Contributions of the group Font-astic!

Paris - Musée de Cluny

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 13:48:16 +0000

The Hôtel de Cluny was built in the late 15th century on the site of an older building constructed after the Abbey of Cluny acquired the ancient Roman baths in 1340.

The manor house was rebuilt under Jacques d’Amboise, Abbot Commander of Cluny (1485–1510). In the 18th century, the tower of the Hôtel de Cluny served as an observatory for the astronomers Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, Jérôme Lalande, and Charles Messier. During the French Revolution in 1789, the manor house was confiscated.

In 1832, the archaeologist and art collector Alexandre Du Sommerard acquired the Hôtel de Cluny and used it to display his extensive collection of medieval artifacts. After his death, the collection became the property of the French state. The building opened as a museum in 1843.

The museum underwent a complete renovation over three years and reopened in 2022.

Baptismal Font
Bronze,

Embsen Lower Saxony, 14th century

St Mary's Portchester The Font 18 11 2025

nobody@ipernity.com (Phil Sutters) — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:08:26 +0000

Phil Sutters has posted:

Lille - Palais des Beaux-Arts

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 17:44:16 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The museum opened in 1809 in connection with the French Revolution, following the confiscation of works of art from noblemen and church property. A central warehouse for the Lille area was established in a former monastery building. The space was soon too small. When, after a move the space in the new town hall became insufficient, it was decided to build a new building in 1882. This building opened in 1892, but was closed in 1895 due to structural defects and reopened in 1998 with a renewed heating and ventilation system. During the First World War, the museum suffered significant damage. After the capture of Lille by German troops, certain works of art were stolen. In 1917 and 1918, parts of the collection were transported to Brussels. The museum was not reopened to the public until 1924, after extensive renovations. In 1991, the museum had to be closed due to urgent renovation work. In 1997, the museum reopened to the public. It now has 22,000 m² of space, of which 12,000 m² are available for exhibitions.

The baptismal font in the museum comes from the church in Cousolre (about 100 km southeast), which, according to legend, was founded by Saint Bertille and her husband, Saint Walbert, seen here to the right.

It was made in (or near) Tournai in the 12th century.

Lille - Palais des Beaux-Arts

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 17:29:36 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The museum opened in 1809 in connection with the French Revolution, following the confiscation of works of art from noblemen and church property. A central warehouse for the Lille area was established in a former monastery building. The space was soon too small. When, after a move the space in the new town hall became insufficient, it was decided to build a new building in 1882. This building opened in 1892, but was closed in 1895 due to structural defects and reopened in 1998 with a renewed heating and ventilation system. During the First World War, the museum suffered significant damage. After the capture of Lille by German troops, certain works of art were stolen. In 1917 and 1918, parts of the collection were transported to Brussels. The museum was not reopened to the public until 1924, after extensive renovations. In 1991, the museum had to be closed due to urgent renovation work. In 1997, the museum reopened to the public. It now has 22,000 m² of space, of which 12,000 m² are available for exhibitions.

The baptismal font in the museum comes from the church in Cousolre (about 100 km southeast), which, according to legend, was founded by Saint Bertille and her husband, Saint Walbert.

It was made in (or near) Tournai in the 12th century.

Lichtervelde - Sint-Jacobus-de-Meerderekerk

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 15:35:56 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Sint-Jacobuskerk was built in 1876-79, replacing an older church. The first church here was probably a wooden one, founded by the Lords of Lichtervelde. Later, a Romanesque church was built. The patron saints were Margaret and James the Greater. James the Greater was chosen because Lichtervelde was a transit point on the pilgrims' route to Santiago de Compostela.

During the Second Iconoclasm in 1584, the church was destroyed except for its Romanesque tower. It was rebuilt around 1620. It was damaged during the Franco-Spanish Wars and the War of the Spanish Succession, which ended in 1713. Between 1876 and 1879, it was deemed too small and demolished to make room for the present neo-Gothic church, which was built between 1878 and 1880. In 1918, the church was bombed during the German retreat, but was rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style in 1922/23.

The baptismal font, dated to the 11th and 12th century, was created from Tournai blue ston. It is 80x80 cm and 23 cm thick. The tub rests on a firm cylindrical pillar, surrounded by four round small columns. On the side walls are dragon motives.

