Iconographie4

the Portal

It's composed of a tympanum-lintel surmounted by an archivolt with 4 arches, several sculpted stones and a row of modillions.

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Archivolt

It's composed of 4 arches. First and third don't bears sculpted figures.

Second bears 3 figures: 2 archangels with their names written on the book they hold in hands

and a completely unknown king

Gabriel

Unknown king

Raphael

Fourth arch bears a group of eleven angels

Only 4 of them bear halo

St Michael ?

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Tympanum

The whole tympanum-lintel presents a cosmogony with 3 parts: We can see the Fall and the Redemption on the tympanum and the Judgment in the lintel. The attempt to see on the tympanum a representation of the Pentecost is no justified and shows an erroneous observation.

the Fall

The top of tympanum presents 3 clouds of whose thickness is underlined with 3 sculpted lines, thunderstorm clouds sending out 10 lightning's flashes. Between the 2 groups of 5 flashes falls a dove with folded down wings which seems dead, oppositely to the Christ baptism dove with its deployed wings. That is a great symbol for the Spirit fall incarnated in the woman which is put exactly above the dove.

These classical symbols are usually combined with crucifying scenes. The sun holds in hands a fire torch and the moon hold a flower (possibly a lotus?)

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Virgin and Apostols

The Virgin is surrounded by 10 apostles, divided in 2 groups of 5 figures, and it no possible to know if that number has a peculiar meaning. The names of apostles are written on the parchments they hold in hands, but only 3 of them are readable: St Peter, St James and St John's.

Scs Iacobus
St James
Scs Iohannes
St John
Symbols of Spirit fall. Lightning flashes for God's anger which throw man (Spirit dove) from heaven to hearth. The incarnation gets through the woman for the man redemption by Christ

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Lintel

That representation is inherited from the scene of the Egyptian "pèsement des âmes" ( souls weighing).

Christ with Tetramorph

The Christ in his mystic almond is sat on a roman magistrate chair, but He has no child on His knees as sometimes it was said. He is surrounded with the tetramorph, a symbol for the 4 evangelists: St John's eagle, St Mark's lion, St Luke's bull and St Matthew's man.

In the Bible, we find these symbols in the Ezequiel's vision.

the Goods

As usual they take place on the right side of Christ, but the place of Him at the right extremity of the lintel make a difference with the representations in the XIIth century where the Christ takes place in the middle part in the tympanum. That is in particular the case for the Conques tympanum.

The Perse tympanum was no doubt realized before the establishment of the rules of realisation for roman tympanum.

the Judgment

The deceased body is covered with a shroud and wait for the sentence. On right of him another saved soul is leaded by 2 angels.

The real problem of that scene is the presence as the beam of a head who seems to be an infernal judge like in ancient mythologies to value the weight of the soul. The figure above that head is too spoiled for identified it.

the Hell

We can see a monster head which is like that of Conques with a little difference: here that head own a rolled trunk like an elephant. That animal or it representation would no doubt be known by sculptor.

This hell opening seems gulping down a damned or a devil and separates the 2 parts of the diabolic tetramorph.

Satan

As all the devils in the lintel, Satan has a cat face and the sculptor gave it the same size and value than Christ. The devil shows a damned soul in a monster mouth. A snake winds around its legs and seems to bite the damned head.

At the left extremity of the lintel, alternated human and monster heads only seems to be there in place of the shifted part of diabolic tetramorph.

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Virgin and Kings

Bull

(Luc)

Eagle

(John)

Man

(Matteus)

Lion

(Mark)

Virgin is surrounded by a tetramorph in the shape of modillions. That Virgin is much damaged with her broken nose. Jesus Child's right arm which blessed is also broken. As to his head, which was completely destroyed, it was very badly done up with cement. Statue surely is better which his head correctly done up or definitively cut out.

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Modillions

Perse church has 51 modillions.

Best preserved are around the east of church because they are protected against erosion with rwind and ain coming from west, and against destruction by men for their very high place.

centaurus Chiron

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