The Capitals
One of the first noticeable pieces of the cloister is the capitals. The capitals have these intricate carvings that catch the viewer’s eyes, but also make you question their relevance. The capitals of the cloister serve to support the walls or arches on top of columns. The capitals, during the Romanesque period, were normally constructed in the Corinthian style; square at the top and round at the bottom. The carvings are of “floral ornaments and fantastic animal figures, which are dated to the first half of the eleventh century”.[1] Surprisingly enough, the capitals of this space did not show stories of biblical nature or any representation of Jesus Christ; they actually portrayed bestiary and plant motifs.
One image in particular that I did further research on was the mermaid carving. The meaning of an image of a mermaid is that they have an eye for lust and danger. Mermaids have “the power to create mighty waves that sweep men into the sea.”[2] The mermaids were in a sense an image of sin that symbolized ideals completely different from what the monk’s devoted their life to. Yet, these images surrounded monks when they were in the cloister. The creatures, vegetables, and all the in-between carvings on the capitals were linked with the “idea of imagination to create and combine”.[3] These images were important when it came to the monk’s relationship with Christ. The cloister was a place where they could meditate and pray, but also a place where their faith can be tested. In Thomas Dale’s article “Monsters. Corporeal Deformities, and Phantasms in the Cloister of St-Michel-de-Cuxa”, he argues that having the odd images of mermaids, dragons, monkeys, etc., exposed to monks the temptations of men that violate their honor to God, which in a sense were the inner demons of these individuals.[4] By having these capitals around them, they were able to confront these demons, and be in a community where the struggle is mutual. Monks were confronted head on with ideas that were outside of their faith like the symbolism of a mermaid, and if they did resist then they knew they were a true believer. The capitals were a place of wonder and creativity due to their unusual and mystical nature, but can be easily be confused with this sense of “temptation” if thought of in the wrong way. The cloister was not only a place for a prayer, but also a grounds that challenged the inhabitants in a devised way.