#medieval monastery

[hadesfromspace]

The Kiss (2026)

My monks my monks my monks i love these guys

[mourama]

Portal principal da igreja de S. Pedro de Rates | Main portal of the church of St. Peter of Rates (Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal)

The portal features five archivolts resting on colonnettes with profusely decorated capitals. In the tympanum, it displays the figure of Christ Pantocrator, set within a mandorla and flanked by two figures (prophets) trampling two other figures, most likely Judas and the heretic Arius. The voussoirs of the archivolts depict apostles and angels, while the capitals display mythical animals, mermaids, distorted human figures, masks, and other motifs.

The iconographic programme of the main portal, although drastically reduced, remains one of the most comprehensive examples of the Romanesque art in portuguese territory.

Photo by Vítor Ribeiro

[geopsych]

On this day 3 years ago we visited the fabulous monastery of Batalha. It was ordered to be built by decree of the king in 1385 as a gratitude gift to the Virgin Mary after his army won a critical battle. He and the queen and some later kings are entombed there in elaborately carved marble.

[sheltiechicago]

Pazo de San Lorenzo de Trasouto in Spain

The pazo of San Lorenzo in Santiago is a medieval monastery converted into a residential palace. It dates back to the 13th century, when Martín Arias, the bishop of Zamora, founded a chapel dedicated to St. Lawrence. It later became a modest hermitage for Franciscan monks, surrounded by dense oak forest. The pazo’s exterior gardens are more notable for their lushness and diversity of species than for their layout. But the most striking garden is in the very unusual cloister. This space, with an almost square plan (16 x 18 m), is framed by a walkway and arcades, open on the ground floor and glazed above, surrounding a garden of box hedges, trimmed to form designs that over the years have become strange hieroglyphs, which are now hard to decipher.

[mercurialaesthetic]

Hovhannavank (Հովհաննավանք) monastery in Armenia

[thebouquet-iris]

Mont Saint Michel, France. May 2016

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[louisajaneauston]

Foraging Wild Garlic

I am blogging a foraging a wild herb profile every month throughout the year & listing what is available to for the current month in the UK. Please be careful when foraging and refer to a guide book. My favourites are Food for Free by Richard Mabey, River Cottage Handbook no.7 Hedgerow by John Wright & The Thrifty Forager by Alys Fowler. Also be aware not to over forage as you need to leave enough food for the wildlife.

Wild Garlic Allium Ursinum from the liliaceae family

Folk Names: Bear’s Garlic, Bear’s Leek, Broad Leaved Garlic, Buckrams, Devil’s Garlic, Gypsy’s Onions, Moly, Ransoms, Ramp, Ramps, Ramsons, Roman Garlic, Stinkers, Stinking Jenny , Wood Garlic.

Appearance & habitat: Wild Garlic is a tall hairless perennial plant which grows in large numbers in damp, acidic soils in shaded deciduous woods/forests in most parts of Europe, Northern Asia & Northern America. Leaves can be harvested in January (if it is mild).

The leaves are broad, elliptical, shiny, spear-like and can grow up to 25cm long. The stem is long and triangular shaped. The flowers are white, star shaped, in a round umbel with 8-12 segments. The plant gives off a sweetly pungent, strong garlic scent and tastes more like chives, and gentler than conventional garlic. They tend to flower before trees  get their leaves in April to June, and this is what gives off the yeasty-garlicy smell that is a giveaway sign of wild garlic. The leaves are very similar to Lilly-of-the-Valley (Convallaria majalis), Autumn Crocus (Colchicum autumnale) and Wild Arum (Arum maculatum) which are extremely poisonous so do take caution, only pick if it smells of garlic when crushed.

