In my previous two posts , I discussed medieval symbolic animals which derived from real-life creatures, and then the Monstrous Races,...

13th c. capital of a sinner being devoured, Saint Pierre, Chauvigny, France A nasty case of Covid pretty much bankrupted my energy for...

Some art seems to have a life of its own, its own vitality and presence which can make it seem like a character in its own right. The...

Capturing the back of the sarcophagus of Saint Peter Martyr is much trickier than photographing the front. The apse is quite close by,...

As much as I love medieval art that strikes me as bizarre, I really love it when I come across works which are marvels of symbolic...

12th century mosaic, Bobbio, depicting the month of March, emphasizing wind (I think) By the time March arrives, the January 1st...

On October 25th, 2022, I gave a lecture at Metropolitan State University on the Origins of Sirens. In the presentation, I trace how...

The lion fountain in the Alhambra may be one of my all-time favorite works of medieval art. I'll tell you why in this post. (For Part 1...

The mostly 13th century palace is a studied combination of science, statecraft, and mysticism. The Alhambra began its life on the ruins...

This image features the fate of the damned--stretching from their judgment by Saint Michael (upper-left), across to punishments for...

Up in the remote hills in northern Spain, the monastery of San Juan de la Pena contains the ruins of a tiny cloister, with magnificent...

Notre Dame de Paris was engulfed in a terrible fire in 2019. Here, I include some of my photos of the interior, taken in 2018. I don't...

This entry continues an analysis of the thirteenth century choir screen of Notre Dame de Paris, with photos taken in 2018, before the...

One thing that revolutionized looking at medieval stained glass for me was using a serious zoom lens, and then spending time in...

Chartres isn't very far from Paris, by modern standards, and its veneration of Mary is an occasion for comparisons to Notre Dame de Paris....