Christian Architecture: Abbeys Architecture

Nine centuries ago, at a time when Benedictines from the Order of Cluny glorified God in splendid divine offices and magnificent churches, an unknown monk called Robert de Molesme suggested that they revert to the strict rule of Benoit de Nurcie: in prayer, seclusion and living by manual labor. The "New Monastery" in Citeaux thus became a model for a cohort of "Cistercians", choir monks and lay brothers from some seven hundred abbeys across Europe, not to mention the nunneries linked to them. Thanks to Bernard de Clairvaux, the most famous of the "White Monks" the new Order soon evolved into the leading conscience of Christendom by both controlling political power and by rallying the entire feudal system in pursuit of the greatest glory of God. Once stripped of all ornament, the architecture of the Cistercian abbeys imposed a new aesthetic standard both on Romanesque art, which was perfected by the master craftsmen of the Order, and on early Gothic art, which they helped to develop throughout Europe. The Cistercian agricultural and industrial estates likewise made a highly effective contribution to the technological revolution of the 12th and 13th centuries.

"Cistercian Europe: Architecture of Contemplation" offers a lavishly illustrated journey through Europe's magnificent Cistercian abbeys. A leading expert in medieval architecture, Terryl Kinder brings these famous monasteries to life, showing not only where monks lived, worked, and prayed but also how the exquisite architecture of these buildings reflects the spiritual transformation to which their residents aspired.

Religions institutions of the past have left us with an inheritance of great complexity, but it is expressed through all means of communication, including art. The message of the nascent Cistercian Order was the love of solitude, simplicity, poverty, and asceticism. Eloquent masters of words, as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, have enriched us with the experiences of the monks' work, prayer, and meditation. But the immediacy of cistercian art remains indispensable for the full appreciation of what activated the minds and hearts of those who built Fontenay, painted the initial letters of Pontigny, baked the tiles in Yorkshire, or designed the intricate patterns of grisailles in Obazine. All taken together they convey the same ideas to us, ideas that can better be expressed in the interplay of lights and shadows, balance and proportion, fragile lines or massive monumentality, than in words.

This authoritative book begins by unfolding the historical and architectural contexts for the British Cistercian monasteries.A comprehensive gazetteer then provides details on the surviving remains at every site across England,Wales and Scotland.The engaging and lucid text is the work of five experts in the fields of Cistercian history,architectural history,and archaeology.The whole is illustrated with numerous maps,plans,drawings,and a striking collection of contemporary photographs.

The royal abbey of Saint-Denis,founded in honor of the patron saint of France,is one of the oldest monastic communities in France.Best known as the burial place of the French kings and queens,it had an early and close association with the royal house,and its history parallels and reflects the development of the French monarchy.In this richly documented volume,the late Summer Mcknight Crosby,world -renowned expert on the royal abbey of Saint-Denis,provides an architectural history of the abbey that begins with the chapel constructed ca.475 and ends nearly seven hundred years later with Abbot Suger's creation on the same site of what was to be heralded as the first Gothic church.

"Working with architectural, archaeological, epigraphic and documentary evidence, Joan Barclay-Lloyd traces the vicissitudes of this historic monastery, now once again the home of Cistercian monks. As she untangles pious tradition from historical fact, she also decodes the architectural influences of Rome and Burgundy, and traces the alterations wrought over centuries of habitation."--Jacket.