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• 1 2021-11-03T13:51:22-07:00 Where was this produced? 13 google_maps 2022-06-13T10:31:23-07:00 47.466N, 3.746E By Reuben Reyes '23
  
  
  The Spandrel with a Griffin in a Roundel has its roots traced back to Vézelay, France. Certain technical elements, such as the color of the stone and the rustication of the uncarved surface are similar to the work at the Vézelay Abbey. There is some dispute if this object is from Cluny, France due to the similarities it shares with certain fragments found at the Cluny Abbey. For instance, the animal at the center of our object is identical to one on the series of façade reliefs at Cluny, and the design of the roundel (border of acanthus leaves and rings) resembles a similar rope-like frame around another animal in one of the Cluny plaques. However, the design and execution of this piece are more intricate than those of the Cluniac reliefs, suggesting that this object has different origins from those pieces. 
  
  The Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene, otherwise known as the Vézelay Abbey, was built in the mid eleventh century when a rumor spread that it held the relics of St. Mary Magdalene, a follower of Jesus who was witness to his crucifixion and resurrection. The city experienced an increase in inhabitants, and by the twelfth century the population reached close to ten thousand. The Vézelay Abbey was built to accommodate this new influx of people. It was in the year 1146 that St. Bernard would preach the Second Crusade before King Louis VII and thousands of people gathered at the Abbey, and years later in 1190 several Crusader leaders would meet in the Abbey to leave for the Third Crusade. The Abbey has become one of the most important surviving monuments of the Romanesque period, known for the sheer amount of artistic expression displayed amongst the architectural elements found within it. Not only was the Abbey a place for French Crusaders to build up their religious fervor before venturing off into the Holy Land, but it was a place for immaculate Romanesque architecture that displayed tributes to Byzantine textiles and silks.