1. Medieval Monasteries and Architectural Invention
Culminating in the opus modernum or “Gothic” Architecture in France

2. “Gothic” – opus modernum (“modern work”) or opus franceginum (“French work”)

3. Late Antique or Early Christian Italian Renaissance begins
Architecture in the Middle Ages ( )
EMERGENCE OF EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE Critiquing the Legacy of Rome
Late Antique or Early Christian
Carolingian
Romanesque
Gothic
Middle Ages
medieval
476
Fall of Rome
c. 1400
Italian Renaissance begins

4. Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Cistercian order
Western monasticism toward the end of the Romanesque era
Benedictine order 1. 2.
“What is the good of displaying all this gold in the church? You display the statue of a saint and you think that the more overloaded with colors it is, the holier it is. And people throng to kiss it – and are urged to leave an offering; they pay homage to the beauty of the object more than to its holiness Oh vanity! vanity! and folly even greater than the vanity! The church sparkles and gleams on all sides, while its poor huddle in need; its stones are gilded, while its children go unclad; in it the art lovers find enough to satisfy their curiosity, while the poor find nothing there to relieve their misery.”

5. Fontenay Abbey, France, 12th century (1139-47)
I. An alternative Romanesque ➝ the non-magnificence of Cistercian monastic architecture
Fontenay Abbey, France, 12th century ( )

6. Abbey of Cluny 1088-1130 destroyed (mostly) 1789-1823
I. A. What was the typical program of monasteries and how was Cistercian monasticism exceptional? 4.
Benedictine abbey at Cluny (Fr.)
Cistercian abbey of Fontenay,
The Romanesque Abbey in 12th cen. (Cluny III)
Abbey of Cluny
photomontage reconstituting the great basilica Cluny III
destroyed (mostly)

7. Benedictine abbey at Cluny Cistercian abbey of Fontenay
cloister(s),
refectory,
chapter house,
dormitory,
workroom and forge
Benedictine abbey at Cluny
Cistercian abbey of Fontenay

8. Cistercian abbey of Fontenay
I. A. 1. Cloister – why was the cloister the heart of a monastic community?
Cistercian abbey of Fontenay

9. Cluniac abbey at Moissac Cistercian abbey of Fontenay
I. A. 2. How was the cloister of Cluny III (Benedictine) different from that of Fontenay (Cisterician)?
Cluniac abbey at Moissac
Cistercian abbey of Fontenay

10. Benedictine abbey at Cluny Cistercian abbey of Fontenay
I. B. The aesthetics of Cistercian architectural design compared with typical Romanesque magnificence?
Benedictine abbey at Cluny
Cistercian abbey of Fontenay

11. surviving Cluny transept (south arm) Cluny nave, 95' high
I. B.
surviving Cluny transept (south arm)
Cluny nave, 95' high
Cistercian abbey church of Fontenay
reconstruction

12. I. B.
transept of Fontenay

13. I. B.
dormitory of Fontenay

14. Cistercian abbey church of Fontenay
I. B. 2. Which of these inventions was acceptable to the Cistercian ideology at Fontenay?
Cluny nave, 95' high
Cistercian abbey church of Fontenay
pointed barrel vault
and pointed arches
reconstruction

15. Fontenay – south flank of church
I. B. 2.
abbey church of Cluny III
Abbey church at Cluny
Fontenay – south flank of church
flying buttress

16. by Villard de Honnecourt, 1220s/40s
I. C. How was the theory of Romanesque architecture (Platonic theory) applied with rigor in Cistercian
monasteries? 3.
Quadrature: 1 : √2 or other methods based on manipulating the square:
Fontenay Abbey
Medieval architect’s sketchbook
by Villard de Honnecourt, 1220s/40s

17. Cistercian abbey at Fontenay
I. C. 5.
Cistercian abbey at Fontenay

18. Choir of St.-Denis, Paris, France, b. 1144, Gothic
II. Gothic theory of divine light: emerging Gothic architecture follows mathematical ratio theory and some
faith in human senses to appreciate the splendor of the divine
Choir of St.-Denis, Paris, France, b. 1144, Gothic

19. Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Cistercian order
II.
Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux ( ) Cistercian order
Abbot Suger of St.-Denis ( ) Benedictine order
“We maintain that the sacred vessels should be enhanced by outward adornment, and nowhere more than in serving the Holy Sacrifice, where inwardly all should be pure and outwardly all should be noble If, according to the word of God and the prophet’s command, the gold ves-sels, the gold phials, and the small gold mortars were used to collect the blood of goats, the calves,
“What is the good of displaying all this gold in the church? You display the statue of a saint and you think that the more overloaded with colors it is, the holier it is. And people throng to kiss it – and are urged to leave an offering; they pay homage to the beauty of the object more than to its holiness Oh vanity! vanity! and folly even greater than the vanity! The church sparkles and gleams on all sides, while its poor huddle in need; its stones are gilded, while its children go unclad; in it the art lovers find enough to satisfy their curiosity, while the poor find nothing there to relieve their misery.”
and a red heifer, then how much more zealously shall we hold our gold vases, precious stones, and all that we value most highly in creation, in order to collect the blood of Jesus Christ.”

20. colored light and air in the choir of St.-Denis
II. A. Abbot Suger on light: “de materialibus ad immaterialia” (“from the material to the immaterial”)
colored light and air in the choir of St.-Denis

21. Neoplatonic theory + Theology of light that appeals to the senses
II. A.
Neoplatonic purity
(Romanesque)
Neoplatonic theory + Theology of light
that appeals to the senses
(Gothic)
Cistercian abbey church at Fontenay
Benedictine abbey church of St.-Denis

22. III. A. pointed arch or arc brisé (“broken arch”) = modernist characteristic
III. Structure: What combination of older structural expedients made it possible for Abbot Suger to
realize a new sensory-oriented, light-filled religious space?
Choir of St.-Denis

23. III. B. rib vaults = modernist structure
Choir of St.-Denis

24. rib vaults facilitate vaulting irregular bay shapes
III. B.
Choir of St.-Denis
rib vaults facilitate vaulting irregular bay shapes

25. pointed arches and rib vaults Gothic pointed arches and rib vaults
III. B.
Romanesque
pointed arches and rib vaults
Gothic
pointed arches and rib vaults
Durham Cathedral, 1093
Cluny III, 1088
Not brand new technologies at St.-Denis
St.-Étienne at Caen, 1120
Fontenay Abbey, 1139

26. III. C. How is Abbot Suger’s choir at St
III. C. How is Abbot Suger’s choir at St.-Denis, then, a new style of architecture (Gothic)?
Choir of St.-Denis

27. HISTORICIST tendencies (classicizing, legitimized by precedent)
III. C.
HISTORICIST tendencies
(classicizing, legitimized by precedent)
New MODERNIST tendencies
(anti-classical, forward-moving)
standard basilical profile
complex, towered profile
complex, towered profile
structural ponderance
skeletal frame
skeletal frame
wall as a 3-D entity in planes
walls a continuous plane
OR elevational system rather than
true wall
OR elevational system rather than
true wall
classical column (pilasters,
engaged columns)
compound piers
compound piers
round arches
pointed arches (“broken” arches)
pointed arches (“broken” arches)
punched in windows and square-headed doors
walls/doors in recessed archivolts
walls/doors in recessed archivolts
vertical articulation in a bay system
vertical articulation in a bay system
horizontal continuous space
load-bearing vaults
rib vaults
rib vaults
Choir of St.-Denis (Benedictine abbey church)