Culinary uses: Wild Garlic leaves can be substituted for garlic or spring onions, can be treated like spinach in eaten raw in salads, sandwiches, combined into sauces, butter, mayonnaise, dressings, soups, stews, omelettes, stir-fries, risotto, makes a fantastic pesto (see recipe) and can be boiled as a vegetable. Add it towards the end of cooking to preserve freshness. The leaves can be used as a wrap and compliments tomatoes. The bulb can also be eaten raw but digging up wild plants is not good for wildlife, the bulb is very small so is hardly worth the effort. The flowers can also be eaten  as seed pods or flowers.

Nutrition & Benefits: Wild Garlic is rich in iron, vitamin C, vitamin A, manganese, copper, magnesium, traces of Selenium,  antioxidants, Aallicin, Adenosine. Traditionally used as a spring tonic, to cleanse the blood and boost the immune system.  It is beneficial for rheumatism, reducing high blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, asthma, emphysema, digestive problems and cleansing the blood.  It has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties that protect against free radicals. The juice can be used as a household disinfectant but I wouldn’t advise this because of the odour it gives off. The juice is good for weight loss and applied as a poultice to areas of rheumatic pain, arthritic joints, boils and abscesses. It increases the blood circulation locally.

History & Folklore: Wild Garlic is an indicator of ancient woodland and has been eaten for thousands of years. The first use of wild garlic can be traced to the Mesolithic period in Denmark from a archeoligical find, and to Neolithioc settlement, Thayngen-Weier  in Switzerland, where there is a high concentration of pollen within the layer of the settlement.

The vernacular name Ramsons is from Anglo Saxon Old English Hramsa and Ramsey in Essex and Ramdale in Lincolnshire are places which take their name from the plant. Hramsa means Rank derived from the butter and milk of cow which have eaten Ramsons to be bitter or rank. Ramsdale derives from the Norse name Raumsdalr, meaning Valley of the River Rauma in Oppland and Møre og Romsdal in Norway. “Raum the Old”, son of King Nor is the legendary founder of Norway who is linked to the Raumi tribe.  It was grown in monastic gardens as food according to an account from the 16th century.

According to Essex folklore, the allium family is one of the most useful plants in curing illnesses. Aubrey 1847 “Eat Leekes in March and ramsons in May And all the year after physicians may play”

It is known as Bear’s garlic/leek in Europe as brown bears where partial to digging up and eating  the bulbs when they awoke from hibernation.

Recipe for Wild Garlic Pesto

100g Wild Garlic leaves

50g Parmesan cheese

50g toasted pine nuts

2 tablespoons olive oil

Lemon juice squeezed from half a lemon

Salt & pepper

Wash the leaves thoroughly and roughly chop with scissors. Pulse the pine nuts for a few seconds in a food processor, then add the leaves, olive oil & parmesan. Add lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste, if the pesto needs to be thinned add more oil.

 Plants you may expect to find in June;

Borage leaves & flowers, Bellflower flowers, Bittercress, Brooklime, Broom, Common Chickweed, Common Fig, Common Mallow leaves, Common Orache, Common Sorrel, Darwin’s Barberry berries, Elderflower, Fairy-ring Champignon, Fat Hen, Fennel, Garlic Mustard, Garden Orache, Good King Henry, Gooseberry, Hastate Orache, Hawthorn, Hogweed, Lemonbalm, Nettle-leaved Bellflower flowers, Perennial Wall Rocket, Pignut, Marsh Samphire, Rampion, Red Goosefoot, Spearmint, Spear-leaved Orache, Stinging Nettle, Sea Beet, Shaggy Inkcap, Shepard’s Purse, St George’s Mushroom, Three-cornered garlic, Watercress, Watermint, Wild Leek, Wild Rose flowers, Wild Strawberry, Wild Thyme, Wood sorrel,.

[hadesfromspace]

All reason flown as God looks on in abject apathy A squall and all of me is a prayer in perfect piety A moment's silence when my baby puts the mouth on me

-Moment's Silence (Common Tongue) By Hozier

I've missed drawing these two fools.

I used this person's medieval illuminated manuscript palette! Unfortunately there was no account info on pinterest and I didn't find their account by searching the credited name on the picture.