In 1918, the font was buried under the debris of the tower. After a restoration it was again placed in the church.

Zillebeke - Sint-Catharinakerk

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 22:18:49 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

St. Catherine's Church is the parish church. A single-nave chapel was founded in 1102. In the 14th century, the chapel was converted into a Gothic church. In 1578, the church was severely damaged by the iconoclastic Calvinists. Tte church was repaired. In 1910, the tower was restored. During the First World War, the church was completely destroyed. In 1923, the church was rebuilt. This design was based on the original church, but with the addition of a bay.

The baptismal font in Zillebeke originates from Tournai and was made in the 13th century. Unlike most other baptismal fonts made in Tournai, it does not feature a narrative motif but rather a stylized floral ornamentation.

Zedelgem - Sint-Laurentiuskerk

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 19:46:42 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The baptismal font, located in the Sint-Laurentiuskerk, is from the second half of the 12th century (1150–1160). It was made of Tournai stone by a Tournai sculptor's workshop with carved bas-reliefs on its four sides. The font bears strong similarities to, among others, the Romanesque font in Winchester Cathedral in England.
The reliefs depict the life of Saint Nicholas (the chalice legend, the three poor girls, and the three students) on three sides, and animals and soldiers on the fourth side.

Zedelgem - Sint-Laurentiuskerk

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 19:33:36 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Dendermonde - Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 22:15:49 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Towards the end of the Frankish period, a settlement was established here, later another followed in the shadow of a castle built by Emperor Otto II in the second half of the 10th century. The name Dendermonde is first mentioned in a document from 1087. In 1223, a Cistercian abbey was founded, and in 1233, Robrecht van Bethune granted Dendermonde city rights. As early as the 13th century, Dendermonde was a walled and ramparted city.

It is believed that Ringoot II, Lord of Dendermonde, had the church built in the 11th century. Numerous alterations were made from the 13th to the 16th centuries. The most important parts are built in the Scheldt Gothic style. The octagonal tower at the crossing dates from 1388.

After its destruction during the Calvinist period (1578-1584), new furniture was installed. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, various parts of the church were rebuilt, some in the Neo-Gothic style.

The baptismal font in Dendermonde dates from the second half of the 12th century and originates from the predecessor building of the present church. It is one of the finest examples of the fonts, that were made in Tournai during the 12th and early 13th centuries.

Dortmund - Marienkirche

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 16:52:39 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The church was built on the Hellweg, a main Medieval road connecting the free imperial town Dortmund with others. Historians suspect that the visits of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and his son Henry VI to the Imperial Palace in Dortmund led to the construction of the Marienkirche.

It was erected between 1170 and 1200 to serve the town's council and jurisdiction. It is the oldest extant church in Dortmund's inner city. Around 1350, a choir in Gothic architecture was built. It served as a model for the Reinoldikirche, which was built opposite of the road.

The church was destroyed in World War II, but rebuilt.

The baptismal font is late romanesque

The Font - Canterbury Cathedral 26 3 2025

nobody@ipernity.com (Phil Sutters) — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 22:36:02 +0000

Phil Sutters has posted:

Hannover - Landesmuseum

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 17:37:10 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

With more than 500.000 inhabitants Hannover is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony.

Hannover was founded in medieval times on the east bank of the River Leine. It was a small village of ferrymen and fishermen. It became a comparatively large town in the 13th century, receiving town privileges in 1241, owing to its position at natural crossroads It was connected to the Hanseatic city of Bremen by the Leine and was situated north-west of the Harz mountains so that east-west traffic passed through it.

Between 1714 and 1837 three kings of Great Britain were concurrently also Electoral Princes of Hanover.

As an important railway and road junction and production centre, Hannover was a major target for strategic bombing during WW II. More than 90% of the city centre was destroyed in a total of 88 bombing raids. So today Hannover lacks it´s medieval heart.

Originally the Museum of "Kunst und Wissenschaft" (art and science) inaugurated in 1856 in the presence of George V of Hanover. After the annexation of Hanover by Prussia, the museum was integrated into the Provincial Museum, as it was called from 1869. The museum ran out of space for its art collections, prompting the construction of the current building in 1902. Extensive renovations and modernisations were carried out in the interior from 1995 to 2000, reopening on 13 May 2000 as part of Expo 2000.

