Saintonge romane: Mediæval humor
I have shown you so many Romanesque churches from Saintonge over the past weeks that I was sure I would end up boring even the most faithful of those who are kind enough to watch my stream... Therefore, I skipped some, and in particular the Saint Quentin church in the village of Chermignac.
However, as I was tidying up, I found these two lovely photos of some beasts and human faces that were so funny and attractive I simply couldn’t throw them away.
Monsters in the Middle Ages were very present, both in the tales people told and in the religious context. Monsters were serious business. They were associated with Evil, Satan, bad deeds, sins, Hell and the like. They were supposed to scare the members of the congregation, and that’s primarily why they were sculpted on churches: as terrifying reminders of what would happen to you if you strayed.
However, from time to time, you encountered someone who also liked to make fun of them monsters, and in the case of this wonderful artist who sculpted at Chermignac, you obtained those lovely, not at all scary creatures that will make you smile, maybe laugh, allowing you to walk away with a slightly more relaxed moral stance on the exacting standards of good and bad that the church was trying to nail into your head... :o)
Saintonge romane: Mediæval humor
I have shown you so many Romanesque churches from Saintonge over the past weeks that I was sure I would end up boring even the most faithful of those who are kind enough to watch my stream... Therefore, I skipped some, and in particular the Saint Quentin church in the village of Chermignac.
However, as I was tidying up, I found these two lovely photos of some beasts and human faces that were so funny and attractive I simply couldn’t throw them away.
Monsters in the Middle Ages were very present, both in the tales people told and in the religious context. Monsters were serious business. They were associated with Evil, Satan, bad deeds, sins, Hell and the like. They were supposed to scare the members of the congregation, and that’s primarily why they were sculpted on churches: as terrifying reminders of what would happen to you if you strayed.
However, from time to time, you encountered someone who also liked to make fun of them monsters, and in the case of this wonderful artist who sculpted at Chermignac, you obtained those lovely, not at all scary creatures that will make you smile, maybe laugh, allowing you to walk away with a slightly more relaxed moral stance on the exacting standards of good and bad that the church was trying to nail into your head... :o)