Châteaumeillant - Saint-Genès

Saint-Genès, erected in the 11th and 12th century, was the church of the priory Saint-Etienne, dependent from the important Abbaye Notre-Dame in Déols. This abbey, now in ruins, had been founded in 917 and developed into one of the most powerful regional institutions. It was one of the first in the Cluniac network. Odo of Cluny (+ 942) was abbot of three monasteries: Cluny, Massy and Deols. This is important, as Saint-Genès has architectural parralells to Cluny II and Cluny III.

The building got severely damaged, when Louis VII (aka "Louis le Jeune", 1. husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine) burnt down the town in 1152 during a feud with Abbo II de Déols, a supporter of Henri Plantagenêt (aka Henry II, "Curtmantle", 2. husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine). In 1569 the Huguenots set fire here - and many restorations followed that. During the French Revolution the bell tower was destroyed and the church became a "Temple of Reason".

The carvings inside were created by (at least) two different workshops. There are rough and archaic capitals, that are probably older than the more elaborated, "sophisticared" ones. This one is probably from a third workshop.

A hellish creature is just about to devour the person in the center. What thought to be a "helmet" over the wrinkeld face - is the giant mouth of that creature. To the left a bird swallows a fish, probably a symbol, of how easy it is for a devil, to devour a soul. To the right a devil bites into the shoulder of a large sitting person, who himself bites into a apple..