Yesterday we went to see the Musee d'Histoire de la Medecine de Toulouse and this is a picture of the giant scallop shell that sits smack in front in the garden.
Again, old building a 16th century hospital run by the Sisters of Charity for the poor. These gals were very much inspired by St. Vincent de Paul although it does not explain their choice of wimples (nun hat). They wore an elaborate "Flying Nun" affair which had to be quite the cloth starching/craft job. The hospital was de-churched by the French Revolution and only taken back briefly before being taken over and run by non-Church people until the late 20th century . Currently it is a museum and administrative offices related to health care.
The exhibits were very interesting. They have preserved the original Pharmacy which is wall to ceiling of small wooden drawers that have names like "Belladonna" on them. Giant mortar and pestals sit on the old marble lab tables for the mixing and preparing of medicines. The also had a real human skeleton (a young woman no name) and many fascinating collections of doctoring equipment.
Back to the carved representation of shellfish, why does that mollusk keep showing up? Here is what I found out. Somewhere along the line St. Jame's symbol became the scallop. I don't know why. Since medieval times Christians have been making a pilgrimage (currently a fabled 500 mile stroll) in his honor to Spain to see his shrine at Santiago de Compostela and back in the day along they way they wore a scallop shell to show that they were on a pilgrimage. Before the St. James business the scallop shell was seen by pagans as a symbol of fertility. Look closely and it is often in pictures of Venus ie "The Birth of Venus".
I don't know what this means (Maybe the guy St. James, you know before he was a Saint, wasn't much of a saint wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more ;-) but it does go to show that people love a good symbol and if one reason gets stomped out well give it a new reason. No need to get rid of all your great shells.
It still doesn't explain why there is a giant scallop shell in front of a hospital......run by Nuns!
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