CLOISTER (Claustrum). — In a monastic context, in ancient times it denoted that enclosed space which, according to the earliest rules of St. Pachomius, St. Basil, Sts. Paul and Stephen, etc., the monks were not to leave without the superior’s permission. Even in the Rule of St. Benedict (IV, 67, ed. C. Butler, Freiburg in Br. 1912, pp. 21 and 118), *claustra monasterii* refers to the monastery’s enclosure rather than what would later be called the cloister. The same sense is found in the Councils of Frankfurt in 794, Mainz and Tours in 813, and Aachen in 816, as well as in many Carolingian constitutions, when they speak of *claustra monachorum*, *canonicorum*, and *clericorum* without further specification, yet never departing from the meaning evident in the following passage from the *Brevilogium*: «Claustrum dicitur inhabitatio religiosorum, vel domus includens monachos et moniales sub certa regula viventes».
The idea of grouping near the church the quarters for both the common life of the monks—such as the chapter hall, refectory, and library—and the particular services, namely the kitchen, bakery, workshops, etc., arose later from the need to facilitate the monks’ frequent journeys to the church by day and night and to spare them the inconveniences of the elements.
Yet the system of arranging these rooms around a courtyard was not immediately standardized, as the plans of the Egyptian monasteries of Saqqarah and Deir, that of Saqqah in Syria (dating to the 5th century), and those of el-Barah and the very monasteries of Mount Athos attest. Only in the life of St. Filibert, who built the church and monastery of Jumièges (Vita s. Filiberti abbatis Gemeticensis, cap. 7: J. Mabin, Acta SS. O. S. B., II, ad an. 684), do we begin to discern something real that foreshadows what would finally prevail in Western monasteries. The small cloister adjoining the basilica of St. Vincent at the Three Fountains in Rome, which Hübsch dates to the 7th century, is the earliest surviving example in Western monasteries of the square or rectangular space surrounded by arcades opening onto the rooms prescribed by the Rule, though later the workshops were moved to different locations. The great monastery of St. Gall, dating to the year 820, also preserves, in its splendid state of conservation, a cloister beside the church, very similar to that of St. Anastasius at the Three Fountains.
In the 9th century, however, the position of the cloister in relation to the entire monastic complex was not yet irrevocably fixed: during the reconstruction of the monastery of Fulda in the first quarter of that century, while some monks desired it to the south of the basilica, others claimed it should be placed “in the Roman manner,” to the west (Candidus, Vita Eigilis, 22). Nevertheless, the cloister with its systematic arrangement of the necessary monastic rooms around it had by then become an indispensable element of the Western monastery, like the peristyle in ancient Roman houses.
ART. — The idea of a colonnaded courtyard for organizing the spaces in monastic buildings arose from practical necessities of claustral life; its relation to the peristyle of Roman villas may be coincidental, while its connection to the *paradisus* before the early Christian basilicas is more logical, adapted to conventual needs.
From the uncertain descriptions of early Benedictine abbeys, it cannot be inferred that a cloister in its present form existed from the outset; yet a positive datum confirming its spread is provided by the canons of the already mentioned Councils of Frankfurt (794), Mainz (813), Tours (813), and Aachen (816). In the Middle Ages, it was used not only in monasteries but also in cathedral and collegiate churches. No cloisters earlier than the 11th century survive today, but a much older representation exists in the famous plan of the monastery of St. Gall (c. 820), from which its existence in other contemporary Benedictine houses (Farfa, Fulda, Montecassino before Abbot Desiderius’ reconstruction) can be deduced with near certainty.
The prevailing plan is square or slightly elongated rectangle, with at its center the *cantorus* for ablutions derived from the *paradisus* (SS. Quattro Coronati in Rome), which was later replaced by a cistern with a wellhead that endured until the 16th century (S. Spirito in Florence, S. Martino in Naples) and was then superseded by a fountain (S. Chiara in Naples). Besides this cloister beside the church, providing access to the common-use rooms (refectory, dormitory, chapter house), in large abbeys there was another, more interior cloister reserved for the abbot and authorities, near the library and infirmary. The first served also for burials, even of laypeople (SS. Annunziata in Florence); in the Cistercian houses, the great cloister often gave direct access to the friars’ cells (Pavia, S. Maria degli Angeli in Rome).
By the 11th century, a certain uniformity is noted in the general layout, with openings usually supported by paired colonnettes (S. Cosimato in Rome, S. Lizier near the Pyrenees) only at ground level, while the superimposition of arcades is quite exceptional (Torre near Siena and the triple loggia).
Greater stylistic variety appears in the adoption of figured capitals (Moissac, St-Cugat del Vallès, Gerona, and many other Spanish cloisters), while in Rome classical reminiscences survive (SS. Quattro Coronati, S. Lorenzo fuori le mura) that would be developed and enriched by a search for pictorial effects in the work of the Cosmati and Vassalletto (v.), culminating in the masterpieces of S. Giovanni in Laterano and S. Paolo fuori le mura.
Gothic influence, introduced by the Cistercians (v.), produced transitional works in southern Lazio (Fossanova), the Viterbese (S. Maria della Verità), and northern Italy (S. Andrea in Vercelli), while the Mezzogiorno felt Eastern influences in structure (horseshoe arches in S. Sofia in Benevento) and in polychrome decoration, which sometimes reached fantastic effects (Monreale).
In lands beyond the Alps, Gothic tendencies manifested themselves in the
The persistence of the Romanesque tradition in Tuscany (the green cloister of S. Maria Novella from 1350) meant that even in this field the region was ready to be the first to welcome the Renaissance forms introduced by Brunelleschi (S. Croce) and Michelozzo (S. Marco). These designs were carried to Rome by Giuliano da Sangallo (S. Pietro in Vincoli) and developed simultaneously in Lombardy (Certosa di Pavia), reaching their most mature expression in Bramante’s works (S. Ambrogio and S. Maria delle Grazie in Milan, S. Maria della Pace in Rome). The new sense of proportion is evident in the adoption of a unified module in place of the grouping of openings and supporting elements. During this period, the singularity of local styles produced by the superimposition of Renaissance currents on traditional forms is evident in Spain (the great cloister of S. Giacomo di Compostella) and Portugal (S. Maria di Belem).
The Counter-Reformation movement did not bring special modifications to the type of cloister, which followed the general evolution of architectural forms: it is worth noting only that, with the increasingly frequent suppression of the parapet—which had accentuated the corridor-like character of the wings—it tended to transform into a common porticoed courtyard. Perhaps only Michelangelo at S. Maria degli Angeli succeeded in creating that atmosphere of severe seclusion which recalls the original tradition. To some extent, this effect was achieved by Ammannati (the second cloister of S. Spirito) and Dosio (S. Martino in Naples, continued by Fanzago).
In the 17th century, Borromini also excelled in this field with his genius of conception, introducing in the cloister of S. Carlino in Rome the motif of the serliana and eliminating any sense of spatial limitation.
Opposing currents succeeded and overlapped in the 18th century, from the illusionistic conception of the cloisters of Montecassino to the garden-like spaciousness enlivened by the polychromy of majolica in S. Chiara in Naples, from the classical grandeur of S. Agostino in Rome to the cold academicism of the cloister of the Capuchins in Paris.
In the 19th century, the work of Carimini stands out; in Rome, despite some decorative eclecticism, he achieved expressions appropriate to the theme in S. Antonio da Padova and in the monastery of the Sisters of Cluny. — See Plates XCVI–XCVII.