Inside, the church at Azay-le-Rideau isn't nearly as interesting. However, the original apsidal nave does retain some vestiges of 13th wall paintings. By far the best are the 3 horses above a low arch leading to the second, later, nave.
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| 13th century wall painting: horses & figure |
The current thinking is that, as the figure [much damaged] has a raised arm which could be thought to be leading one of the horses, this could be part of a representation of the 3 Magi. Whether or not this assumption is correct we really liked the horses as, despite the damage, they are vibrant and 'alive'.
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| The 3 horses |
On the other side of the apsidal nave there is a figure thought to be St George slaying the dragon. Behind the figure is a depiction of a palace/dwelling with elaborate roof decorations.
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| Possibly St George .... |
It was a glorious day when we went to Azay-le-Rideau and the name of this little pedestrian street off the parking lot made us smile.
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| Bridge over the river Indre at Azay-le-Rideau |
8 comments:
There's a rue du petit soleil in Preuilly too.
@Susan - on a sunny day the name makes me smile.
Distinctly vibrant, those horses....
@fly - do look a bit as if they'd be happy to charge don't they :-)
What lovely wall painting remnants. They make me wonder what has been lost....
Those horses heads are really nice and their colors too. I also like your other photos. It looks very calm and peaceful in that picture of the bridge over the river Indre.
@ Perpetua -- quite a bit probably.
@ Vagabonde - the colors have stayed very vibrant. They reminded us a bit of the horses on the Bayeux tapestry.
Thank you :-) We've seen the river Indre in spate at that same bridge and it was wild!
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