THE CISTERCIAN ORDER

A sensitive and luminous celebration through text and image of the Cistercian world with a special printing process for the rendering of blacks. New edition identical to the first edition of 1972.

Is there a more contemporary sacred architecture than that of these monasteries built in the 12th century by men who fled the tumult of the cities to find solitude, silence, water, stone, and light in the forest? Generated by the natural and supernatural space, the geographical and mystical "environment" of the Desert, determined by a "living environment", the rule of Saint Benedict, the Cistercian monastery is an example of what we call today functional architecture. An agricultural instrument and liturgical instrument, an instrument of prayer, Cistercian architecture articulates and structures, in a rigorous order, around the cloister, its different buildings according to their use from hour to canonical hour, to the solar rhythm of the divine office. It is this movement of shadow and light, informing the architecture from sunrise to sunset and from winter to summer, that the photographs in this book have captured, by noting step by step the regular places visited by the 12th century monk in his daily life, from Matins to Compline. Placed alongside these photographs exceptionally inhabited by the mystery and bare forms of the monastic space, 12th century texts allow us to follow at the same time the inner movement of Cistercian meditation and contemplation, in search of a Light that Bernard of Clairvaux said was embodied in Shadow and Stone.... Of all the architectures of Cîteaux, none was more favorable to this demonstration than that of the "three Provençal sisters", Sénanque, Silvacane and Thoronet. They are reproduced here with the help of a revolutionary printing process particularly capable of reproducing the depth of blacks and the density of light.

A sensitive and luminous celebration of the Cistercian world through text and image with a special printing process for the rendering of blacks. New edition identical to the first edition of 1972.

Is there any more contemporary sacred architecture than that of the monasteries built in the 12th century by men who fled the tumult of the cities to find solitude, silence, water, stone, and light in the forest? Created by the natural and supernatural space, the geographical and mystical "environment" of the Desert, determined by a "framework of life", the rule of Saint Benedict, the Cistercian monastery is an example of what we call today a functional architecture. Agricultural and liturgical instrument, instrument of prayer, the Cistercian architecture articulates, structures, in a rigorous order, around the cloister, its various buildings according to their use from hour to hour, to the solar rhythm of the divine office. It is this movement of light and shadow, informing the architecture from sunrise to sunset and from winter to summer, that the photographs in this book have captured, taking step by step the regular places visited by the 12th century monk in his daily life, from Mornings to Compline. Set against these photographs, exceptionally inhabited by the mystery and the bare forms of the monastic space, texts from the twelfth century allow us to follow at the same time the inner movement of Cistercian meditation and contemplation, in search of a Light which Bernard of Clairvaux said was incarnated in the Shadow and in the Stone.... Of all the Cîteaux architectures, none was more favorable to this demonstration than that of the "three Provençal sisters", Sénanque, Silvacane and le Thoronet. They are restored here with the help of a revolutionary printing process particularly suited to restoring the depth of blacks and the density of light.