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n 1098,  Abbot Robert of Molesmes and twenty-onecompanions “set out eagerly for a wilderness known as Cîteaux … where men rarely penetrated and none but wild things lived, so densely covered was it then with woodland and thorn bush.” (The Little Exford)

 

Cistercian Architecture, Part 1: The Early Years & its Gallo-Roman Roots

Emulating the lives of the early hermit monks, and with the Rule of St. Benedict as their guide, the first Cistercians sought isolation in the forests of Burgundy.  They raised their initial buildings of wood and mud brick.  A timber wall enclosed all, protecting against predators, two-legged and four-legged alike, for the forests were replete with robbers, wolves and wild boar.  Despite the perils, the men embraced their new home with great joy and holy fervor.  To be a monk was to live a life enclosed with one’s community, all hearts set on God.  Whether the monastery be built of wood, clay or aught else, it must, first and foremost, be designed to serve the needs of that shared life. 

Beginning at Cîteaux in 1098—and repeated, time and again, at the founding of numerous “daughter” houses—the monks first sited their location with a water source foremost in mind.  They would then set about clearing a patch of land and felling trees to erect a chapel, a few common buildings, and the enclosure wall.  Contemporary writings describe these early monasteries as no more than a “huddle of huts”—nothing remotely akin to the grand, lofty structures that remain to us today, nor suggestive of the achievements to come, that would help transition sacred architecture from the Romanesque to the Gothic style.  Thirty-seven years would pass after the founding of the Order before the Cistercians would begin to build in stone.  When they did, they would have a hundred years of Benedictine architecture to draw upon, deeply rooted in a Gallo-Roman past.

Early Christian architecture and its Gallo-Roman roots:

In the first centuries following the death of Christ, Christians were a minority, persecuted and outlawed in the Roman Empire, particularly so during the reign of Diocletian (284 – 305 A.D.).  They worshipped in secret in homes of their members.  At the beginning of the 4^th century, this changed upon the conversion of the emperor, Constantine.  Christians could now worship openly and erect their own sacred buildings.  Pagan temples (still in use), proved unsuitable as models since their followers remained outside the structures during ceremonies, with only the priests and priestesses performing the rituals within.  On the other hand, the Roman basilica—a secular building that housed the courts of law and other civic functions—was designed to accommodate large assemblies.  Its hall was long and rectangular. Two rows of columns divided the space, these supporting a wooden roof while creating side aisles along the length of the building.  The judges’ bench stood at the far end in a rounded apse, opposite the entrance.  (Sometimes, it would be located on a side-wall, again in a semi-circular, “bumped-out” apse.) Mosaics covered the floors, displaying stories of Roman deities, heroic tales, or simply decorative in function.

The Christians adapted the basilica form for their churches, giving it an east-west orientation, the entrance being located on the (short) west end, and the altar in the rounded east end, facing the rising sun.  The mosaics were moved to the walls, depicting narratives and themes from the bible—apostles, angels, saints, etc.—moving from west to east, toward the altar where additional mosaics covered the apse.

With the collapse of the Roman Empire in the west, large-scale building in stone ceased.  None of the wooden churches built between the sixth to eighth centuries survive, though we may glimpse them in illuminated manuscripts.  The accuracy of those depictions is uncertain, however, and much debated.  The ninth and tenth centuries saw the onslaught of the Vikings (from the north), Magyars (from the east) and Saracens (from the south).  They inevitably targeted churches for the precious objects they contained.  Finally, around the year 1000 A.D., with the barbarians converted, assimilated, or embroiled in struggles in their homelands, life quieted in the west and the building of sacred architecture resumed. 

O ver the centuries, the basilica form was altered to a cruciform shape, gaining transepts (short arms) that bisected the nave, toward the east end.  Roman architecture continued to provide inspiration, for ample ruins of this once-great empire lay strewn across Europe and every land it had reached.  The Romanesque style, to which this period of architecture belongs [roughly, the tenth to the twelfth centuries], simply means “Roman-like”.  It is not one, unified style, but rather, “bits and pieces were borrowed,” (as Professor William R. Cook explains in his excellent lecture series, The Cathedral). 

Aside from the altered basilica form, other elements most often associated with the Romanesque style include:  roofs of stone, replacing or enclosing the wooden ceilings which were prone to fire and decay from the elements; exceedingly thick walls to hold up the stone roofs; few windows, which would weaken walls, hence dark interiors; colonnades, dividing the nave into three aisles; semi-circular arches; and barrel vaulting, also known as tunnel vaulting.

While the church lay at the heart of the monastic community, the cloisters stood adjacent to it, attached to the north or south wall.  Together, the church and cloisters formed the architectural core of the monastery.