Christian SAPIN
DE LA COUR AU CLOÎTRE CAROLINGIEN
From the galleried court to the Carolingian cloister. Well known in the monastic architecture, the cloister surrounded by covered galleries was not immediately imposed and proceeds quite surely from several antecedents. The latest archaeological researches in Europe allow us to retain remains of structures, leading from the courtyard surrounded by porticoes towards an enclosed space, meeting specific functional and religious requirements. This paper aims to embrace the steps of this “invention” and to better understand the reasons of its creation properly Carolingian, around 800 AD. We intend to present it through written sources and several examples of archaeological digs, some of them recents and still unpublished in France, which enlighten the organising of the buildings where the monks lived together.
Elizabeth VALDEZ DEL ÁLAMO
LE CLOÎTRE, LIEU DE RÉSONANCES DE LA VIE MONASTIQUE
The cloister is the very heart of a monastery. Its central placement makes it the space that one must pass through to go from one building to another. This article examines the various functions of a cloister as described in the Consuetudines Coenobii Cluniacensis, a customary composed by Bernard of Cluny around 1085. Far from being a simple place of passage, the cloister is a space for reflection, for instruction, for the expression of the ideals of the monastic community, as well as a site for domestic activities. My principle example will be Santo Domingo de Silos, and I shall draw upon the examples of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Pierre of Moissac as well as of the collegiate church of Saint-Trophîme of Arles.
Immaculada LORÉS OTZET
SCULPTURES, EMPLACEMENTS ET FONCTIONS DES CLOÎTRES ROMANS EN CATALOGNE
In recent years, those studies concerning Romanesque cloisters have surveyed the iconographical analysis by considering the monument’s context: the specific spaces in each studied case. Within the cloister, this research involves assessing to what extent did the liturgy and the daily life that took place in each of the galleries and adjacent areas, allows an explanation for the arrangement of the cycles and images. The same can be stated concerning the circulation between the different areas of the monastery, canonical or cathedral, and the processions that circulated through the cloister or the different entrances towards certain spaces, especially the church and the chapter house. In the case of the Catalan Romanesque cloisters, and given the significant number of sites preserved and still assembled, this type of approach is not only feasible but also desirable. The diversity of solutions that they set forward indicates a high degree of discretion, which requires a prudent and methodical analysis of each case without forcing the possible interpretations.
Carlo TOSCO
L’ARCHITECTURE DES CLOÎTRES DANS L’ITALIE DU NORD (XIe-XIIe SIÈCLES)
This work aims to trace a general picture of the cloisters in Northern Italy, in a geographical area traditionally attributed to Lombard architecture. In the 11th century there are little evidences for cloisters in monastic structures. They were usually quadrangular courtyards, often with an uneven plan, situated next to churches. Positioning in line with churches is, however, documented, but is rare. At the beginning of the 12th century, there was an extensive monumental development of cloisters, which took on a regular geometric structure and an even configuration in terms of supports and decorations. The protagonists of this phase were the chapters of the cathedrals, which acquired considerable importance within the historical framework of Italian cities, at the time of affirmation of the Communes. As of the second quarter of the 12th century, the first cloisters with a rich system of decorated capitals began to appear, featuring figurative cycles illustrating biblical or hagiographic stories. During the 12th century, the funerary functions of cloisters gradually became more widespread, developing considerably in the Gothic period.
Yoan MATTALIA
« SICUT MILITES IN PRELIO ET QUASI MONACHI IN DOMO ». CLOÎTRE ET CLÔTURE MONASTIQUE
DANS LES ÉTABLISSEMENTS DES ORDRES RELIGIEUX MILITAIRES AUX XIIe ET XIIIe SIÈCLES
The cloister is hardly noticeable among the monastic spaces that make up the Western domus of the orders of the Temple and the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. However, just as the church building of these small regular communities, the cloister is fully involved in the materialization of their identity. Based on recent studies, this article tries to question the notion of monastic enclosure in the rural and urban houses of the military orders, analyse the topography and the architecture of this monastic space as well as the functions which have been allocated to him.
Carles SÁNCHEZ MÁRQUEZ
FÊTE, MUSIQUE ET AMOUR COURTOIS DANS LE CLOÎTRE CATALAN : SANTA MARIA DE L’ESTANY ET L’HÉRITAGE OCCITAN
The cloister of Santa Maria de l’Estany (Barcelona) exhibits a rich and remarkable visual display that offers almost all the profane themes on medieval imaginary: courtesan scenes, musical celebrations, minstrels, as well as a series dedicated to the medieval calendar and the daily life. The mentioned images compose the profane figuration which was developed and expanded throughout the catalano-aragonese territories during the reign of James I (1213-1276); they appeared in sacred as well as in courtesan spaces. So that, this iconography is listed in several artistic testimonies of the Crown of Aragon, for instance at the coffer of the Teruel’s cathedral, at the Vidal Mayor, as well in the pictorial cycles that decorated some courtesan spaces of Barcelona and Montpellier.
