Oh. The Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle by Viollet-le-Duc is on French wikisource. Although it is, sadly, in French, even automatic translation will do, if you read it just for pleasure. And then there are the illustrations, so should you ever go out of gargoyle ideas for your new Gothic cathedral, look no further.

#architecture #romanesque #gothic #medieval #medievalArt

Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle - Wikisource

It is no coincidence that the mandorla — the almond-shaped halo around Christ or the Virgin Mary — mirrors the vulva’s form. Named after the Italian for “almond,” it symbolises the threshold between worlds, the sacred gateway through which divine light and incarnation enter the human realm.

#catholicism #ArtHistory #iconography
#symbolism #ReligiousArt #medievalArt
#ChristianArt #aesthetics