Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Gaia

With a population of about 10.000 Soest was the most important town in Westphalia within the 11th and 12th century. The "Soester Stadtrecht" ("Soest city law") is the oldes city law, documented in German territory. Soest was one of the most important Hanseatic cities in medieval times. During the "Soester Fehde" (Soest Feude") it liberated itself from the Bishop of Cologne, who controlled Westphalia. During and after the Thirty Years' War, Soest suffered a tremendous loss population and influence. At the lowest point in 1756 it had only 3,600 citizens. Soest has still a couple of wonderful medieval, Romaneque churches, erected from the regional greenish sandstone. The "Hohnekirche" (officially "St. Maria zur Höhe") is one of them. The church was built in its present form from 1180 and is one of the oldest hall churches in Westphalia. It replaced an oldier church here. Here is one of the capitals of the right side. I do see a "Luxuria" breastfeeding two snakes. Some scholars (especially in Westphalia) describe such a lady as "Gaia", the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities.

Porto is with a population of about 250.000 the largest city in Northern Portugal. In "Greater Porto", the metropolitan area, live even more than 1.7 million people. The historical center of Porto was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. Port wine is named after Porto, since the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia on the southern banks of the river Douro are the centers for packaging, transport and export of the fortified wine. Some years ago I had been here for a couple of days before I started the "Camino Portugues" here. Since 2011 the "Teleférico de Gaia", a cable car, takes the tourists down to the river Douro on the southern side of the river. To give them all the opportunity to take photos, the cable car is very smooth and slow. Seen here is the Ponte Dom Luís I.

Porto is with a population of about 250.000 the largest city in Northern Portugal. In "Greater Porto", the metropolitan area, live even more than 1.7 million people. The historical center of Porto was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. Port wine is named after Porto, since the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia on the southern banks of the river Douro are the centers for packaging, transport and export of the fortified wine. Some years ago I had been here for a couple of days before I started the "Camino Portugues" here. The old town on the northern side of the Douro, seen from Vila Nova de Gaia on the the river´s southern side.

The monastery "Abbatia ad Lacum" was founded in 1093 on the shores of a lake (lacum). It was a priory of Affligem Abbey (Belgium) first, but since 1138 was an independent Benedictian abbey. The erection of the monastery, following the "Sankt Galler Klosterplan" ("Plan of Saint Gall") started, when the first monks settled here. To complete the church took more than 200 years. Even after the consecration, many parts were added or altered. The abbey was an intellectual hub in the 12th/13th century, but like many other convents declined later. It joined the Bursfelde Congregation, a reform movement originating from the Bursfelde Abbey in the valley of the Weser river. The monastery existed upto the secularisation. The buildings and all the abbey´s possessions became property of the French state. The inventary was auctioned. After the Congress of Vienna the ownership of the empty buildings went to the Prussian State, who sold it. Within the 1860s it was acquired by the "Society of Jesus". The "Kulturkampf", a row between the Prussian government and the Roman Catholic administration, ended that episode and in 1992 the Benedictines returned. They could do with the support of Wilhelm II, as the church itself was still owned by the Prussian state. Since then many restaurations and renovations have taken place, to "purify" the buildings - and "recreate" the Romanesque style. In case the previous upload depicted in deed "Okeanos", then, following the theory, this Lady should be "Gaia", the great mother of all. I do not see the mythical couple. While I saw a bearded gentleman in the pose of a "Master of the Beasts", this sculpture reminds me on many breastfeeding Luxuriae I have seen so far. The snakes are different here, as they have human heads and seem to end in foliage.