Architectural Styles

Cistercian

Alt names / subperiods 

Timeline

Distinguishing Features

Geographic Presence

Cistercian Gothic [later], Restoring St Benedictine

Wikipedia

 

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