The monasteries cistercians are characterized by simplicity and sobriety from architecture and the ornaments.

Art Cistercien is created and transmitted by the religious order founded in 1098 per saint Robert de Molesme, in reaction to the carelessness of the monasteries clunisiens with respect to the Règle of saint Benoît.

This art has three functions: initially to rent God and to make him an offering to obtain its graces. Then, to make present the invisible one, the Kingdom of God, finally, to affirm the power by a work of Article.

Water used, source of power, were always close by North, with the Monastère and Cloître in the South.

According to Georges Duby, this art is born from the consonances between the thought from a man, holy Bernard, and the form which is a Cistercian abbey which expresses her opinion, and the world in which lived Bernard de Clairvaux. It is the square which will be the form chosen by Bernard to be that which expresses its monastic life plan as well as possible: the square is a simple figure which makes it possible to approach the mystery in humility; the square can be applied everywhere; the square is the sign of the New Jerusalem; the square is the symbol of the passage of sensual to the spiritual one.

The monks contributed to the cleansing of the places (draining of marsh, culture of the ground,…)

One can characterize architecture cistercian by remarkable buildings by the purity of their lines, the economy of materials and the simplicity of the overall plan.

The large cistercians abbeys in France

• Abbey of Fontenay
• Abbey of Noirlac
• Abbey of Cîteaux
• Abbey of Clairvaux
• Abbey of Sénanque
• Notre-Dame Abbey of Fountain-Guérard
• Abbey Notre-Dame de Bonport
• Abbey Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide
• Abbey of Silvacane
• Abbey of Thoronet
• Abbey of Royaumont

See too