Église Saint-Merri

Paris · Frankrike · Church

A horned, two-sexed demon sits above the church door surveying the quarter — and nobody has ever quite wanted to explain why.

At the top of the tympanum of Saint-Merri, at 76 rue de la Verrerie, sits a demon some thirty centimetres high: horns, bat wings, a woman's breasts and male genitals. Parisians call it the Baphomet, and for generations the church has been asked why the devil guards its entrance. The figure arrived during the restoration of 1841–43, at the very moment the occultist Éliphas Lévi was making that image world famous. The interpretations have never stopped: a Templar idol — the order's Paris headquarters stood right next door — the sovereign of the alchemists, or simply a stonemason's black joke. The quarter around the church has had a reputation since the Middle Ages as the most superstitious in the city, and Nicolas Flamel's house stands a few streets away.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Église Saint-Merri?

Église Saint-Merri ligger i Paris, Frankrike.