Fox Preaching to Two Geese

The columns at the main door leading into the church from the cloisters are richly carved in bas-relief with fantastical animals and nature scenes. Note the fox in a monk’s cowl preaching to two geese — a warning to be careful of false messengers. A theme as actual now as it was then and not only in a religious sense.

The collegiate church at Kloster Jerichow (Monastery) in Saxony-Anhalt is one of the oldest brick Romanesque buildings in Northern Germany.