Legendary hybrid monster, a basilisk, said to have been generated from an egg laid by a cockerel or rooster and hatched by a serpent. Sculpted in marble on Romanesque capital in cloister added in the late 1200s to the abbey church of St Michael, or église abbatiale St-Michel, at Saint-Génis-des Fontaines, Pyrénées-Orientales, Occitanie, France. Here, as is often the case in medieval bestiaries, the basilisk is depicted as a bird-like creature with a serpent for a tail. The creature has enormous claws or talons and at the end of its tail is a serpent’s open mouth.
Saint-Génis-des Fontaines, Pyrénées-Orientales, Occitanie, France: Basilisk or Le Basilic, sculpted in marble on a Romanesque capital in the cloister attached to the abbey church of St Michael, or église abbatiale St-Michel. The abbey church of St Michael was built circa 778 - 780, at the same time as the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Génis-des Fontaines. The church was destroyed by an attack of the Normans circa 855 - 856, rebuilt in the late 1000s and 1100s and consecrated in 1127. A richly sculpted Romanesque marble cloister was added in the late 1200s. In 1846, the abbey church re-opened as the parish church of the village. The Abbey of Saint-Génis-des Fontaines was founded by a “pious man” called Sentimir in about 780 AD, during the reign of Charlemagne (Charles the Great). It was dedicated to Génis, a martyr of Arles who died in 303. The abbey, along with its church, was destroyed by the Normans in the mid-800s, but was then rebuilt and further developed. In Hellenic and Roman legend, the basilisk is a legendary snake-like reptile with fatal breath and deadly to those who look into its eyes. The creature was later depicted in medieval bestiaries as a serpent-tailed bird. It was said to have been generated from an egg laid by a cockerel or rooster and hatched by a serpent.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Saint-Génis-des Fontaines, Pyrénées-Orientales, Occitanie, France
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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