I wandered around the Church of St Suliau in Sizun, camera in hand, peering upwards and into nooks and crannies, and I just loved all the little figures and carvings. I found the ‘siren maiden’ several times – could this be Suliau’s widowed sister-in-law, Mayarme, who pursued him for marriage? Or is it Eve, in the form of a serpent? Or a Mermaid? Or even a Serpent-Woman?
Fearful demons including this pair over a doorway: on the left a lion and on the right a sagittarius – signs of the zodiac and the symbols of summer and autumn, it has been suggested.
And then there are the good guys, the angels.
And the dragons, just like the dragons on the end of the beams inside the church.
The frieze around the outside of the Church, on the north and east sides, is remarkable. There are animals (pigs, foxes and dogs chasing chickens, rabbits, whales), fantastic masks, dragons, and the fishy maiden.
And watching us is the ‘philosopher’, rather like the head on the Ossuary of Lampaul-Guimiliau.
Now it is time to go into the Church, and on the arch of the South Porch…
Further information
Sirens & Demons
The Carvings
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