Murbach - Abbaye de Murbach

The church of the former Murbach Abbey was constructed around 1150 got consecrated 1216 and dedicated to Saint Léger. The naves got knocked down 1738, to give room for a baroque church, that never got built. Since 1760 it serves as a parish church, what did not prevent it from getting devasted by rioters during the French Revolution. So all that left is the transept - and the choir. The place of the former naves, behind the facade, is a cemetery today.

The facade is impressive. The choir is "flat", following architecural traditions from Cluny and Hirsau. Some of the carvings are artistic and pretty extraordenary.

Quoting well known and respected expert Tina Negus "M of B's are typified by a central figure, with flanking beasts which are controlled or submissive", this is the by far the most abstract "Master of the Beasts" I have ever seen. The master does not have a body. The master is just a head on a pillar. This is a "radical" artistic idea. Compared to that are the two two submissive lions pretty "normal".