The choir of monks
In the centre of the church, the monks' prayer space consisted of one hundred seats, or stalls, arranged in two rows and divided by a central passage.
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At each end, two more ornate seats mark the positions of the abbot and his assistant, the prior: they preside over the services, in front of the community for mass, and behind for the seven other times of daily prayer. This is a space dedicated to singing, listening, meditation and silence.
The quotation
"Nothing must come
before the service of God (...)
Under His gaze and that of the angels,
when we chant (...),
we must show restraint
to inspire recollection
and maintain devotion. (...)
So let us stand,
when we sing,
in such a way that our spirit
is in harmony with our voice".
Rule of Saint Benedict (6th century) and Cistercian regulatory texts (mid-12th century)
Rule of Saint Benedict, 43, 3 ; 19, 6-7 ; Instituta Generalis Capituli, LXXV, ed. Chrysogonus Waddell, Narrative and Legislative Texts from Early Cîteaux, Cîteaux Commentarii Cistercienses, Studia et Documenta IX, 1999, p. 360 ; Rule of Saint Benedict, 19, 7.
The picture
The monks' choir at the summer solstice
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Built around 1670, probably to replace medieval stalls, the stalls at Pontigny have since become one of the finest ensembles of their kind in France. The delicacy of the carvings makes it possible to spot, between the solid panels, hidden in the foliage, a whole world of small animals: birds, lizards, snails, dragonflies...
Some of the crowns, a reminder of Pontigny's links with the monarchy, were roughly scraped off during the French Revolution.
Glossary
Abbot, abbess :
monk (in a community of men), or nun (in a community of women), chosen to run the abbey, monastery or convent.
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