The Cistercian Abbey
Contenido
La vida monástica de los monjes se vivía dentro de la clausura. Su espiritualidad se ordenaba por la regla: silencio, disciplina, obediencia al abad, horario riguroso distribuido entre numerosos rezos en común, lecturas religiosas y trabajo manual.
Además, en la abadía vivía una segunda comunidad, la de los conversos. Vivían su entrega espiritual en el trabajo diario en el campo, fraguas y molinos, no sabían leer y no mantenían ningún contacto con la comunidad de monjes. Esto último se consiguió diseñando dos zonas en el monasterio estancas e incomunicadas entre sí. La zona de los conversos tenía la misma calidad constructiva que la de los monjes.
La uniformidad de la orden se establece en el Exordio de Císter y Resumen de la Carta de Caridad:.
Todas las abadías tienen también una arquitectura similar. En primer lugar, se buscaron soluciones constructivas para cada dependencia que favoreciesen el espíritu de la regla, lo que se llama el establecimiento del programa tipo , o resumidamente plano tipo, donde Bernardo de Claraval tuvo una influencia decisiva. En segundo lugar, una vez establecido el plano tipo, se impuso en las nuevas construcciones.
La planta tipo se aplicó en la construcción de todos los nuevos monasterios. Así, la iglesia se orientaba en la dirección este-oeste con la cabecera al este; el claustro se adosaba a la iglesia; el ala este del claustro se dedicaba a dependencias de los monjes con la sala capitular en la planta baja y el dormitorio en la planta primera con dos escaleras, una que baja al interior de la iglesia y la otra al claustro; en el ala del claustro contraria a la iglesia se disponía el refectorio y la cocina; en el ala oeste (normalmente, con acceso independiente del claustro), un edificio de dos plantas se destinaba a los conversos y almacenes con acceso independiente a la parte trasera de la iglesia.
Cada abad padre transmitía a sus filiales el plan arquitectónico que había aplicado anteriormente en la construcción de su propia abadía y toda su experiencia acumulada. Además, todos los abades se reunían en Císter en el Capítulo General, una vez al año, y está comprobado que se hablaba mucho de la construcción de las nuevas obras. Por último, en la construcción propiamente dicha del nuevo monasterio, viviendo el día a día de la obra, el abad tenía a un monje encargado, llamado cillerero, cuya responsabilidad era el control de las obras y además llevaba las finanzas de la abadía bajo la supervisión del abad.
El monje cillerero controlaba los albañiles (unidos en una corporación gremial que integraba a canteros y destajistas), los herreros y los carpinteros (para los andamios y cimbras se precisaba mucha madera). Es una cuestión todavía debatida si los arquitectos eran los mismos monjes o contrataban maestros de obra. Dado el secreto gremial de la construcción en esta época, la alta cualificación que se precisaba y la enorme actividad constructora que desplegaron en poco tiempo, parece razonable pensar que emplearon maestros de obra contratados específicamente para la construcción. En la Edad Media empleaban ya una organización muy compleja, diversas formas de sueldos y precios, distintos tipos de contratos, y se llevaba una contabilidad rigurosa de todos los gastos.
Asombra comprobar, cuando se visitan las abadías, encontrar siempre la misma distribución.
• - Kirkstall.
• - Maulbronn.
• - Abadía de Fontenay.
• - Pontigny.
the church
The church was for the exclusive use of communities of monks and converts. For this reason there is no main façade through which believers enter the church. The monks entered through two side doors at the front, during the day through the cloister and at night from the bedroom through the matins staircase. Converts entered through a side at the back through a separate corridor that connected to their building.
The community of monks was placed in the choir of monks at the front of the central nave, the converts in the choir of converts at the back of the central nave. Both choirs were physically separated.
The church is the most important building of the abbey and the house of God. Architecturally, the characteristics of these churches are:.
• - Central nave "Nave (architecture)") with pointed barrel vaults (in the initial period, Romanesque) or slightly pointed ribbed vaults with ribs and side windows (in the second period, Gothic).
