Creature with sharp teeth and protruding tongue, detail from a carved stone capital in the Cloister, built 1140-50, in the Abbaye Saint Michel de Cuxa, a 9th century Benedictine abbey in Codalet, Pyrenees-Orientales, France. In 1913 George Gray, an American sculptor, bought 32 columns and capitals from Cuxa which are now in The Met Cloisters Museum in New York. The remaining 7 original capitals, carved with largely secular subjects, were reerected here in 1950. The abbey complex consists of the Eglise Saint-Michel, Chapelle de la Trinite, crypt, cloister and an 11th century bell tower. The abbey is listed as a historic monument. Picture by Manuel Cohen
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