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Celtic monster (formerly tarasque)

Celtic monster (formerly tarasque)

I first saw this statue probably some forty years or so ago. It was then in a large hall in the Papal Palace in Avignon, among many stone or wood carvings of religious subjects which had been gathered from churches in the area.

Celtic monster (formerly tarasque)

It was labelled as a tarasque – a mythical monster which had terrorised the stretch of the River Rhone between Avignon and Arles until it was tamed by St Martha.

Celtic monster (formerly tarasque)

The statue has now been moved to be a centrepiece of a museum of sculpture elsewhere in the city. Its labelling now says it is not a tarasque (indeed it doesn’t correspond to the description). It pre-dates Christianity, and pre-dates the Roman conquest of Provence. It is now described as representing a Celtic monster, portrayed in the act of eating a man, symbolic of Celtic beliefs of death and rebirth. So here it is as an alternative to the usual old year / new year symbolism as the old gaffer with the scythe and the baby.

Celtic monster (formerly tarasque)