Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Harun al-Rashid

Kloster Allerheiligen (= "All Saints Abbey") is a former Benedictine monastery, founded by Eberhard VI. von Nellenburg in 1049. The Nellenburg family controlled the bypass of the Rheinfall waterfalls, what led to great wealth. The construction site of the monastery was consecrated by by Pope Leo IX and the works were completed already 1064. The church was dedicated to the Saviour, the Holy Cross, the Virgin Mary and All the Saints. Allerheiligen became, instead of the Reichenau Abbey, the new grave lay by the founding family, and Eberhard himself became a monk in the abbey, and died here in 1078. During the Investiture Controversy the pope loyal Burkhard von Nellenburg, Ebergard´s son and heir, conformed in 1080 all of the rights of the monastery. The monastery was subordinate to the Pope, and received the vast estate of the Nellenburg family, the free election of the abbot, and the town of Schaffhausen. Burkhard remained the monastery's Vogt, and motivated the abbot to join with some monks from the Hirsau Abbey, to reform the monastery on the model of Hirsau, that was based on Cluny During the Reformation in Switzerland, the abbey was abolished, and the church of the abbey became the second main city church in 1524. Kloster Allerheiligen is a labyrinthic complex of buildings. This building was outside the "clausura". It connected the offices of the abbot with the guest rooms. The lower part (first and second storey) including the loggia were erected in the early 13th century. There are some extraordinary carvings. A second, closer look onto the elephant. Probably created by the same artist, who carved the nearby Samson (foliage). Depicted here (pretty precise!) is probably the "Cremona elephant", a present to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II by Sultan Al-Kamil, in 1229. Frederick used the elephant in his triumph parades. On the elephant´s back is a (wooden) castle, placed on a carpet. The "Cremona elephant" was the second elephant, that reached Europe in medieval times. The first was (more than 400 years earlier) "Abul Abbas", a present to Charlemagne from Harun al-Rashid.

Kloster Allerheiligen (= "All Saints Abbey") is a former Benedictine monastery, founded by Eberhard VI. von Nellenburg in 1049. The Nellenburg family controlled the bypass of the Rheinfall waterfalls, what led to great wealth. The construction site of the monastery was consecrated by by Pope Leo IX and the works were completed already 1064. The church was dedicated to the Saviour, the Holy Cross, the Virgin Mary and All the Saints. Allerheiligen became, instead of the Reichenau Abbey, the new grave lay by the founding family, and Eberhard himself became a monk in the abbey, and died here in 1078. During the Investiture Controversy the pope loyal Burkhard von Nellenburg, Ebergard´s son and heir, conformed in 1080 all of the rights of the monastery. The monastery was subordinate to the Pope, and received the vast estate of the Nellenburg family, the free election of the abbot, and the town of Schaffhausen. Burkhard remained the monastery's Vogt, and motivated the abbot to join with some monks from the Hirsau Abbey, to reform the monastery on the model of Hirsau, that was based on Cluny During the Reformation in Switzerland, the abbey was abolished, and the church of the abbey became the second main city church in 1524. Kloster Allerheiligen is a labyrinthic complex of buildings. This building was outside the "clausura". It connected the offices of the abbot with the guest rooms. The lower part (first and second storey) including the loggia were erected in the early 13th century. There are some extraordinary carvings. An elephant! Depicted here (pretty precise!) is probably the "Cremona elephant", a present to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II by Sultan Al-Kamil, in 1229. Frederick used the elephant in his triumph parades. The "Cremona elephant" was the second elephant, that reached Europe in medieval times. The first was (more than 400 years earlier) "Abul Abbas", a present to Charlemagne from Harun al-Rashid.

The monastery was founded in 885 by Wilfred the Hairy as one of the first nunneries in Catalonia. First abbess here was his daughter Emma. At that time her brother Radulf was abbot in nearby Ripoll, where Wilfred had founded a monastery as well. A family business! The church of the nunnery was consecrated in 887, but already in 1017, by request of Bernard I of Besalú, a papal bull suppressed the nunnery. Bernard then established a community of monks. In 1114 Augustinian canons took possession of the monastery, ruled by local abbots until 1484. In 1592 the monastery was secularized and converted into a simple collegiate that was given up in 1856. The current church dates back to the 12th century, though it got largely restored after an earthquake in 1428. It has a single nave, a wide transept and five apses. A capital of the extraordenary decorated central apse depicts elephants, a very rare species on medieval capitals. The elephants, seen here, are pretty "exact" and realistic. The ratio body/head and head/trunk is very well, only the ears are missing and the feet look strange. The first elephant, who is recorded in Europe (after Roman times), was Abul Abbas, presented to Charlemagne by Harun al-Rashid. Abul Abbas reached Aix-la-Chapelle in 802. The second elephant recorded is the "Cremona Elephant", presented by Sultan Al-Kamil to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1229. In 1255 Louis IX of France (aka "Saint Louis") brought an elephant home from the 6th cruisade. This one was given to Henry III of England and died in London in 1258. So during the 12th century, when this capital was carved, there was no elephant in Europe, what has led to the speculation, to see these elephants as carved by moorish carvers, who may have had different experiences/backgrounds.