• - Two smaller side naves that serve as buttresses for the vault of the central nave.
• - A cornice usually runs longitudinally along the base of the vault.
• - Cruciform pillars with embedded circular pilasters that extend, one to the transverse arch of the vault of the central nave, two others in the former arches and the fourth in the side nave.
• - The circular pilasters of the central nave are frequently interrupted before reaching the floor on a corbel.
• - Elevations of the single-story central nave with former arches.
• - Flat choir with windows in the front arch") (initially), later the circular ones would also appear.
• - Transept with four other flat secondary choirs (where the other monk-priests celebrated their daily mass).
• - Monochrome lighting, usually white.
• - Cistercian churches.
• - Eberbach.
• - Silvacane.
• - Pontigny.
• - Wheel.
• - Fontenay Abbey.
• - Sacramenia "Monastery of Santa María la Real (Sacramenia)").
• - Veruela.
• - Morimondo.
The cloister
The cloister is the center of monastic life and from there you can access all the monks' quarters. It is a covered gallery, which makes the perimeter of a square of 25 to 35 meters on a side and opens internally to a central patio through a continuous archway.
The vaults were initially pointed barrel vaults, but the Gothic model, with pointed arches and ribbed vaults, was quickly accepted.
The gallery, initially, was semicircular arches, grouped two by two under relief arches with buttresses. Later, the Gothic arch was used and the groups were two, three or four arches per discharge arch.
The capitals are very simple, usually with a plant motif. The order did not allow sculptures, remember the Apology of Saint Bernard against the historiated capitals of the Cluniacs.
• - Cistercian cloisters.
• - Senanque.
• - Fontenay.
• - Wheel.
The chapter house
From the east side of the cloister you can access the chapter house on the ground floor and above it, on the first floor, is the monks' dormitory. As can be seen in the first section, in order not to raise the bedroom too high, the chapter house is somewhat deepened, remaining half-buried, and this room is also given a reduced height.
The room is square and its vault has a semicircular cross, with ribs that originate in four small central columns and in corbels distributed along the side walls. This classic Cistercian vault is repeated in other rooms and is one of the characteristics of these monasteries. The fact that it is a very low vault allows the details to be seen up close, as if it were a crypt.
Ending the arches on a corbel in the wall is a technique widely used in Cistercian architecture. In this way they managed to give the vault a little less width and simplified its construction. In the bibliography, it is frequently cited the other way around: this way they managed to enlarge the rooms. These corbels are found in all rooms. In each monastery they made their distinctive corbel, particularizing it at the lower end with a simple ornament. In several photographs of the article you can see different finishes of corbels.
The room is well lit, as it receives light from the cloister through the door and two open arches, and also from the opposite side with windows in the wall.
In this room all the monks met with the abbot every morning, they read the rule, each monk could personally recognize breaches of the rule or could be accused of it by another monk. (This person asks for forgiveness and fulfills the penance that is imposed on him because of his fault... there he obeys in everything the Abbot of the same and his chapter in the observance of the holy Rule or the Order and in the correction of faults.- Letter of Charity).
• - Chapter houses.
• - Fontfroide.
• - Fontenay.
• - Santes Creus.
• - Veruela.
The monks' dormitory
• - Monk dormitories.
• - Senanque.
• - Fontenay.
• - Santes Creus.
• - Eberbach.
The monastic Rule warned against nudity and isolation of monks, for which it prescribed a communal and supervised dormitory. This arrangement materialized in a long room, often located on an elevated floor to avoid humidity, where the entire community slept. The typical layout of this room included, at one end, access to the transept of the church through the matins staircase; and on the opposite, the entrance to the parlor or latrines. From the floor of the room, a simple open hole allowed access to the cloister staircase. From an architectural point of view, the most notable element of this room is its vault.
The lavatory
Water in the Middle Ages had a special symbology: the water of baptism represents the purification and spiritual rebirth of the new and Christian person, the water of Genesis is the origin of the world, the source of life meant immortality.
