Cloister

aligned, replaced Eberbach pic with questionable arch in foreground, and The Cloisters w heavy distorsion, other building dates not clear

← Previous revision Revision as of 15:42, 27 April 2026 Line 6: Line 6: A '''cloister''' ({{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|claustrum}}|enclosure}}) is a covered walk, open gallery, or open [[arcade (architecture)|arcade]] running along the walls of buildings and forming a [[quadrangle (architecture)|quadrangle]] or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a [[cathedral]] or church, commonly against a warm southern flank,{{sfn|Horn|1973|p=13}} usually indicates that it is (or once was) part of a [[monastic]] foundation, "forming a continuous and solid architectural barrier... that effectively separates the world of the [[monk]]s from that of the [[serf]]s and workmen, whose lives and works went forward outside and around the cloister."{{sfn|Horn|1973|p=13}} A '''cloister''' ({{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|claustrum}}|enclosure}}) is a covered walk, open gallery, or open [[arcade (architecture)|arcade]] running along the walls of buildings and forming a [[quadrangle (architecture)|quadrangle]] or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a [[cathedral]] or church, commonly against a warm southern flank,{{sfn|Horn|1973|p=13}} usually indicates that it is (or once was) part of a [[monastic]] foundation, "forming a continuous and solid architectural barrier... that effectively separates the world of the [[monk]]s from that of the [[serf]]s and workmen, whose lives and works went forward outside and around the cloister."{{sfn|Horn|1973|p=13}}

Cloistered (or claustral) life is also another name for the monastic life of a [[monk]] or [[nun]]. The English term ''enclosure'' is used in contemporary [[Catholicism|Catholic]] church law translations<ref name="Code of Canon Law">{{cite web |url=http://www.deacons.net/Canon_Law/cci.htm |title=The Code of Canon Law, Canon 667 ff. English translation copyright 1983 The Canon Law Society Trust |access-date=2006-06-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619055307/http://www.deacons.net/Canon_Law/cci.htm |archive-date=2006-06-19 }}</ref> to mean cloistered, and some form of the Latin parent word "claustrum" is frequently used as a [[metonym]]ic name for ''[[monastery]]'' in languages such as German.<ref>Cf. German ''Kloster''.</ref> [[Cloistered clergy]] refers to monastic orders that strictly separate themselves from the affairs of the external world. Cloistered (or claustral) life is also another name for the monastic life of a monk or [[nun]]. The English term ''enclosure'' is used in contemporary [[Catholicism|Catholic]] church law translations<ref name="Code of Canon Law">{{cite web |url=http://www.deacons.net/Canon_Law/cci.htm |title=The Code of Canon Law, Canon 667 ff. English translation copyright 1983 The Canon Law Society Trust |access-date=2006-06-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619055307/http://www.deacons.net/Canon_Law/cci.htm |archive-date=2006-06-19 }}</ref> to mean cloistered, and some form of the Latin parent word "claustrum" is frequently used as a [[metonym]]ic name for ''[[monastery]]'' in languages such as German.<ref>Cf. German ''Kloster''.</ref> [[Cloistered clergy]] refers to monastic orders that strictly separate themselves from the affairs of the external world.

==History of the cloister== ==History of the cloister==
[[File:The Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral.jpg|300px|thumb|The Cloisters at [[Gloucester Cathedral]], UK]] [[File:The Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral.jpg|300px|thumb|The Cloisters at [[Gloucester Cathedral]], UK]] ⚫ The early medieval cloister had several antecedents: the [[peristyle]] court of the Greco-Roman ''[[domus]]'', the [[atrium (architecture)|atrium]] and its expanded version that served as forecourt to early Christian [[basilica]]s, and certain semi-galleried courts attached to the flanks of early Syrian churches.<ref>Horn 1973 gives these sources.</ref> [[Walter Horn]] suggests that the earliest [[coenobite|coenobitic]] communities, which were established in Egypt by [[Saint Pachomius]] {{circa | AD 320}}, did not result in cloister construction, as there were no lay serfs attached to the community of monks, and thus no need for separation within the walled community.{{sfn|Horn|1973|pp=39–40}}

