Spandrel

This carving is one of the numerous surviving fragments from a great carved stone screen that once enclosed the choir in the third church built at Cluny, a sanctuary rivaled in size only by Saint Peter’s in Rome. The monastery of Cluny, one of the most powerful in medieval Europe, was richly endowed by the kings of Castile and León as well as other European rulers. It was sustained by a network of hundreds of dependencies.
The monastic buildings of Cluny—covering some 25 acres were acquired by the town in the wake of the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century and were almost completely destroyed. Elements from the building were adapted for reuse by the municipality.