A cloister is a type of patio that on its four sides has a porticoed gallery with arches that rest on columns "Column (architecture)") or double columns. It is built after one of the side naves of a cathedral or the church of a monastery. Each gallery takes the name panda and in each panda the different spaces necessary for monastic or cathedral life are distributed. It is usually a place of retreat. The patio is almost always landscaped and in the center there is a fountain or a well. The word comes from the Latin claudere, with the meaning of "close." Also called "closure."

The cloister is a square plan and each of the four sides is called benedicts. In the center there is usually a well where four paths meet, and in the remaining space, a small garden. On each side of the cloister there is a gallery or corridor (also called a panda) covered and limited by arcades. In the eastern group there is almost always a small room that served as a room or library, independently of the large library that some important monasteries had. Next was the chapter house, a piece that was considered of great importance and was generally built with rich architectural ornamentation. It was the meeting place of the community, where the chapters of the rule of the order were read and where the abbot organized the different tasks to be followed by the monks. This room was where possible faults of any of them were exposed so that the superior could reprimand them. It was said call chapter.

In the south panda there used to be the calefactorio, a warm place where the monks could go from time to time to rest and warm up. Next to it, the refectory, which was the dining room, and adjacent to it, the kitchen.

The west gang used to be called de Legos and it also had the alley de Legos and the alley with the warehouse. The monks' cells or the large common dormitory (depending on the time and the different orders) were on the upper floor.

The capitals of the columns of the Romanesque cloisters are specially decorated and carved and sometimes constitute true works of art.