medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 14:09:39 -0500
Christopher Crockett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Jim Bugslag <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>was built in Italy in various combinations of native Italian brick
>construction
>http://www.tiglieto.it/foto/grandi/33Sala%20Capitolare3.JPG
>
>those look like *very* large bricks, to me.
>
>reminds me of the average size of the ashlar (stone) blocks used in the
>earliest parts of the abbey of St. Mary of Josaphat, near Chartres.
>
>i've always associated that small (for stone) size with a rather limited work
>crew --they are just the right size for one man to "anhandle" fairly easily.
>
>the early Cistercian houses were, i presume, built by the monks themselves (is
>that called for in the _Exordium_?).
>
>>and what I would presume to be an imported stone building technology (e.g.
>Fossanova).
>
>clearly (i suppose) not a region with a lot of good building stone --to judge
>by the above .jpg.
Just to be clear, the site of the above .jpg is Tiglieto. That's located in what in the MA must have been a rather remote backwater in Liguria close to southern Piedmont. As you can see from the first photo on this page:
http://www.tiglieto.it/badia%20storia.htm
while the surrounding area is mountainous, the abbey itself is in a marshy plain. Chances are that the handiest building materials were bricks of very local manufacture. (Morimondo and Chiaravalle di Milano are similarly, situated, BTW).
>the caption on that one is "Trifora della Sala Capitolare", btw.
>
>is that a mistake, or is an open arcade set in a wall like that (essentially a
>window) actually called a "Trifora" in Eyetalian ?
The URL for the enlargement .jpg wasn't stable. But this one should last:
http://www.tiglieto.it/foto/33.htm
Anyhoo, "trifora" here isn't a mistake; it's standard Italian for a window with three openings, esp. one of the general design instanced here.
>
>>Chiarvalle di Milano (founded from Clairvaux on 22 July 1135)
>
My typo: read "Chiaravalle".
>http://www.mercurio.it/ales/abbazia/milano.htm
>
>*WOA* !
>
>Bernie would not have approved of that tower !
That's some tiburio all right! ("tiburio" is the term in Italian for a cylindrical or prismatic structure serving as a cover for a cupola; it derives from medieval Latin "tiburium" in the same meaning and that in turn is thought to be a development from standard Latin "tugurium" meaning "hut"; I have no idea how such a structure is usually referred to in English).
>>the church here
>
>http://www.mercurio.it/ales/abbazia/pianta.htm
>
>looks very much like (the original) Pontigny, to me --chevet with a square
>central chapel and two square flanking chapels on each side, opening off of a
>stubby transept. relatively long nave.
>
>it has a wide, arcaded fore-porch like Pontigny, as well
This is the abbey of Chiaravalle di Fiastra, located in the Marche close to Ancona. Founded in 1142, it was a daughter house of Chiaravalle di Milano and for that reason the site in question, which begins here:
http://www.mercurio.it/ales/abbazia/index.htm
, offers a photograph of the latter.
Here's a shot of Fiastra today, with a mid-twentieth-century reservoir in the foreground:
http://www.marchecitta.it/comuni/fiastra.html
And here's one of the abbey in its present surroundings (now part of a nature reserve):
http://www.mercurio.it/ales/abbazia/abframe.htm
The site is said to have been marshy when the abbey church was built. Presumably the bricks used to build it came from the local river plain.
Unlike most of the Cistercian churches in Italy we have been talking about, this one is considered "romanesque":
http://www.museionline.it/percorsi/marche/romanico/abbazia_fiastra.htm
See also:
http://www.mercurio.it/ales/abbazia/abframe.htm
Best again,
John
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|