Espira-de-Conflent No. 1 / Espirà de Conflent

Results: 11 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

animal - bird

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 20 June 2001 by BSI

animal - fighting - lizard - snake - 2

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 20 June 2001 by BSI

design element - motifs - floral - rosette

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 20 June 2001 by BSI

design element - motifs - spiral

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 20 June 2001 by BSI

symbol - cross - in a circle

Scene Description: a/p description in Cazes and Delcor; it may represent the Host [cf. Cazes' suggestion in Font notes above]

view of church exterior - apse - north side

Scene Description: Source caption: "Santa Maria d'Espirà de Conflent."

Image Source: digital photograph 29 Abril 2018 by Claudefà [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Espira_de_Conflent._Santa_Maria_6.jpg] [accessed 29 March 2024]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of church exterior - south view

Scene Description: Source caption: "Medieval priory in the centre of Espira-de-Conflent, Pyrénées-Orientales, France"

Image Source: digital photograph 25 April 2021 by Alan Mattingly [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prieuré_Espira-de-Conflent.jpg] [accessed 29 March 2024]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of church exterior - west end

Scene Description: Source caption: "Santa Maria d'Espirà de Conflent. Frontis occidental"

Image Source: digital photograph 29 Abril 2018 by Claudefà [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Espira_de_Conflent._Santa_Maria_1.jpg] [accessed 29 March 2024]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

view of stoup

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 20 June 2001 by BSI

view of stoup

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 20 June 2001 by BSI

view of stoup

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 20 June 2001 by BSI

INFORMATION

FontID: 03930ESP

Church/Chapel: Eglise paroissiale [ancien prieuré] Sainte-Marie d'Espira-de-Conflent[aka Notre-Dame de l'Assomption] / Església Parroquial de Santa Maria

Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin / The Assumption of St. Mary

Church Location: 12-16 Carrer de L’Iglesia, 66320 Espira-de-Conflent, France

Country Name: France

Location: Pyrénées-Orientales, Occitanie

Directions to Site: Located off (W) the D25, 5-6 km E Prades-Codalet, about 30 km W of Perpignan

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocèse de Perpignan-Elne

Historical Region: Languedoc-Roussillon

Font Location in Church: Wall-mounted immediately to the right of the entrance

Century and Period: 12th - 14th century, Late Romanesque

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to M. l'abbé Albert Cazes for his help and for the copy of his monograph

Church Notes: According to l'abbé Albert Cazes [cf. supra] the church dates from the mid-12th century, the statue of the Madonna-and-child is from the beginning of the 13th century and the retables date to the beginning of the 18th. -- Church listed in Mérimée [ref.: PA00104021] with date in the 12thC

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

Described in Delcor (1973: 108-109 and footnote 39) as a marble stoup of the Romanesque period ornamented with a fight between a lizard and a serpent, a bird, spiral motifs and a circled cross. Described and illustrated in Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. VII: 418-419), where a Greek cross and several rosettes are identified; it is also dated as late-Romanesque. On-site notes: a rather odd-looking object, resembling a round planter more than a holy-water stoup; its sides however are ornamented with the three animals mentioned in Delcor [cf. supra], though the identity and the zoomachia should be open to interpretation; there are also some abstract motifs on it. It stands on a short pillar constructional to the wall. The present [2001] abbé of Villefranche-de-Conflent - town nearby-, M. Albert Cazes, in his extremely interesting and well-researched monograph on this church and its contents, "Notre-Dame d'Espirà de Conflent" (Maison Comet, Imp. Catalane, [s.d.]), describes the stoup as being ornamented with "motifs apparemment fantaisistes à la mode romane" and suggests a 13th-century date; he adds, however, that the circled cross on the basin side could represent the Host and therefore symbolise the Eucharist (ibid. p. 18). Listed in Palissy [ref.: PM66000342] as a stoup of the 12th century: " [...] marbre [...] 12e siècle". Illustrated in Mémoire [ref.: APMH00071024].

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 42.617866, 2.498418

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 42° 37′ 4.32″ N, 2° 29′ 54.31″ E

UTM: 31T 458863 4718507

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, marble (pink)

Number of Pieces: one

Font Shape: hemispheric (wall-mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Diameter (includes rim): 48.5 cm *[48 cm]

Basin Total Height: 40 cm *[42 cm]

Notes on Measurements: Delcor (1973: 109 footnote 39) *[Catalunya romànica (1984- , vol. VII: 418)]

REFERENCES

Catalunya romànica 14: La Cerdanya - El Capcir - El Conflent, Barcelona: Pòrtic, 2001

Cazes, Albert (abbé), Notre-Dame d'Espirà de Conflent, [s.l.]: Maison Comet/l'Imp. Catalane, [s.d.]

Delcor, M., "Cuves romanes et leur figuration en Roussillon, Cerdagne et Conflent", 1973, no. 4, Cahiers de Saint-Michel de Cuxa, 1973, pp. 96-109; r["References"]

France, Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général, Mémoire / POP : la plateforme ouverte du patrimoine (Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général), 2024. Accessed: 2024-03-29 00:00:00. URL: https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/search/mosaic?base=%5B%22Photographies%20%28M%C3%A9moire%29%22%5D.

France, Ministère de la culture, Inventaire Général, Palissy (France, Ministère de la culture), France, Ministère de la culture. Accessed: 2024-03-29 00:00:00. URL: http://www.culture.fr/public/mistral/palissy.

Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, Catalunya romànica, Barcelona: Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, 1984-