Liminal images : aspects of Medieval architectural sculpture in the south of England from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries

Abstract

To understand the architectural sculpture of medieval religious buildings as fully as possible it must be set within its architectural, social and religious contexts.  I argue that medieval religious buildings, as institutionalized points of contact with the sacred, were perceived as liminal spaces - where the everyday world overlapped with the supernatural realms of saints, angels and demons.  Embedded into the fabric of the church and thereby identified with it, and rarely following any particular patterns of placement, architectural sculpture presented a visual evocation of liminality through its use of some of the key techniques of grotesque art, for example, hybridity, distortion, exaggeration, and replication.  These images drew attention to the space articulated by the building as similarly ambiguous and unclassifiable, ideas well-suited to its role as God’s house on earth.  Liminal locations are, however, dangerous as well as potent and merit some form of protection from the potentially malefic energy of the scared.  Medieval architectural sculpture therefore has an apotropaic purpose as well; identification of liminal space and protection from it are perhaps its two most fundamental aspects.  Imagery considered effective apotropaia is also highly esteemed, which may reflect its prolific use on high status buildings.  Thus, "grotesque" images, rather than an aberrant feature of medieval religious art, are instead entirely appropriate.  Close analysis of various aspects of the imagery reveals a resistance to definitive interpretation and permeability of meanings, substantiating the idea that these were intentionally liminal images.

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