The deambulatory and the radial chapels
Surrounding the sanctuary, the deambulatory gives access to eleven radial chapels. Despite the complexity of the seven-sided chevet plan, the overall impression is one of remarkable lightness and harmony.
The medium-sized stonework and monolithic columns are indicative of the considerable financial resources involved. This ‘luxury’ of materials, combined with a technical and artistic design worthy of the finest cathedrals, demonstrates the spiritual as well as material success of the Cistercians.
[To go further]
The quotation
‘The construction of vast and splendid abbeys
is an invitation
for proud guests.
But having exchanged their freedom
for fields and barns
that resemble fortified castles,
the Cistercians dare not murmur
against the princes,
allowing dormitories
and refectories to be built for them
with the money of thieves and usurers;
they should rather urge them
to turn this money into food for the poor.
For one can sin even
by building churches’.
Pierre le Chantre (+ 1197)
Pierre le Chantre, Summa quae dicitur Verbum adbreviatum (textus prior), cap. 77, ed. Monique Boutry, Turnhout, 2012, Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis, vol. 196A, p. 486 (Patrologia Latina, vol. 205, col. 257C-258A); abridged translation.
The picture
The chevet, seen from the outside.
To go further
On either side of the deambulatory, the first two radial chapels, square in plan, are covered with sexpartite vaults: they thus announce the same vaults placed over the seven hexagonal chapels. The vaults in the turning part of the ambulatory have five branches, the shortest of which falls on the opening arch of each chapel. Between the chapels are enormous buttresses, essential for the stability of the whole, but invisible because they are integrated into the plan.
Glossary
Deambulatory :
aisle around the sanctuary, usually semi-circular, giving access to the radial chapels. Synonym of 'ambulatory' when used as a noun.
Radial chapels:
chapels arranged around the sanctuary, generally opening onto the deambulatory.
Pierre le Chantre :
famous professor of theology, and cantor (choirmaster) of Notre-Dame de Paris, who died in the Cistercian abbey of Longpont (85km northeast of Paris) in 1197; author of biblical commentaries and moral reflections.
Sexpartite (vault) :vault supported and divided by six (Latin: sex) branches of ogives.