One of the characteristics of the monastery that tells us the most about it as an institution is its shape. The monastery is based on a plan that reflects a large idea about the order not just of the monastic community but of the cosmos itself. While the idea behind the monastery's plan is somewhat abstract and complex, there are ideas behind architecture more familiar to us that the monastery's plan can help us discover. One of these is the Gothic cathedral. Another is the Greek temple.
"The Greek temple is the most perfect example ever achieved of architecture finding its fulfillment in bodily beauty," writes Nicholas Pevsner in An Outline of European Architecture. (Middlesex, England, 1966. 19). He praises the temple for standing in isolation from the surrounding space, "nothing harrowing, nothing problematic and obscure, nothing blurred." In subsequent pages Pevsner is not so admiring of Roman architecture, but it is Roman architecture that stands behind early monastic buildings and the early cathedrals of Gaul in Anglo-Saxon times.
One way to understand the "so what" of the monastery as a physical building is to read introductory books about architecture, therefore, and to learn what it is that prompts Pevsner to say that "architecture is the most comprehensive of all visual arts and has a right to claim superiority over others" (16). We don't want to get caught up in his claims about one art form over another. But how can his statements, and what we have learned about the theological ideas behind the monastery, the Greek temple, and the Gothic cathedral, help us understand the ideas behind the architecture of the recent past and of our own time? What are the most important developments in contemporary architecture? What recent sources are available to help you find them?
1/98