Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre - Saint-Étienne

This unique church complex, once part of a collegiate and dedicated to Saint-Jaques, combines a round church and attached to this a rectangular basilica.

A local noble named Eudes of Deols, who had traveled to the Holy Land in 1027, founded this church around 1040, a replica of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Over centuries this was a major stop-over for pilgrims following the Via Lemovicensis.

There are many capitals all around the arches on the outside walls of the rotunda. Here is one of them. A deer tries to escape, but the manticore waits around the corner. I doubt, that this is a centaur. A strange round object is near the tail.