⚫ The early medieval cloister had several antecedents: the [[peristyle]] court of the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] ''[[domus]]'', the [[atrium (architecture)|atrium]] and its expanded version that served as forecourt to early Christian [[basilica]]s, and certain semi-galleried courts attached to the flanks of early [[Syriac Christianity|Syrian]] churches.<ref>Horn 1973 gives these sources.</ref> [[Walter Horn]] suggests that the earliest [[coenobite|coenobitic]] communities, which were established in [[Coptic history|Egypt]] by [[Saint Pachomius]] {{circa|320}}, did not result in cloister construction, as there were no lay serfs attached to the community of monks, and thus no need for separation within the walled community.{{sfn|Horn|1973|pp=39–40}} ⚫ Horn finds the earliest prototypical cloisters in some exceptional<ref>The normal Syrian monastery plan was an open one, Horn observes.</ref> late fifth-century monastic churches in southern Syria, such as the Convent of Saints [[Sergius and Bacchus]], at Umm-is-Surab (AD 489), and the [[colonnade]]d forecourt of the convent of Id-Dêr,<ref>Horn 1973, plans, figs 9 and 10</ref> but nothing similar appeared in the semi-eremitic Irish monasteries' clustered [[roundhouse (dwelling)|roundhouse]]s nor in the earliest [[Benedictine order|Benedictine collective communities]] of the West.{{sfn|Horn|1973|pp=39–40}}
⚫ Horn finds the earliest prototypical cloisters in some exceptional<ref>The normal Syrian monastery plan was an open one, Horn observes.</ref> late fifth-century monastic churches in southern Syria, such as the Convent of Saints [[Sergius and Bacchus]], at Umm-is-Surab (489), and the [[colonnade]]d forecourt of the convent of Id-Dêr,<ref>Horn 1973, plans, figs 9 and 10.</ref> but nothing similar appeared in the semi-eremitic Irish monasteries' clustered [[roundhouse (dwelling)|roundhouse]]s nor in the earliest [[Benedictine order|Benedictine collective communities]] of the West.{{sfn|Horn|1973|pp=39–40}}

In the time of [[Charlemagne]] ({{reign | 768 | 814}}) the requirements of a separate monastic community within an extended and scattered [[manorialism |manorial estate]] led to the development of a "monastery within a monastery" in the form of the locked cloister, an architectural solution allowing the monks to perform their sacred tasks apart from the distractions of laymen and servants.<ref>Horn pp 40ff.</ref> Horn offers as early examples Abbot Gundeland's [[abbey of Lorsch|"Altenmünster" of Lorsch abbey]] (765–774), as revealed in the excavations by Frederich Behn.<ref>When Lorsch was rebuilt on a neighboring site by Abbot Richbold (784–804) the cloister was made a perfect square, against the south flank of the new church, precisely as in the plan of the 8th-century [[Abbey of Saint Gall]] (Horn 1973:44, figs 43ab, 45).</ref> Lorsch was adapted without substantial alteration from a Frankish nobleman's [[Roman villa|''villa rustica'']], in a tradition unbroken from late Roman times.<ref>When Lorsch was rebuilt on a neighboring site by Abbot Richbold (784–804) the cloister was made a perfect square, against the south flank of the new church, precisely as in the plan of the 8th-century [[Abbey of Saint Gall]] (Horn 1973:44, figs 43ab, 45).</ref> In the time of [[Charlemagne]] ({{reign |768|814}}) the requirements of a separate monastic community within an extended and scattered [[manorialism |manorial estate]] led to the development of a "monastery within a monastery" in the form of the locked cloister, an architectural solution allowing the monks to perform their sacred tasks apart from the distractions of laymen and servants.<ref>Horn 1973, pp 40 ff.</ref> Horn offers as early examples Abbot Gundeland's [[abbey of Lorsch|"Altenmünster" of Lorsch abbey]] (765–774), as revealed in the excavations by Frederich Behn.<ref>When Lorsch was rebuilt on a neighboring site by Abbot Richbold (784–804) the cloister was made a perfect square, against the south flank of the new church, precisely as in the plan of the 8th-century [[Abbey of Saint Gall]] (Horn 1973:44, figs 43ab, 45).</ref> Lorsch was adapted without substantial alteration from a [[Franks|Frankish]] nobleman's [[Roman villa|''villa rustica'']], in a tradition unbroken from late Roman times.<ref>When Lorsch was rebuilt on a neighboring site by Abbot Richbold (784–804) the cloister was made a perfect square, against the south flank of the new church, precisely as in the plan of the 8th-century [[Abbey of Saint Gall]]. Horn 1973, p. 44, figs pp. 43ab, 45.</ref>