Anabel MORENO
Gerardo BOTO VARELA
EXPÉRIENCES DE CONSTRUCTION ET DE VOÛTEMENT DES CLOÎTRES ROMANS AU NORD DE LA CATALOGNE*
In the northeast of Catalonia, stand a series of cloisters of the late twelfth century whose galleries are covered with vaults, half-barrel or quarter-barrel shift. The cloister vaulting was early developed in the «low cloister» of Sant Pere de Rodes, but its specific solution doesn’t take place in the genesis of late-Romanesque arches, where we might include those of Sant Quirze de Colera and Sant Pere de Galligants, distributor center for other churches and monasteries in Girona. The origins of the Catalan cloisters vaults seem to be in the Provence region, where the use of the half-barrel vault, crawling or broken, with doubleaux was widespread, and that, since the mid-twelfth century until well beyond the early thirteenth. The decision to install a vault upon a gallery involves a calculation of the necessary strength. In assessing the carrying capacity of the pillars and columns, it also took into account the reliability of the material used, which, in the town of Girona, was always the nummulitic limestone. Constructive sequence reflects the search for a material strength limit. On the other hand, the choice of vaulting the cloister galleries, statistically uncommon in reality, invites reflection on what is meant by Romanesque cloister and the characteristics that determine it.
Ute DERCKS
LE CHAPITEAU DE LA DÉDICACE À MONREALE ET LES CHAPITEAUX HISTORIÉS DES CLOÎTRES D’ITALIE MÉRIDIONALE ET DE SICILE
The most important centers of Romanesque decorated capitals are found Spain, Sicily and in southern France, where the introduction of historiated capitals brought about a paradigm shift around the year 1100. Originally part of a monastic complex built under the royal patronage of the Norman king William II, the cloister in Monreale in Sicily constitutes a significant example of Romanesque artistic production not only in Italy but throughout the entire Mediterranean. It combines a wide variety of contemporary currents in Romanesque decorative sculpture. The Dedication capital belongs to a group of the most remarkable capitals of the cloister. While one side portrays the dedication of the cathedral by the King to the Virgin, the three other sides are decorated with figures. Without a doubt, however, the scene depicting the presentation of the church itself forms the principal view and the point of departure for interpreting the surrounding figures.
Daniela MONDINI
LES CLOÎTRES DES COSMATI : MARBRE, MOSAÏQUE ET PAROLE
In Rome, at the beginning of the 13th Century, two sumptuous cloisters were built, probably in competition with one another. During the 12th and 13th century white marble, polychromous incrustations and mosaics with golden tesserae became the distinctive elements of a kind of “pontifical aesthetics”, characteristic of Rome and the Papal States. This paper discusses three aspects of this development: first the absence, during the 12th century, of figurative sculpture and decoration in Roman cloisters; and second, the shift from a “humble” décor of cloisters to the decorative “explosion” we find in the Benedictine abbey of Saint Paul outside the walls and in Saint John in the Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome. Finally attention is given to the epigraphy of these two “talking buildings”, particularly to the rhetoric of splendour of their inscriptions, which draws a connection between the sparkling perfection of the cloister’s structure and monastic life according to the Rule. The inscriptions seem to be in dialogue with one another.
John McNEILL
LA REDÉCOUVERTE DU CLOÎTRE ROMAN EN ANGLETERRE. TOPOGRAPHIE, ICONOGRAPHIE, CHRONOLOGIE
With one exception, every medieval cathedral in England was either founded or completely rebuilt between c.1070 and c.1140. The importance of this for English Romanesque architecture can scarce be overstated, but from a European perspective what is most distinctive about the English Romanesque cathedral is the number that were monastic. Seven out of fifteen dioceses with single cathedrals supported Benedictine communities, while the two dioceses with co-cathedrals were provided with one monastic and one secular collegiate cathedral each. This was a significant advance on the number of monastic cathedrals that existed before the Norman Conquest of 1066, and the credit for developing the monastic cathedral almost certainly belongs to Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury from 1070 until his death in 1089. This paper will consider the status, planning and architecture of the monastic cathedral in England over the course of the 11th century.
