38 – Refectory…

In the Marvel …

Again marrying elements of Gothic and Romanesque design styles the refectory or frater off the cloisters is a magnificent, but simple chamber. The hall dates back to the early thirteenth century and its size – some thirty four metres in length and ten metres in width – indicates that communal meals must have been something special when an obviously large community of monks would have inhabited the church. Refectory sizes are a good indication of the wealth of an abbey, and from this it is evident that the abbey at Mont St Michel was well patronised. The arc vaulted ceiling supported on thick heavy limestone decorated and colonnaded walls resembles an upturned boat hull, and as is the cloister ceiling, is clad with timber slats adding to that description. Of distinctly Romanesque style are the simple seemingly narrow windows. Although not visible along the length of the salon, some half dozen windows along the length of the room let in an amazing amount of light. Although appearing to be narrow they are some five feet wide and twenty in height. This view to the northern window shows the austerity of decoration – a simple crucifix. The south end holds the pulpit from which a single monk would have recited Biblical texts whilst his colleagues would have eaten their twice daily meatless meals (in accordance with the rules of St Benedict) in otherwise complete silence. The acoustics are superb and his voice would have filled the air of the refectory.

36 – The Cloisters…

A place of peace …

Distinctly Gothic in style and dating from the early thirteenth century the abbey cloisters form a quadrangle against the backdrop of the abbey church. With a tranquil, lawned garden suspended between the sky and the sea at their centre, this area would have been an ideal retreat for the monks’ daily meditations and whispered conversations. The cloisters are also a good indication of the wealth and strength held by the church at the time, for the cost of commissioning the beautiful granite pillars and elaborately carved decorative arch stonework must have been considerable. The carvings and crochets beneath the cloister arches, made of limestone from Caen, incorporate dragons and mythical creatures along with foliage, vines and floral themes. The supporting columns or orders have a classical simplicity about them, perhaps dictated by the hardness of the porphyritic granite stone, with octagonal plinths and complementary simple cushioned capitals – reminiscent of an earlier Romanesque styling.

Apart from the use of the cloister arcades as an ambulatory, the area serves as a distribution gallery lead to other abbey buildings – the dormitories, refectory and the church.  The western aspect is a belvedere outlook to sea, the originally planned chapter house intended for this face having never been constructed. This view across the herbaceous garden looks onto the North transept and its window seen earlier from inside the abbey church.

I could not help but recall the famous labyrinth I had seen earlier at Chartres Cathedral, and imagine how perfect this garden would be for such a device.

32 – The subtlety of leadlight…

Inside the abbey

We first saw this style of window art above the abbey church doorway. It appears colourless, especially as I mentioned, when compared the rich hues and pictorial style of the work in Chartres Cathedral, Notre Dame and St Chapelle – the latter two in Paris. In effect most Gothic churches have windows that will be memorable for their detail and depth of colour. The work in the church and chapels of Mont St Michel has a different kind of beauty. 

If you haven’t yet worked it out, clicking on images on this site will display a larger version than the version shown on each blog entry. I suggest you examine this one especially, in larger format to gain a better appreciation of the subtlety of the light colouring and pattern detail. 

The monastic simplicity and elaborate patterning of the lead work here is what makes me recall these magnificent windows as easily as I can visualise those in the aforementioned places. They also help with that unity of the Gothic and Romanesque architectural styles we have looked at and discussed in the two earlier posts.

31 – Romanesque and Gothic

Side by side

Looking across the transept crossing and nave from the north transept, one gets a good appreciation of the differing but complementary architectural styles of Romanesque and Gothic. Let’s spend a little more time looking at what differentiates these two architectural periods.

Romanesque (in the style of the Romans) was prevalent from the 9^th through to the 12^th centuries and followed the earlier Byzantine style – typified by much smaller buildings than were now to be constructed. Arches were barrelled - as found in many classical Roman buildings - and buildings tended to have a heaviness from the thick walls to the heavy vaulted roofs, resulting in small and often few windows which tended to weaken construction. These larger buildings with blunted towers and often fortress like appearance, are something we have seen much of on the Mont so far, and will encounter again. The term Romanesque was introduced into the architect’s lexicon in the 1800’s

Gothic style (forget about today’s eyelined Goths) superceded Romanesque in the 12^th century and was introduced in church design with the intention of making them appear like heaven (or man’s idea of the place – colourful, spacious and light).  The use of complex external supporting structures, towers and buttresses along with internal ribbed arches displaced roof pressure outwards allowing increased heights, thinner walls and most notably increased use of glazed windows. Pointed arches, vaulted roofs, tall spires and lead-light or stained-glass panels typify the style. It is one that comes into its own in the Marvel.

A good descriptive comparison of the two styles can be seen here. Use your back arrow to return to this site, and you’ll see many of these features contrasted in today’s image – the transept with its Romanesque origins, and the nave, crossing and chancel - pure Gothic.

From the relative quiet of the transept I did feel somehow closer to heaven; it was probably here that I first mentally applied a single word to the abbey.

Celestial.

The place truly is celestial.

30 – The Architecture…

History

Mont St Michel is frequently described as an example of Romanesque architecture, yet as we have already seen the most recently built parts of the abbey apse and chancel (if one may call the sixteenth century recent) are decidedly Gothic. So too, as we will shortly see, are other parts of the Marvel. For a construction that has evolved over many centuries the entirety of the mount forms a surprisingly cohesive whole. The differing styles of architecture are as I have mentioned before sympathetically blended, as is the restoration work which continues to this day.  It retains a most attractive profile from almost any angle. Although there are records of an earlier pre-Romanesque church, the earliest known records of the Mont’s grand design date from around 1020 – the time of Abbot Hildebert. This early construction was only completed in 1135. The original three storied Marvel built above the existing church was begun in the early thirteenth century and completed in around 1230. Much damage was caused by a fire in 1204. The Marvel comprised of a number of halls, refectory, cloisters and the abbey towers. It is believed that one tower collapsed in 1300 followed by the collapse of the nave in 1421. Reconstruction began in 1450 and was completed in 1521. In 1618 this façade too began to collapse and was removed in the mid eighteenth century – all barring four arches. Further fire damage occurred in 1856, and restoration was begun in 1874 under Napoleon III who declared the site a national monument, and the government of France took responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the Mont.

As seen here, the nave of the abbey church displays a distinctly Romanesque style of construction.

19 – Entry gained …

beyond the gate

Once beyond the Barbican there is a notable change in architectural style. The comparative simplicity of mediaeval Romanesque gives way to a gothic style that is considerably more romantic, considerably more decorative and somehow more suited to its glorious purpose. This is not surprising, for (like Rome) Mont St Michel was not built in a day. We had already seen in the town how reconstruction and restoration of the inns and houses had resulted in half timbered construction being replaced with stonewall techniques, and hearing the history of the Abbey – the buildings of the Abbey, churches and the Marvel span a couple of centuries, both in terms of original and replacement construction - I guess the transitions are to be expected. I admire the way the French are able to combine styles of architecture that should not work together but which, in their capable hands, do. Perhaps the best example of this is the Louvre Palace in Paris, where elements embodying all of these styles and then the added modernity of Pei’s contemporary transparent pyramids combine to create a harmonious whole. I know some opinions differ on the success of this, but to me it works.

Still towering above the visitor these embellished walls, with their buttresses and gargoyled drainage systems encourage you to continue that climb to the summit. You cannot help but wonder how the builders managed to raise the heavy stone blocks used up such heights, capping the underlying base rock on which the Marvel and abbey sit. This question would be revealed as the tour progressed.

Again my group had moved out of sight.  It was time once more to catch up.