20.3.20

Capitals


I visited the Saint-Germain-des-Prés church again (see previous posts here and here). The restoration works are almost finished. 

For some reason, this time I was especially struck by the capitals of the pillars. The carved capitals are all different and many of them have very medieval types of decorations. I understand that most of these are not the original ones, but were later copied. Some of the original ones can be found at the Cluny Museum (see posts here and here). Now, almost all of the ones in the church have again been restored and have very bright colours.





I think it’s interesting to see how these sometimes grotesque and not always very respectful illustrations were allowed, even encouraged, during the medieval times - see also some of the above ones. One can compare also with what I showed from the walls of the northern transept of the Saint Denis Basilica (see here).



Finally, some sun and light reflecting on the walls and pillars.