Today the museum comprises the state gallery (Landesgalerie), featuring paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, and departments of archaeology, natural history and ethnology.

Baptismal font, Burgdorf, early 13th c

The surrounding frieze shows the creation of Adam and Eve, paradise and the expulsion from it

Hull Minster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 14:54:35 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a port city. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary.

The town of Wyke on Hull was founded late in the 12th century by the Cistercian monks of Meaux Abbey as a port from which to export their wool. Hull was granted a charter and given its name in 1299 by King Edward I who needed a northern port to support his wars in Scotland. It had been a market town, trading centre, fishing and whaling centre.

In 1642, shortly before the start of the English Civil War, Hull's governor openly took sides with the parliamentary side and denied King Charles I access to the city and the militarily important arsenal. He was declared a traitor and executed despite being pardoned by Parliament.

Whaling played an important role for the city until the middle of the 19th century. Hull's prosperity extended into the decades before the First World War. The whaling industry, the most important branch of deep-sea fishing, continued to decline after WWII.

During WWII, heavy bombing destroyed the port, industrial facilities and much of the city centre. 95% of Hull's buildings were either damaged or destroyed, making Hull the second most heavily bombed major British city after London. Of a population of around 320,000 at the beginning of the war, 192,000 were left homeless by the heavy destruction.

The church was called Holy Trinity Church until 2017 when the then Archbishop of York announced that the church would be given Minster status.

The transepts date from c. 1300–20, the choir is estimated at 1340–70, the nave 1380–1420 and the tower 1490–1520.

In 1906 it was discovered that the tower was in danger, resulting in emergency work to underpin the church with concrete and rebuild the nave piers.

The church was lucky to escape serious damage from the very heavy bombing that Hull endured.
The baptismal font, dating from around 1380, is richly decorated. William Wilberforce, who led the parliamentary campaign against the slave trade, was baptised here in 1759

Beverley - St Mary's Church

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 13:14:11 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The town's origins date back to the 7th century. The first known building was a church founded by John of Beverley (+ 721), the later canonized Bishop of York. Around 850, the monastery was dissolved by the invasion of the "Great Heathen Army" of Vikings, and the town became part of the new Kingdom of Jorvik. However, the veneration of John of Beverley ensured that the region's population grew steadily until the 10th century.

The Archbishops of York encouraged the development of Beverley. The town, along with York, Ripon, and Southwell, became one of the most important Christian centers in England.

After the Norman conquest of England, many pilgrims flocked to Beverley after hearing of the miracles performed by John of Beverley. Many people in the north of England rejected Norman rule. The Normans then ravaged the towns of Yorkshire. Beverley, however, was spared due to the sanctity of the place.

In 1188, a fire destroyed parts of the town and also damaged the cathedral. Despite famines in the 14th century, Beverley grew to become the tenth largest town in England by 1377.

St. Mary's was founded in the first half of the 12th century as a daughter church of Beverley Minster. It is a 60-meter-long cruciform church with a nave and chancel, a south transept with an east aisle, a north transept with an east chapel and crypt below, a northeast chapel and a crossing tower.

Systematic rebuilding began in the late 13th century, when a large chapel was added on to the east side of the north transept. This was followed c. 1300 by the addition of a south aisle to the previously aisle-less chancel, in conjunction with a widening of east aisle of the south transept. The nave aisles were completely rebuilt in the early 14th century. Building work at St Mary's ceased in the mid-14th century, as in so many cases throughout England, because of the Black Death. It did not resume until c. 1400, when the west front was rebuilt in the Perpendicular style and a Perpendicular clerestory was added to the nave.

During Evensong on 29 April 1520, the central tower collapsed. Much of the work on the eastern end of the nave was undone, though the aisle walls were little damaged. The central tower and the nave arcades and clerestory were entirely rebuilt.

The baptismal font, made of Derbyshire marble, dates from 1530.

Rudston - All Saints

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 22:56:21 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The place name ‘Rudston’ is first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and means ‘cross stone’ and refers to the highest standing stone in Britain, which stands in the church graveyard.

The tower of All Saints Church is Norman/Romanesque, it is the oldest part of the building as the larger part is Gothic and dates from the 14th century.

