Architectural Styles
Cistercian
Alt names / subperiods
Timeline
Distinguishing Features
Geographic Presence
1098-1250
- Austere monastic design
- simple stonework
- highly functional (central cloisters, dormitory, refectory, chapter house & kitchen)
- Romaneqsue influence (round arches
- thick walls
- barrel vaults
- large windows,
- high nave
- pointed arches
- ribbed vaults later (pre-Gothic)
- monochrome materials with limited palette
- rural/nature focus with landscape connections
- self-sufficient gardens
- orchards & fields
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- England
Common Building Types
Landmark buildings
Historic Accommodation Types
Accommodation Examples
- Churches
- monasteries and abbeys
- cloisters
- Granges (agricultural)
- pilgrim Guesthouses
- Abbeys
- Cîteaux
- Clairvaux
- Fontenay
- Sénanque
- Pontigny
- Maulbronn
- Rievaulx
- Kirkstall
- Beaulieu
- Monastic guesthouse (hospitium / domus hospitum)
- Poorhouse / almonry hospitality
- Monastery gatehouse lodging (porter’s lodge / outer court stays)
- Lay brothers’ (conversi) zones
- grange (outlying farm estates)
- Pilgrim hostels near shrines
- Urban inns and taverns
- Hospitals for travellers
- Hospices,
- Fountains Abbey (England) – gatehouse precinct
- Rievaulx Abbey (England) – outer precinct / gate
- Tintern Abbey (Wales) – precinct reception / gate
- Clairvaux Abbey (France) – outer precinct lodging
- Fontenay Abbey (France) – guest reception outside cloister;
- Alcobaça Monastery (Portugal) – large-scale guest/outer precinct handling
Adaptive Reuse
- Hotel de l’Abbaye Citeaux
Landmarks
Original Accommodation
Adapted Visitor Accommodation
Name
Address
Website