Circles surrounding eight-pointed stars. Among decorative features of medieval mosaic in restored late-1000s or early 1100s pavement in former Benedictine abbey church at Sorde l'Abbaye, Landes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
Sorde l'Abbaye, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France: bands of circles decorated with 8-pointed stars were among the medieval monastic mosaic designs revealed during 19th century building work inside the former Benedictine abbey church of Saint-Jean de Sordes. The choir pavement, now fully restored, is rated as the finest example of Romanesque art in the Landes area of southwest France. The mosaics were created in the late 11th century or early 12th century from white, black, red, green and ochre tesserae no more than 2 cm across. The pavement was covered over, probably in the 17th century, but was rediscovered about 200 years later. Missing areas of the mosaics were at first replaced by marble tiles and further 'restoration' in 1893 was in whimsical Italian style. In 1984, some of the 19th century work was removed, and in 2007, the entire pavement was lifted and only the medieval parts re-laid. The Benedictine Abbey of St John, built on the site of a 3rd century AD Gallo-Roman villa, was founded in the 10th century as a stopping-place on the Camino de Santiago or Way of St James Christian pilgrimage route. The abbey church and abbot's house survived Wars of Religion destruction in the 16th century, but although the monastic buildings were rebuilt, the monks fled during the French Revolution. Marble mosaics from the Gallo-Roman villa have also been found at Sorde l'Abbaye, which was originally known as Sordes. The villa walls have disappeared, but remains of its thermal baths survive.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Sorde l'Abbaye, Landes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: -laid, -pointed, 1000s, 1100s, 11th, 12th, abbatiale, abbaye, abbey, art, benedictine, black, camino, century, christian, church, circles, , de, decoration, decorative, design, early, europe, european, france, french, green, heritage, james, john, kerr, labbaye, landes, late, leaves, medieval, monastery, monastic, mosaic, mosaics, nouvelle-aquitaine, ochre, order, pavement, pilgrimage, points, red, rediscovered, repaired, restored, romanesque, route, saint-jean, santiago, site, sorde, sordes, southwest, st, stars, terence, tesserae, unesco, vine, white, world, église
