Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Camel

Inverness was one of the main strongholds of the Picts and was visited in 565 by St Columban of Iona, intending to convert the Pictish king Brude I. A church with a small monastery complex had already been founded by early Celtic monks on St Michael's Mount. The castle above the city was built by King Malcolm III, eldest son of Duncan I. The reign of King Duncan I was marked by the conflict with his cousin Macbeth. All that is known is that Duncan I was killed by Macbeth in the battle near Elgin. In Shakespeare's account, however, Macbeth killed Duncan I in Inverness Castle and Malcolm III is said to have avenged his father's death by destroying the castle in order to build a new castle on its site. The city of Inverness was attacked several times by residents of the Hebrides. In 1187, Donald Bane led the enemy islanders in the Battle of Torvean against the men from Inverness Castle led by Duncan Mackintosh. Both were killed in the battle. Further battles against the MacDonald clan are documented in 1340, 1411 and 1427. In 1554, the Munro clan defeated the Mackintosh clan at the Battle of Clachnaharry west of the city. The MacDonald clan and their allies stormed Inverness Castle in 1491. In 1562, the Queen of Scotland Mary Stuart was denied access to the city by the English governor during the Huntly Rebellion. The Munro and Fraser clans then took the castle for her. The foundation stone for the Inverness Town House was laid in 1878. It was designed in the neoGothic style and was officially opened in 1882. The town's coat of arms carved into a panel on the first floor. The coat of arms is supported by an elephant and a camel, a reminder of Inverness' foreign trade links.

The "Abbaye de Montmajour" was a really important abbey in medieval times. Founded around 1000 on an island like hill surrounded by swamps and marshes just outside of Arles. Already since 1030 pilgrims walked to Montmajour to see a part of the "True Cross" and so obtaining the "Pardon de Montmajour". The abbey was secularized already in 1786 (by Louis XVI), after the revolution it was sold to different owners. Today it is a massive ruin, used as a quarry over decades in the 19th century. Many stones were used to build the channels in Arles. Over long periods the abbey was an empty complex of crumbling buildings. So traces of vandalism are widely spread. Here a carved capital from a corner of the cloister, showing two dromedaries. The arabian camels have both lost a leg and the heads over the centuries.