San Quirico d'Orcia - Santi Quirico e Giulitta

A church with a baptismal font (= pieve) existed here within the 8th century, when the area was ruled by Liutprand, King of the Lombards.

The (Latin Cross) church of today was erected in the 12th and 13th century. An inscription on the lintel of one of the three (!) portals reads ".. MCCLXXXXVIII..", what 1298. Santi Quirico e Giulitta was a parish church upto 1648, when it became collegiate church.

"Birds drinking from a chalice" is a very common Romanesque icon. Here the birds are obviously peacocks. The couple below (griffins ?) play peek-a-boo with a lion.

The Romanesque portal may have been originally produced for a planned double portal of the Abbazia di Sant'Antimo (13kms west). When the abbey run out of funds mid 13th century, the plans were cut down to a single portal - and the redundant portal was used here, where "Santi Quirico e Giulitta" was still a construction site.