Another early cloister, in the [[abbey of Saint-Riquier]] (790–799), took a triangular shape, with chapels at the corners, in conscious representation of the [[Trinity]].<ref>Horn 1973:43 and fig 42ab.</ref> A square cloister sited against the flank of the abbey church was built at [[Inden, North Rhine-Westphalia |Inden]] (816) and the [[Abbey of Saint Wandrille |abbey of St. Wandrille at Fontenelle]] (823–833). At [[Fulda monastery |Fulda]], a new cloister (819) was sited to the liturgical west of the church "in the Roman manner"<ref>''Vita Eigili'', the life of Abbot Eigil.</ref> familiar from the forecourt of [[Old St. Peter's Basilica]] because it would be closer to the relics. More recently, [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] commissioned the construction of [[The Cloisters]] museum and gardens in medieval style in [[Manhattan]] in 1930–1938. Another early cloister, in the [[abbey of Saint-Riquier]] (790–799), took a triangular shape, with chapels at the corners, in conscious representation of the [[Trinity]].<ref>Horn 1973, p. 43 and fig p. 42ab.</ref> A square cloister sited against the flank of the abbey church was built at [[Inden, North Rhine-Westphalia |Inden]] (816) and the [[Abbey of Saint Wandrille |abbey of St. Wandrille at Fontenelle]] (823–833). At [[Fulda monastery |Fulda]], a new cloister (819) was sited to the [[Liturgical east and west|liturgical west]] of the church "in the Roman manner"<ref>''Vita Eigili'', the life of Abbot [[Eigil of Fulda|Eigil]].</ref> familiar from the forecourt of [[Old St. Peter's Basilica]] because it would be closer to the [[relic]]s. More recently, [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] commissioned the construction of [[The Cloisters]] museum and gardens in medieval style in [[Manhattan]] in 1930–1938.

==Gallery== ==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed" heights="150px"> <gallery mode="packed" heights="150px"> ⚫ File:The Cloisters from Garden.jpg|The Bonnefont [[Monastic garden|medieval garden]] at [[The Cloisters]] in [[Manhattan]] File:Claustro de Santo Domingo de Silos. Galería sur.jpg|The [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] cloister of [[Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos|Santo Domingo de Silos]], Spain File:Claustro de Santo Domingo de Silos. Galería sur.jpg|The [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] cloister of [[Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos|Santo Domingo de Silos]], Spain File:Cloitre_prieure_Saint-Michel_de_Grandmont.jpg|Cloister of [[Saint-Michel de Grandmont Priory]] ([[Languedoc-Roussillon]], France) File:Cloitre_prieure_Saint-Michel_de_Grandmont.jpg|Cloister of [[Saint-Michel de Grandmont Priory]] (est. 1128), [[Languedoc-Roussillon]], France File:Amalfi-Chiostro del paradiso.jpg|Chiostro del Paradiso, [[Amalfi Cathedral]], Italy File:Amalfi-Chiostro del paradiso.jpg|Chiostro del Paradiso, [[Amalfi Cathedral]], Italy File:Kreuzgang, Kloster Eberbach 20140903 1.jpg|Cloister of the former Cistercian [[Eberbach Abbey]], Germany File:Cloister, Kloster Eberbach 20140903 1.jpg|Cloister (12th/13th and 19th century) of the former Cistercian [[Eberbach Abbey]], Germany File:Utrecht Pandhof 9086.jpg|Cloister of the [[St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht]], Netherlands File:Utrecht Pandhof 9086.jpg|Cloister (1254–1500) of the [[St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht]], Netherlands File:Stanford University in 2025 03.jpg|Cloisters at [[Stanford University]], [[Palo Alto]], United States File:Stanford University in 2025 03.jpg|Cloisters at [[Stanford University]] (est. 1885), [[Palo Alto]], United States ⚫ File:The Bonnefont Cloister garden, December 2018.jpg|The Bonnefont [[Monastic garden|medieval garden]] at [[The Cloisters]] in [[Manhattan]] (1930–1938) </gallery> </gallery>