Arles - Saint-Trophime

The cloister of Saint-Trophime forms a rectangle 28m x 25m. The eastern and northern sides were built in romanesque style 1160 - 1180. Shortly after that all constructions came to halt, due to an economic decline of Arles. New orders like the Trinitarians and the Knights Templar had settled in Arles - and caused competition. It took more than a century to restart the building process, so the southern and western sides were built erected during the 14th and 15th century in gothic style.

All around the walls of the cloister are carvings, that are not connected to the bible, like this little mermaid. She is holding her tail in the left - and a fish in the right hand. Like most mermaids she has precisely parted long hair.

It is noticeably, that the carvings of the cloister are much more damaged, than the carvings of the western facade. There must be a reason, that Luxurias and mermaids never get spared from vandalism.