The baptismal font dates from the 12th century and has a very unusual design.with circle and lozenge adornments

Llanwenog - St Gwenog

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 20:42:46 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

St Gwenog`s church is a medieval building dating back to the late fourteenth century, the tower being added some time after 1485. The interior has the original fifteenth-century barrel roof.

The baptismal font seems to date back to the early days of the church.

Paignton - St John the Baptist

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 11:20:51 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

In late Saxon times, the manor of Paignton was owned by Leofric, the first Bishop of Exeter. Later bishops built the Bishop's Palace adjoining the parish church, some remains of which are still standing.
The first church on this site was possibly a wooden structure but nothing remains above ground, although its foundations have been discovered. The Second (Norman) church was built about 1100 but this was almost completely demolished and rebuilt around 1250. Today, the church which can be seen is the third building to be established there and has been gradually transformed since the Middle Ages.
It is claimed that this baptismal font is the oldest in Devon. The font has a ‘honeysuckle’ decoration and is Norman. In the 15th century it was replaced by a contemporary one and buried in the churchyard. When it was rediscovered in the last century, it was given away and turned into a decorative garden vase. It was finally put back in its old place in 1930.

Whitchurch Canonicorum - St Candida and Holy Cross

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 19:46:45 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The church of St Candida and Holy Cross lies in the village of Whitchurch Canonicorum. Alfred the Great founded a church on the site in the 9th century named Hwitan Cyrican ("White Church" or "Whitchurch") and bequeathed it in 899 to his son Æthelweard.

In the 11th century William the Conqueror gave ownership to the monks of St Wandrille's monastery in Normandy. They began a major reconstruction and expansion of the building. In 1190 the monks sold or gave the church and benefice to the Bishop of Salisbury and in the early 13th century it was handed over to Robert de Mandeville, Lord of Marshwood Vale, in return for an annual fee. De Mandeville made further renovations and a shrine containing the remains of St Wite was erected. In the mid-13th century de Mandeville presented ownership of the church to the Bishop of Bath and Wells. However, the Bishop of Salisbury was unwilling to relinquish his annual payment and a compromise was reached whereby the tithes would be divided between the two canons. It was at this time that the Latin affix Canonicorum (of the canons) was added to Whitchurch.

The shrine and its relic's reputed healing powers made the church a busy and prosperous centre of pilgrimage. However, this was abruptly halted by the 16th century Reformation which prohibited the veneration of saints.

The church is a mixture of architectural styles. It is an example of Early English architecture but incorporates some Norman features and significant Perpendicular additions.

The baptismal font is a Norman/Romanesque stone bowl decorated with overlapping arches.

Bere Regis - St John the Baptist

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 15:13:10 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The earliest fragments of the present structure date from around 1050, late in the Anglo-Saxon period. This was a cross-shaped church. In the 12th century a south aisle a little later the north aisle was added.

A century later the church got extended both eastwards and westwards. It was not until the 16th century that the church got its west tower. Local stones were used to create a chequerboard effect.

The church's most prominent feature is its 15th-century hammerbeam roof. It is carved from oak and is said to have been a gift from Cardinal Morton. Among its many decorations are life-sized figures of the twelve apostles.

The font bowl is 12th centuryNorman with a Victorian stem. Across the top are medallions with flowers and around the side are interlacing arcades.

Wimborne Minster

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:11:04 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Wimborne Minster is a small town named after a monastery.

The monastery was founded around 705 by St Cuthburga in a region that was probably only sparsely populated at the time. St Walpurga was educated and spent 26 years here before following the missionary call of her uncle, St Boniface, to Germany. At this time, a men's monastery was also built adjacent to the abbey. Over the next hundred years, the abbey and monastery grew in size and importance.

In 871, King Æthelred I of Wessex, Alfred the Great's brother, was buried in the abbey, which brought the abbey royal honours. The nunnery was destroyed by the Danes in 1013 and never rebuilt, though the main abbey building survived. In 1043 Edward the Confessor founded a college of canons, The minster then was remodelled and rebuilt by the Normans between 1120 and 1180, to support that institution.

It can be assumed that by then a town centre had already formed in the immediate vicinity of the abbey church, which grew steadily in the years that followed. A school open to the public was opened in Wimborne Minster around 1496, followed by one of the first chained libraries in the country around 1686.

The baptismal font