Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: megaphallic

The parish church was probably erected within the 13th century. A church here, depending of the Cluniac priory of Saint-Martin d'Aix, is mentioned for the first time in 1188. The church got severely damaged during the Wars of Religions and was not restored until the 18th century. Unfortunately the church was locked. It has a Romanesque façade and some nice corbels. Some of the corbels depict megaphallic / ithyphallic men. Such figures can quite often be found in the Poitou but most of them are - like here - damaged.

The parish church was probably erected within the 13th century. A church here, depending of the Cluniac priory of Saint-Martin d'Aix, is mentioned for the first time in 1188. The church got severely damaged during the Wars of Religions and was not restored until the 18th century. Unfortunately the church was locked. It has a Romanesque façade and some nice corbels. Some of the corbels depict megaphallic / ithyphallic men. Such figures can quite often be found in the Poitou but most of them are - like here - damaged.

Saint-Pardoux was erected in the second half of the 12th century as a church for a priory, dependent from the Benedictine Abbey Saint-Étienne in Baignes. The single-nave church got enlarged later and restored/rebuilt in the 19th century. It is claimed, that the facade is inspired by the construction of the cathedral of Angouleme. I do not see a strong influence. The blueprint of the facade is the "triumph arch". hundreds of churches in the Saintongue have a similar portal. The carvings of the facade are very elaborate and come from a very skilled workshop. Here is a corbel of the facade. A nude, male contortionist, without arms. Maybe the arms got lost like a part of the genitals. The head is strange. This may well be a bull´s head. I can see one horn.

A priory, dependent from the Abbaye Royale in Saint-Jean-d'Angély, existed here in the 12th century, the church Saint-Germain was erected end of that century. The church is known for the southern portal, which is a Romanesque masterpiece. Some of the corbels of the transept and all around the apse are as well beautiful. Are there two persons - embracing each other ? And what is the subject inbetween them? Or is there a male genital? If so the corbel depicts a nude man. There are some more of these ithyphallic / megaphallic persons under the roofs of Poitous´ medieval churches.

Early morning in Solignac, where a convent had been founded mid 7th century by Saint Eloi ("Saint Eligius"), who was a kind of senior adviser for the Merovingian kings Clotaire II and his son Dagobert I, the last of the Merovingian kings. The monastery thrived and soon more than 100 monks lived here. But during the 8th century it suffered from Saracen raids, followed by the Normans, who arrived here and looted the monastery a century later. When more and more pilgrims walked along the Via Lemovicensis, they all passed through here - and so the convent´s wealth and importance grew. Even a (still existing) bridge over the near river Briance got constructed during that time. The monks started the erection of the abbey-church, seen here, in the first decade of the 12th century. The structure was completed already about a century later. During the Hundred Years´ War the buildings of the abbey got partly destroyed, Calvinistic iconoclasts were here several times during the Wars of Religions. All formerly monastery buildings next to this church date back to the 18th century and now serve as a retirement home, only the impressive church survived the times and by now is well preserved. The nave is covered by a row of four cupolas on pendentives. There are not many of Romanesque churches with such wonderful domes. I do remember Soulliac, Cahors, Saintes, Perigueux.. The medieval architects had their inspiration from San Marco in Venice, completed around 1100. To plan and built such a church here was really ambitous. Choir, transepts and nave of Saint-Pierre have many corbels and capitals. At least two different studios of carvers have worked here. One workshop created the comples capitals around the apse. The second one created the granite corbels, like this one, in a rougher style. Here is a megaphallic atlant under the roof of the nave.