The abbey's water supply was twofold: for the drainage of latrines, agricultural and industrial uses, the course of the river was partially diverted so that it passed through one end of the monastery; For drinking water and liturgical use, pure water was channeled from a nearby spring to the lavatory, through hydraulic installations of a certain complexity to maintain the pressure.
The fountain is located in a small covered portico, attached to the cloister, in front of the refectory. According to the Order's program, it was to be a very simple and pleasant-looking construction. It is a small temple where the vault, arches, buttresses and facades can be seen on a reduced scale.
It is a square or hexagonal room with two doors, the monks entered in a row through one of them, washed in groups of 6 or 8 and left through the other, to enter the refectory. It was also used for personal hygiene. Liturgically, it was used for ablutions and on Saturdays they washed each other's feet.
Regarding the hygiene of these monasteries, it is assumed that it was not excessive due to the lack of a bathing room, which at that time was considered an immodest place.
• - Lavatories.
• - Wheel.
• - Santes Creus.
• - Alcove.
• - Maulbronn.
The refectory
In the Cistercian plan, the refectory (dining room) and the kitchen are located in the wing of the cloister opposite the church, the area intended to cover physiological needs (just like the lavatory or latrines). It has a perpendicular layout to the cloister.
The monks only ate twice a day and in some periods they also fasted. They could not eat meat, although birds and fish in the Middle Ages were not included in this group. That's why they had pigeon lofts and fish farms because it was an important part of their diet.
The rule establishes that one eat in silence while listening to the reader, who read sacred texts from a pulpit, which gave a lot of similarity to church services. In fact, the Cistercians architecturally treated this room similar to a church. In the refectory of the Huerta Abbey the characteristics of other Cistercian dining rooms are confirmed:
Other rooms
Of the rest of the monks' quarters, the scriptorium must be highlighted. In it, the monks copied sacred books and other Latin texts. As there were many new abbeys, many books were needed and copying in parchment codices was one of the main activities of the monks. Three styles were developed in the Cistercian codices. The initial style corresponds to the Bible of Esteban Harding, it was a style that admitted humor, colorful and exuberant. The intermediate style, also in the time of Stephen Harding was more serious and idealized, corresponds to The Commentaries on the Bible of Saint Jerome. The third style, imposed by Bernard of Clairvaux, corresponds to The Great Bible of Clairvaux, it was very austere, gold could not be used, nor figures represented, and the writing was monochrome with blue initials. The person responsible for the care of the monastery's books was the monk called chantre and the place where they were kept was the armarium, which was in the cloister next to the entrance to the church.
The converts lived in the west building of the cloister, almost symmetrical to that of the monks. It was also two floors, on the lower floor was his refectory and storage rooms, and on the upper floor was his bedroom and latrines. In the monastery there were other rooms: the forge, the mill, the infirmary, the inn, the porter's office, etc. Outside the monastery, the converts' farms were groups of buildings for agricultural and industrial work.
All these units were built with similar techniques. It is common to find elongated rooms, with a row of columns in the center and pointed cross or barrel vaults, similar to those used in the chapter house.
• - Fontenay Scriptorium.
• - Rueda Scriptorium.
• - Eberbach wine presses.
The outside
Simplicity also prevails in the exterior architecture. The Cistercians prohibited towers in churches, only a lantern for the bells "Bell (instrument)") was allowed, which barely protruded from the "Cover (construction)") of the nave. The lack of such an important element in the exterior architecture of a church causes surprise.
Another characteristic of these constructions, as in Romanesque buildings, are the buttresses of the vaults. These vertical exterior elements are rhythmically repeated and divide the building into equal modules. Also, as mentioned above, the facades of the churches did not stand out, since the monks and converts entered the church through interior doors. All the buildings of the abbey were surrounded by a wall, as indicated in the description of the heavenly Jerusalem of the Apocalypse. However, the Cistercians did not adopt the twelve gates mentioned in the heavenly city.
• - Exterior views.
• - Fontenay.
• - Silvacane.
• - Pontigny.
• - Morimondo.