Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: creatures

Bridlington Priory Church is a parish church on the site of an Augustinian priory founded in 1113 which was dissolved during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The priory was supported by the nobility and owned estates throughout Yorkshire. The canons founded Newburgh Priory in 1145. King Stephen granted the priory the right to receive the property of offenders and fugitives in the town as well as revenue from the harbour. In 1200 King John granted the priory the right to hold a market in the town once a year. Bridglinton Priory was abolished in 1538 as part of the dissolution of the English monasteries initiated by King Henry VIII. The last prior was executed for his participation in the "Pilgrimage of Grace". Almost all the buildings were destroyed, only the church survived as a parish church and the former gatehouse. For three centuries the nave continued to be used as the parish church and only a third of the building was actually used by the congregation. From 1846 the parish began to raise funds to restore the church and it was partially re-roofed. From around 1874 on the church got finally refurbished as it is today. Today's church is much shorter than the former priory church. The priory church was around 120 metres long. The transept and choir have been lost, as the parish church ends where the transept was. Mysterious creatures

According to the Roman historian Titus Livius "Valentia" was founded by Consul Decimus Iunius Brutus Callaicus in the 4th century BC. A century later "Valentia Edetanorum" became one of the first Hispanic cities to become a Roman colony. The city made rapid progress after the Arab conquest in 711, reaching 15,000 inhabitants in the Caliphate of Córdoba. The Amirids and the Dhun Nunids ruled in “Balansiya”. In 1094, El Cid, a Castilian noble, conquered the city. The conquest was not carried out on behalf of one of the Christian kingdoms, but on the Cid's own account, who proclaimed himself "Señor de Valencia" and thus created a kind of private kingdom. He was able to defend the city against several Almoravid attacks, and after his death in 1099, his widow Jimena managed to hold Valencia until 1102, when it fell to the Almoravids, and a little later to the Almohads. After the victory of the united Christian armies over the Almohads in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), Moorish Spain fell apart again into individual small kingdoms, including a Taifa from Valencia. It was finally conquered in 1238 by Jaime​ I de Aragón (aka "el Conquistador"), after a five-month siege. In the 15th century, the city grew rapidly and developed into one of the largest Mediterranean ports and an important trade and financial center. At the beginning of the 15th century the city had around 40,000. The "Lonja de la Seda" ("Silk Exchange") is a late Gothic-style building built between 1482 and 1533. Behind the current building, there was an earlier one from the 14th century, which was called "Lonja del Aceite" (Oil Exchange). It was used not only for trading with agricultural goods, but for all kind of business. Valencia's commercial prosperity reached its peak during the 15th century, and led to the construction of this building. The design was derived from a similar Lonja of Palma de Majorca. The main hall "Sala de Contratación", where the contracts were discussed and signed, is a large lavishly decorated space supported by twisted columns. The hall opens to a walled courtyard with orange trees. Strange creatures populate the portal to the garden. However, they seem to be very musical.

Otranto occupies the site of an ancient Greek city. It gained importance in Roman times, as it was the nearest port to the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. After the end of the Roman Empire, it was in the hands of the Byzantine emperors until it surrendered to the Norman troops of Robert Guiscard in 1068. The Normans fortified the city and built the cathedral, that got consecrated in 1088. When Henry VI., son of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, married Constanze of Sicily in 1186 Otranto came under the rule of the Hohenstaufen and later in the hands of Ferdinand I of Aragón, King of Naples. Between 1480 and 1481 the "Ottoman invasion" took place here. Troops of the Ottoman Empire invaded and laid siege to the city and its citadel. Legends tell that more than 800 inhabitants were beheaded after the city was captured. The "Martyrs of Otranto" are still celebrated in Italy, their skulls are on display in the cathedral. A year later the Ottoman garrison surrendered the city following a siege by Christian forces and the intervention of Papal forces. - Otranto had been one of the last Byzantine strongholds in Apulia, but finally Robert Guiscard could take it. It had probably been such a stronghold, as Otranto had hosted an autocephalous bishopric, only dependent of the patriarchal see of Byzantium since 968. So (Roman) Catholicism had to perform something "convincing" for the so long (Byzantine) Orthodox christians. One was to erect a huge church. The Otranto Cathedral was erected, over ruins of a Paleo-christian church from 1080 on and was consecrated in 1088. It is 54 metres long by 25 metres wide and is built on 42 monolithic granite and marble columns. I had come to Otranto, to see the mosaic. I had planned to stay one night in Otranto, I spent three nights - and still had not seen all the details. I was so overwhelmed, that I took hundreds of photos, but the mosaic is "endless". I will upload only a couple. It was created by a monk named Pantaleon and his workshop between 1163 and 1165. Pantaleon lived at the monastery San Nicola di Casole, located a few kilometres south of Otranto. The mosaic covers the nave, both aisles, the apse and the presbytery. This sums up to a total of 1596 m². About 10 000000 (10 million!) "tesserae" were used. There are scholars, who have counted up to 700 different "stories", that are told here. Though, these "stories" are often disputed, as today's interpretations are mostly very "vague". German historian Carl Arnold Willemsen published the most important book about the mosaic in Italian " L'enigma di Otranto", that since the 1970s is translated in many languages. I followed his theories. As the church is a parish church, there are benches placed on the mosaic floor. Only for the Sunday service, the ropes are open so that the parishioners can reach the benches. I stayed up to Sunday to mix with the locals. Horrible beasts and creepy creatures with multiple heads. They have obviously just escaped a nightmare and now run free.