and the monks had to flee. After the "Ligue Catholique" had reconquered the place, the monks returned and soon after the convent joined the Congregation of Saint Maur. The abbey existed upto the French revolution, when the last 6 monks had to leave. The abbey buildings got sold and demolished, while the church was taken over by the parish. The structure was in a ruined state at that time. The nave partly collapsed in 1808, but a difficult renovation undertaken end of the 19th century finally saved the church. There are many corbels under the roof of Saint-Pierre. This one depicts conjoined, male twins.

The parish church Saint-André is placed on a little hill in the center of the village (pop. 300) - since more than 800 years. It is still surrounded by an old graveyard. The church got renovated, when the late Gothic style was in full swing, what has left some marks. The apse is unchanged, corbels are under the roof. Here are twins - on both sides.

The first (carolingian) church here is named "Haito Muenster", as Bishop Haito ( as well abbot of the important Reichenau Abbey) had comissioned it. It was completed around 825. The foundations of these structure were reused, when the so called "Heinrich Muenster" was built just after 1000, sponsored and named after Emperor Heinrich II (Henry II) of the Ottonian dynasty. Already in 1019 this church got consecrated. The Muenster seen today is the third large church, erected 1180 - 1220/30. The late romanesque church had five towers, that all got destroyed (with most vaultings) in 1356 during the worst earthquake ever recorded in Central Europe. Modern seismologists estimate a magnitude of 7.1. The rebuilding of the Muenster was led by Johannes Parler, who at the same time was employed for building the Freiburg Muenster. So there are a lot of parallels between these two Muensters, only 70 kms apart. About 1500 the Muenster was finally completed in a combination of late romanesque and gothic style. The restauration process started about 400 years later. Pollution caused a lot of damage and meanwhile many of the carvings outside the church have been replaced by copies. So many of the details seen on the shots may be - copies. The (dressed!) monkey twins pose for the photographer - and they do smile! CHEEEESE!!

The city of Freiburg was founded by the Dukes of Zaehringen in 1120. The town was located at a junction of old trade routes and already in 1200 the population had risen to 6000. This was, when under Bertold V the last duke of Zaehringen, the construction of the Freiburg Muenster cathedral began, replacing an older parish church. The blueprint of the church "Muenster Unserer Lieben Frau" was very ambitious, but Freiburg was a very prosperous place, as silver mining in the nearby Black Forrest was thriving. The building of the cathedral begun in the Romanesque style and was continued and completed 1513 for the most part as a Gothic cathedral. The cathedral is 116 meters long, 30 meters wide and the tower (seen here only under scaffolding) is 116 meters high. This tower (completed 1330) was one the highest in Germany during medieval times. Breastfeeding is not often seen in medieval cathedrals. To my great surprise I found it twice in Freiburg Muenster. You may remember the romanesque carving of a breastfeeding mermaid on the right arm of the transsept. Here now is a monkey mum suckling twins. Probably a single mother! Just over the little family Saint Peter´s large toes can be seen.