Cistercian Abbeys: History and Architecture - Hardcover

Leroux-Dhuys, Jean-Francois; Gaud, Henri

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3848004186 ISBN 13: 9783848004188

Publisher: H.F.Ullmann Publishing Gmbh, 2013

Synopsis

Thanks to their spirituality, asceticism, technical skills, and craftsmanship, the Cistercians became one of the most influential monastic orders of the high Middle Ages. Nine centuries ago, when the dynamic energy of the Benedictine order was threatening to ossify into mere grandeur and formalism, the Cistercians returned to the original "holy rules" of Benedict of Nursia and working with their hands. The stone witnesses of this era include majestic monastic buildings. With their austere dignity and sublime absence of decoration, Cistercian ecclesiastical buildings came to stand for awe-inspiring spiritual clarity and purity. This book presents masterpieces of Cistercian architecture in France, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. A selection of original texts, pictures, and chronological tables offers information on the artistic and cultural-historical characteristics of the individual monasteries and their inhabitants. An impressive and inspiring oeuvre!

About this title

Book Description:

Henri Gaud is the scion of a photographic dynasty: his father also devoted his artistic talents to architecture. Working only with natural light, Gaud impressively captures the austerity and simplicity of his subjects.

About the Author:

Jean-François Leroux-Dhuys is an architect and journalist, and serves as conservator at the Écomusée du cristal de Bayel. His interest in the Cistercians has culminated in his efforts to restore historical Cistercian sites and to make them accessible to the public again.

About this edition

• Publisher: H.F.Ullmann Publishing Gmbh
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 3848004186
• ISBN 13: 9783848004188
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400