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Mermaids (fr: Sirène; it: Serena)

 

FRANCE   -   SPAIN   -   ITALY   -   BRITAIN

 

 

Paradoxplace Pages about Medieval Christian Church Architecture, Art and History

 

NATIVITY IMAGES     ANNUNCIATION IMAGES     ADAM AND EVE IMAGES     MAGI IMAGES

 

 

MERMAIDS IN FRANCE

 

 

 

St-Pierre Bessuéjouls (near Espalion)

link to more photos of the little pilgrims' chapel

 

 

St-Pierre de la Bouïsse, St-Côme-d'Olt (Lot (Olt) Valley)

 

 

 

St-Pierre Aulnay

 

 

Photo © Holly Hayes, Sacred Destinations

 

A mermaid helps with the fishing - priory church of Notre Dame de Cunault, in western Loire country between Angers and Saumur.

 

 

Link to another photo of the  mermaid capital at Cunault - the photo is one of a large collection put together by Julianna Lees' on her Picasa Web photo pages - she also has a site devoted to green men

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basilique St-Julien-de-Brioude

 

 

Postcard Photo

 

A Siren Capital rescued by Viollet-le-Duc during 1800s restorations and now in the rarely open museum at Vézelay

 

 

 

A Mermaid gate crashes the cycle of Zodiac Signs and Monthly Activities at the great pilgrimage basilica of Ste-Madeleine, Vézelay

 

 

 

Notre Dame de Villefranche-de-Rouergue - one of a rare set of in-situ misericords in France.

 

 

 

Bicaudal spandrel intruder with headed tails, from the facade of Notre Dame la Grande in Poitiers, France

 

 

IN SPAIN

 

 

Puerta de las Platerias - Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (Spain)

 

 

In the archivolts in the Puerta de las Platerias there is a a sad little fish carrying mermaid who seems to have been arrowed by the dashing Sagittarius on the opposite side of the archivolts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IN ITALY

 

 

Photo © Robert Veel - Academy Travel

 

An eagle holding a two bodied something, a mermaid (topped by a greenish man) and spectators - S Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia.  Fascinating to know who the spectator heads were modelled on - the only other sculptured representation like this we have seen is in Monte Sant'Angelo in Puglia.

 

A paradox expedition to the Romanesque Po Valley churches grows more likely by the photo !

 

 

Photo © Julianna Lees

 

A sister mermaid and landman on a door capital in S Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia

 

 

Photo © Robert Veel - Academy Travel

 

A mermaids capital in Santa Croce, Parma - in the centre the Luxuria serpents are moving in

 

 

Photo © Holly Hayes, Sacred Destinations

 

Byzantine floor mosaic (c500), Cattedrale di Pesaro (le Marche)

 

 

 

 

A pair of mermaids doing a bit of head butting in San Quirico Val d'Orcia

 

 

 

Large floor mosaic (c1150), Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunciata, Otranto (Puglia)

 

 

 

A bicaudal merman doing something personally hurtful in the magnificent Cattedrale di San Valentino, Bitonto (Puglia)

 

 

 

Whilst bicaudalism is all the go in Italy, this is the only one we have ever seen with a modestly crossed tail - she's over 800 years old and you'll find her in Trani Cathedral.

 

 

IN BRITAIN

 

 

 

Mermen guard the corners of the font of the Church of Saint George, Anstey (Hertfordshire)

 

 

 

A weathered little mermaid from the tympanum of the richly decorated South Door of the church of Saint Nicholas, Barfreston (Kent).

 

 

 

This 560 year old mermaid holds a mirror in her right hand, and would earlier have been holding a comb in her left (like her French sister higher up in the page).

 

St Laurence, Ludlow (Shropshire) - Misericord 1430 - 1450

 

 

 

This mermaid in a roof boss in Sherborne Abbey has hung on to her mirror, comb and nipples (the advantages of being well well out of reach).

 

 

Sherborne Abbey, Dorset

 

 

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All original material on this site © Adrian Fletcher 2000-10.  The contents may not be hotlinked, or reproduced without permission.