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Master of Cabestany
Saint-Papoul Cathedral
Abbaye de Saint-Papoul
Saint-Papoul
Saint Saturnin
Berenger
Maître de Cabestany
Occitanie
Aude
Languedoc-Roussillon
France
penguin
cloister
Meister von Cabestany


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Saint-Papoul - Abbaye de Saint-Papoul

Saint-Papoul - Abbaye de Saint-Papoul
The abbey was founded within the 8th century. It is dedicated to Saint Papoul, a disciple of Saint Saturnin, missionary and first bishop of Toulouse. It was believed that Saint Papoul was martyred near the place, where the abbey is now.

Later a monk named Berenger (or Berengar) lived a pious life here. After he got canonized his relics attracted the first pilgrims to this place. In the aftermath of the crusade against the Cathars the papal organisation created new (smaller) dioceses to enable a stricter control. So (like Saint-Pons-de-Thomières) since 1317 the abbey church of Saint Papoul was promoted to a cathedral, holding a bishopric (upto 1801).

Saint Papoul is a quiet little village, that is one of my favourite places since a long time. Yes, there are the works of the "Maître de Cabestany", who is known under this name since the 1930s when a tympanum and other carvings were found in Cabestany (near Perpignan), but there is so much more.

As the abbey was looted during the Hundred Years' War and Wars of Religion, most capitals of the cloister, created in the early 14th century, are vandalized and meanwhile very weathered. These sculptures today look like kissing penguins.

Comments
 aNNa schramm
aNNa schramm club
Ahh, ;-)) I just wanted to write it,like kissing penguins...
but I read your sentence
* Kissing penguins*
greetings aNNa*
7 years ago.
 Martin M. Miles
Martin M. Miles club
The creatures indeed look like penguins, but as these birds live on the southern hemisphere they were not known in medieval times here. Either the carver had a fantastic imagination (after the consumption of some hallucinogens) or he came from the far North (Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands) where he had seen great auks. Or he came out of a time tunnel, or.... In times of "alternative facts" there are so many truths..
7 years ago.

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