Capital with a bird
Is this an eagle? Then why no beak?
The 12th century Romanesque cloister on its south side was built upon an old Roman square believed to date from the 1st century AD. The cloister was used by the canons, the priests who served the bishop and administered the church's property. At the time when it was built, the canons were urged to live a more austere and more monastic communal life.
The cloister galleries, supported by pairs of slender columns, overlook a squared garden. The columns' capitals are carved with biblical scenes (on the west and north sides), and also symbolical and ornamental motifs such as plants and animals.
The four columns at the corners are each decorated with carvings symbolizing the four evangelists: an angel (Matthew), a lion (Mark), an eagle (John) and a bull (Luke).
The dimensions of the cloister are quite small and the galleries are covered with timber instead of vaults, which made it possible for the pairs of columns to be slender and graceful.
Cloister of the Aix Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur d'Aix-en-Provence).
Aix-en-Provence, France, 2019
Capital with a bird
Is this an eagle? Then why no beak?
The 12th century Romanesque cloister on its south side was built upon an old Roman square believed to date from the 1st century AD. The cloister was used by the canons, the priests who served the bishop and administered the church's property. At the time when it was built, the canons were urged to live a more austere and more monastic communal life.
The cloister galleries, supported by pairs of slender columns, overlook a squared garden. The columns' capitals are carved with biblical scenes (on the west and north sides), and also symbolical and ornamental motifs such as plants and animals.
The four columns at the corners are each decorated with carvings symbolizing the four evangelists: an angel (Matthew), a lion (Mark), an eagle (John) and a bull (Luke).
The dimensions of the cloister are quite small and the galleries are covered with timber instead of vaults, which made it possible for the pairs of columns to be slender and graceful.
Cloister of the Aix Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur d'Aix-en-Provence).
Aix-en-Provence, France, 2019