Claire BONNOTTE
LA FIGURATION DE L’APPARITION DU CHRIST À EMMAÜS AU SEIN DES CLOÎTRES ROMANS : UN SUBSTITUT DE PÈLERINAGE ?
The iconography of the Apparition of Christ in Emmaus (Lk. 24, 13-35) appears in the sculpted decoration of several cloisters dated between the XIIth and the XIIIth centuries. Among the examples conserved for this period are many historiated capitals, which mostly come from abbeys located in the south of the Loire. The image had a particular significance within the cloistral context, because of the predominance given to the figure of Pilgrim Christ, which was generally associated with it. Inside the cloister, the imagery could appear as a derivative to, or a substitute for the reality of pilgrimage, which was strongly inadvisable, if not forbidden, for everyone submitted to the enclosure’s “stabilitas”. In support of textual sources, and the analysis of several examples, it is important to understand to what extent this theophany could have been an invitation to spiritual pilgrimage for monks and canons.
Charlotte de CHARETTE
LA DIFFUSION DE L’ART DE SILOS DANS LES CLOÎTRES DU NORD DE L’ESPAGNE
In the last third of the twelfth century, the Spanish Romanesque sculpture is experiencing a large-scale renewal that leads to the creation of masterpieces and raises production of exceptional fertility. At the monastery of Silos took place at that time significant changes, during which intervened one of the greatest sculptors of the period: the Second Master of Silos. he was the inspiration of a broad current of sculptures that invades throughout the North of Spain, in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. The prosperity of the country, related to favorable political and economic circumstances, causes indeed a considerable development of architectural activity. This spread of Silos art is largely due to the success of its iconographic models. Many sculptors of the end of the Romanesque period, which retain a more or less strong memory of the Second Master of Silos stylistic innovations, use indeed a repertoire of mainly iconographic formulas came from the Abbey of Silos. In this abundant production stand several cloisters, or remains of monastic buildings, which receive and assimilate the models developed in Silos.
Pascale BOURGAIN
UN JARDIN AU COEUR DU CLOÎTRE : FONCTION, IMAGES, IMAGINAIRE
The cloister, word meaning originally a prison, was extremely valued by the monastic life that has made this confinement a lifestyle choice, a place considered the equivalent of paradise, so a garden. The real cloisters, landscaped courtyards near the church to gather the different places of monastic duties, have come to look like gardens, pleasant places favorable for calm and contemplation, without prejudice to food gardens also included in the fence; they were symbolically accompany of what could make them look more like paradise: a fountain, grass, plants, and even flowers, however, during the late Middle Ages, the effort of gardening also received his significant load in representing the effort required to cultivate virtues.
Daniel CAZES
DEVENIRS DU CLOÎTRE ROMAN : LES CLOÎTRES CISTERCIENS MÉRIDIONAUX
It is usual to say that the Cistercian monasteries of the south, like those in other parts of Europe, reveal a voluntary impoverishment, if not an outright censorship, of the architectural luxury and the carved decoration into full high Romanesque cloisters from twelfth to thirteenth centuries. In fact, this must be somewhat nuanced, especially when we move away from the often dominant view into tourism, literature and general culture of our time, about the Cistercian Midi «three sisters of Provence»: Le Thoronet , Sénanque and Silvacane. This may be perceived by observing the cases of a number of cloisters of great Cistercian “Spanish Languedocian” monasteries in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries , either destroyed (completely or partially) or preserved. The characters of these cloisters on both sides of the Pyrenees, result as much adapting to the practices of prime contractors and local sculptors, even if they were as white monks, as observing strictly a Cistercian model that would have been imposed from Burgundy or Champagne.
Olivier POISSON
LE CLOÎTRE DE SAINT-MICHEL DE CUXA ET SES RECONSTRUCTIONS AU 20e SIÈCLE
In 1907 and 1913, the acquisition by the American sculptor and collector George Grey Barnard of half (approximately) of the cloister capitals of St. Michael of Cuxa – then completely dismantled – was an event whose consequences have been felt all throughout the 20th century. First, the acquisition, made can no longer legally from vendors owners, is driven by an ambitious American artistic vision that carries the cultural project of providing the European art to artists and American public for the sake of all. Furthermore, this case, which plays a clear role in the maturation of the French law on historical monuments adopted in 1913, evidences the reactions of a local society vis-à-vis its heritage and is an opportunity for a battle of opinion before which the buyer is partly obliged to let go. The success of the reconstruction of the Cuxa cloister in New York (1914 and 1938) leads the symmetric reconstruction, on site, of what may be, in 1950, in a kind of a symbolic competition in which the values held by the heritage would be at stake.