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Seminar 14:
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The Cistercian order of monks was known, initially at least, for architectural simplicity and austerity: not for Cistercians were monasteries full of stained glass windows, devotional images, sculptured cloister arcades and church towers. Instead Cistercian monastic houses were supposed to be visually unadorned and overt decorative elements were absent from their material landscapes. This talk will look at Cistercian monasteries in the context of such claims to simplicity. It will concentrate particularly on the ways in which Cistercians used the physical environment to articulate a monastic vision of spiritual liberation. Through a careful enunciation of earthly and eternal space, Cistercian monks shaped not only their physical surrounds but also the terrain of their devotional and spiritual worlds.
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