Cloister

The cloister is surrounded by corridors or galleries courtyard in Christian monasteries and in neutral claus pen systems. He used to supply the surrounding monastery or convent building and was originally one of the main lounges of the monastery, which was used for practical and liturgical activities and lessons. The open yard area could be used as a monastery garden or cemetery.

The name indicates the references to the biblical descriptions of the paradise garden ( Genesis, ch. 2) and the New Jerusalem (Revelation, chap. 20).

Development and use of

Important elements of the cloister are the arcature, the arch and the fountain, not always in the center of the plant, sometimes also a cistern, as in the Priory of Ganagobie. There are cloisters without vault, for example, the two-story of the Abbey of Saint -André ( Lavaudieu ), which is covered by a wooden beamed ceiling ( 11th century ). In the modern history of art ( Rolf Legler ), the term is restricted to the extent that only arkaturumstandene yards with a yard and handling separating bench can be described as cloister.

In the area of Catholic Bishops Churches ( Cathedral or Dom ) of the cloister is often used as grave lay the Cathedral Chapter and for the development of Bishop's house, chapter house and other administrative buildings of the diocese. An example is the cloister at the Cathedral of Trier, which is also used as a connection to the Church of Our Lady, and as access to the sacristy.

History

The origin of the type of building is not clearly understood. The representatives of the atrium theory argue that the cloister was a modification of the early Christian peristyle, sometimes in unit with a narrow narthex. The followers of the villas theory hold the view through the reuse of ancient villas to monasteries had entered ( in Spain patio) in the monastic architecture of the Roman atrium. The representatives of the Orient theory assume that a developed in Syrian monasteries of late antiquity Hoftyp served as a model for the cloister. Recent research (eg Rolf Legler ) point to the discrepancies in the dating of early Christian monasteries back and assume, therefore, that the cloister an independent creation as part of the reform anianischen (820 AD) is.

The first diagrammatic representation of a cloister is found in the Abbey of Saint Gall plan, drawn around the year 820 The cloister is here the center of an idealized monastery. The arcades of the cloister are built on a square plan. The arcaded gallery opens up the important areas of the monastery: the church, dormitory, refectory and chapter house. Service spaces ( garages, kitchen, stables, etc. ), however, placed some distance from the cloister.

About the earliest built example of a cloister there is no consensus. The schedule shown in the monastery plan was for normal system scheme Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries in rural areas between the 9th and 14th centuries. The Reform Order of the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries used the cloister significantly changed the context of the urban missionary oriented monastery.

In Latin America, the Benedictine system scheme underwent a major transformation. Called the Mayor claustro central cloister had function and position of the medieval cloister. The floor plan has been supplemented by a large number of other, smaller cloisters, each of which portions of the monastic life have been assigned. This structure reflects the complex, city -like structure of the Latin American city monastery.

For a union of three two-storey cloisters also occurred in Western Europe, such as in the French monastery of Brou, which was built in its present form in the 16th century.

Gallery

Abbey of Saint -André ( Lavaudieu ), view from the north to the south gallery

Cloister Gallery of the Naumburg Cathedral

Food to cloister the dome

Cloister of the Papal Palace in Avignon