Medieval Cistercian Architecture
Austere Monastic Buildings That Created The New Gothic Style
Jun 20, 2008
The Cistercian monastic order was founded to recapture the original simplicity and purity of monastic life. And it did this not only spiritually, but in medieval Cistercian architecture, creating masterpieces of elegant plainness.
The order was founded at Citeaux in Burgundy in 1098, by monks who had left the Benedictine abbey of Cluny for a more austere life. By 1200, there were 500 monasteries attached to the order; it was a true multinational organisation, with Cistercian abbeys in Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain and England, as well as the order's heartland, France.
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Cistercian Monasteries Are Instantly Recognisabl
Yet every medieval Cistercian monastery is instantly recognisable by the simplicity, restraint and strength of its architecture. Bernard of Clairvaux, a great early Cistercian saint, criticised the ornateness of earlier architecture, and in particular, the carvings of fantastic creatures that often decorated it. Instead, he advocated extreme plainness, and his example was followed – even to the extent of using grisaille (grey and white) stained glass rather than the richly coloured glass seen at cathedrals like Chartres and Bourges.
Cistercian churches rarely have towers. Nor do they have splendid western portals; since only the monks were allowed inside, there was no need for one. A simple oculus or a rose window at the west end is often the only decoration of the west wall, and the other walls are plain except for plain lancet windows.
Inside, the churches are often barrel vaulted, creating a marvellous acoustic as well as a feeling of simplicity. Capitals are usually carved with 'stiff leaf' rather than the earlier Romanesque interlace or narrative.
Monasteries in the Wildernss
The Cistercians usually built in the wilderness, well away from towns and cities, and that gives many of England's Cistercian ruins a lovely feeling, hidden away in green valleys or beside fast flowing rivers. Rievaulx and Fountains, in Yorkshire, seem remote from modern life, and Tintern, on the Severn just above Chepstow, is possibly the most beautifully sited monastic church anywhere.
In France, some of the most interesting Cistercian monasteries are those of Provence. Silvacane for instance, with its barrel vault, and its simple west end which is almost a paradigm of the Cistercian aesthetic – a simple oculus above three lancets. Nearby is Le Thoronet, with one of the earliest Cistercian cloisters – a low, barrel vaulted space which retains its original 'lavatorium' where the monks washed before services.
Fontenay, in Burgundy, is another fine early Cistercian monastery, which retains most of its original monastic buildings. It even has the original dovecote and forge, as well as the cloister, dormitory, and chapter house.
The Cistercian order soon spread to Spain, where Catalonia has three fine early Cistercian monasteries – Poblet, Santes Creus, and Vallbona. Santes Creus was started in about 1150 and the whole abbey can now be visited; Poblet, begun a little later, is still an active monastery, so visiting is more limited.
Cistercians Built in Brick, too
In Poland, many Cistercian abbeys had baroque makeovers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, so few preserve their pristine Gothic simplicity. At Pelplin, in the north, the towering brick church of the Cistercian monks became the city's cathedral; it's strikingly plain, and hugely impressive.
Germany's great Cistercian cloister is Kloster Maulbronn. It was founded in 1147 – under the first Cistercian monk to become Pope, Eugenius III – and despite later changes, retains the kernel of the early Gothic monastery. Eberbach Abbey was founded by Bernard of Clairvaux himself, in the vineyards on the east of the Rhine; the monks of Eberbach soon made a fortune from winemaking. Here, the church is Romanesque rather than Gothic – but it's still recognisably Cistercian with its plain barrel vault and simple oculus. Eberbach's particular appeal is a fine, huge Romanesque wine cellar, running under the range devoted to the lay brothers (non-monks working at the monastery).
The finest example of a Cistercian abbey in Italy is Fossanova, south-east of Rome. Its twelfth and thirteenth century buildings are clearly influenced by those of Burgundy, in the plain early Gothic style that you can see at Fontenay. Like other Cistercian foundations, it's remote, away from the main roads – though the abbey does have a small guesthouse.
Perhaps the most atmospheric Cistercian site of all, though, is Hovedoya, a ruined abbey on an island in the middle of Oslo fjord in Norway. The abbey was burned and pulled down at the Reformation – but the Cistercian sense of peace and stillness remains.
