Parish Church of San Pedro de Aibar
Romanesque capitals
The columns of the naves stand out for the beauty of their twenty-three Romanesque capitals, which are completed with rich cimacios. Martínez de Aguirre calls it an "excellent collection of capitals". Sculpted with a variety of decoration, on the one hand, there are the usual motifs based on plant and geometric elements. In this sense, some capitals have different types of leaves (pointed with volutes, scalloped, arranged in two levels), pine cones, and scrolls with palmettes.
On the other hand, a series of capitals sample a less frequent decoration that probably came from Pamplona cathedral. These capitals depict human and animal figures (pairs of rampant lions, people flanked by lions, eagles with outstretched wings, animal chases). In keeping with the popularity of bestiaries in the Middle Ages ( average), fantastic figures can be found in the interior of this church. Among the fantastic figures sculpted in Aibar, mermaids are particularly prominent. A variant of the mermaid-birds that also appear in Sangüesa stands out in the form of squatting beings with monstrous claws and heads. It is not in vain that Homer conceived of the mermaid as a bird with a female face. Also of note is the version of the mermaid with a double fish tail, which had negative connotations and meaning.
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