Cistercian architecture

[1] This "architecture of light" was intended to raise the observer "from the material to the immaterial"[2] – it was, according to the 20th century historian Georges Duby, a "monument of applied theology".

[3] In order to achieve such moving effects, the interiors of many religious buildings were designed to be witnessed at specific times of the day such as sunrise and sunset.

Why these unsightly monkeys, why these fierce lions, why the monstrous centaurs, why semi-humans, why spotted tigers, why fighting soldiers, why trumpeting huntsmen?

[6]These sentiments were repeated frequently throughout the Middle Ages,[6] and the builders of the Cistercian monasteries had to adopt a style that observed the numerous rules inspired by Bernard's austere aesthetics.

[9] A certain homogeneity resulted: Various buildings, including the chapter-house to the east and the dormitories above, were grouped around a cloister, and were sometimes linked to the transept of the church itself by a night stair.

[8] Usually Cistercian churches were cruciform, with a short presbytery to meet the liturgical needs of the brethren, small chapels in the transepts for private prayer, and an aisled nave that was divided roughly in the middle by a screen to separate the monks from the lay brothers.

[15] The Cistercians "made it a point of honour to recruit the best stonecutters", and as early as 1133, St Bernard was hiring workers to help the monks erect new buildings at Clairvaux.

At the abbey of Fontenay the forge is not outside, as one might expect, but inside the monastic enclosure: metalworking was thus part of the activity of the monks and not of the lay brothers.

[24] The Cistercian abbeys of Fontenay in France,[25] Fountains in England,[26] Alcobaça in Portugal,[27] Poblet in Spain[28] and Maulbronn in Germany are today recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

[25] The abbeys of 12th century England were stark and undecorated – a dramatic contrast with the elaborate churches of the wealthier Benedictine houses – yet to quote Warren Hollister, "even now the simple beauty of Cistercian ruins such as Fountains and Rievaulx, set in the wilderness of Yorkshire, is deeply moving".

[30] In the purity of architectural style, the beauty of materials and the care with which the Alcobaça Monastery was built,[27] Portugal possesses one of the most outstanding and best preserved examples of Early Gothic.