24 Mar 2012

The Pagan Sites of Europe Remembered (15): Cave of the Sibyl, Cumae, Italy


Sibyls were priestess of Apollo noted for their oracular abilities. They usually occupied temples that were connected to caves or grottoes, from whence they were thought to draw their prophecies.

23 Mar 2012

The Pagan Sites of Europe Remembered (14): Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre, Paris


The church of Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre is one of the oldest churches in Paris. It was consecrated by Pope Eugenius III in 1147, in a splendid royal ceremony, where Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter Abbot of Cluny acted as acolytes. It was constructed on the site of a seventh century Merovingian church using four black marble columns from that church. These were placed two against the west wall, one at the apse entrance and one in the north aisle.