Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: chapter room

In 1142 Guarnerio II, Duke of Spoleto and Marquis of Ancona, donated a large piece of land here to the Cistercians. The monks from the Abbazia Chiravalle in Milan arrived that same year and immediately began building the monastery. They used material from the ruins of the nearby Roman city of Urbs Salvia, which had been destroyed by Alaric in 408-410 and also began the reclamation of the swampy forest around. The abbey flourished for three centuries. The monks organized their agricultural land and its influence grew to the extent that it incorporated 33 dependent churches and monasteries. In 1422 the abbey was sacked by condottiero Braccio da Montone, who destroyed the roof of the church and the bell tower, and killed a number of the monks. Subsequently, the Pope entrusted the abbey to a group of eight cardinals as a prebend. In 1581, the abbey was assigned to the Jesuits. Finally, in 1773, after the suppression of the Jesuits, the whole area was handed over to the Bandini family. The last heir of the family left the area to the present Giustiniani-Bandini Foundation, which set up the Fiastra Abbey Nature Reserve to preserve this heritage. The chapter room

A hermitage was founded here by Géraud de Salles, a friend of Robert de Arbrissel, the of the Cistercian abbey of Fontevrault. In 1119 the hermitage was made an abbey, connected to the Abbaye de Pontigny. The Abbaye de Cîteaux ceded twelve monks to Cadouin for the first settlement of the monastery. Around 1200 the monastery came into possession of the "Saint-Suaire de Cadouin". This was believed to be the facecloth from the tomb of Christ, said to have been brought from Antioch by a priest after the first crusade. This relic made the abbey an important place of pilgrimage on the way to Santiago and brought it great prestige and wealth. Even Louis IX of France ("St. Louis"), Richard I of England ("Richard the Lionheart") and Emperor Charles V ("Charles Quint") visited Cadouin to see the relic. The war of the 14th century let the pilgrimage come to an end and let the abbey decline. In 1357 the abbey was ruined and only two monks stayed to guard the shroud, that was transferred to Toulouse in 1392. This transport of shroud to Toulouse deprived the abbey of donations. The shroud returned and with the strong support of the French Kings, the abbey recovered after 1455. Thanks to royal protection, the cloister was rebuilt in an extravagant way. The abbey was affiliated to the Cistercian order, but not founded by it. This is one reason, that may explain the enormous creativity here, as "normally" the Cistercian art is very sober. Though the authenticity of the shroud was attested in 1644, the abbey did never fully recover after the Wars of Religions. During the French Revolution, the abbey was dissolved and got looted. In 1793 the abbey, apart from the church, was sold as a national property. The mayor of Cadouin hid the shroud during the Revolution until it was returned to worship in 1797. It was the Bishop of Perigueux in the mid 19th century, who "relaunched" the pilgrimage, that prospered again up to 1934. That year, a historian dated the shroud thanks to the presence of decorative bands decorated with a text. An inscription was found in Kufic style, opened by the "fatiha", the Islamic profession of faith, the text then indicates that the veil was woven at the time of Al-Musta'li, the caliph of Fatimid Egypt, at the end of the 11th century. The chapter room, from where this shot was taken, was built in the 12th century (the three Romanesque capitals), while the cloister was added in Gothic style in the 14th century (background).

Sicily, the largest of all Mediterranean islands, has a long history, that starts around 8000 BC, but later there were Phoenician, Carthaginian, Greek and Roman periods. After the Roman Empire had fallen apart the Vandals tried to take over the island but failed. Finally, the Ostrogoths took possession. Mid of the 6th century Sicily was conquered by troops of the Byzantine Empire and became a Byzantine province. After the advent of Islam, Sicily got attacked by the Arab forces. Raids seeking loot continued until the mid-8th century. A Muslim army was sent to the island in 827 but met with much resistance. So it took a century to conquer it and even later revolts constantly occurred In 1038 the Byzantines invaded the island supported by their Norman mercenaries, led by Roger. In 1072, after the siege of Palermo, most of Sicily was under Norman control. Roger´s son Roger II raised the status of the island to a kingdom in 1130. During this period, the Kingdom of Sicily was prosperous and powerful, The court of Roger II became melting out of culture, both from Europe and the Middle East. This attracted scholars, scientists, artists, and artisans. Muslims, Jews, Greeks, Lombards, and Normans worked together and created some extraordinary buildings. In 1186 the last descendant of Roger, Constance of Sicily married Emperor Henry VI, the second son of Frederick Barbarossa. So the crown of Sicily was passed on to the Hohenstaufen Dynasty. Frederick II, the only son of Constance, was crowned King of Sicily at the age of four in 1198. He became "Stupor Mundi", one of the greatest and most cultured men of the Middle Ages. Palermo, founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians, became a possession of Carthage. The town later became part of the Roman Empire. From 831 to 1072 the city was under Arab rule. Following the Norman conquest, Palermo became the capital of a new Kingdom of Sicily and the capital of the Holy Roman Empire under Emperor Frederick II and King Conrad IV. Today Palermo is a bustling city with a population of about 700.000 plus - many many tourists. Sant'Agostino was built end of the 13th century in early Gothic style, when the Capetian House of Anjou was in power in Palermo. It replaced on older Romanesque church and still is the church of the Order of Saint Augustine. It got remodeled, renovated a couple of times over the centuries. The portal of the former chapter room. The church was given to the Order mid 13th century. The style of the portal is either late Romanesque or very early Gothic, so it was probably done durig that early times.

A monastery had been here since the 6th century, dedicated to the martyr St. Valerian, whose grave is in the crypt. It got raided by the Maurs and in 875 Charles the Bald offered the abbey to a group of homeless of monks from Normoutier as their monastery had been destroyed by the Normans. These monks carried the relics of St. Philibert with them, so for a while the abbey was shared by two communities, each dedicated to their own saint. After Hungarian troops had damaged the buildings in 936-37, the church got rebuild in the form we know it today. The construction lasted from the late 10th century to the early 12th century. I had been here many times before (and uploaded lots of photos) over the years, but I just had to stop - and take more shots. The monastery´s former chapter room is by now used as shop.

The "Abbazia di Chiaravalle della Colomba" was founded in 1136. It was one of the earliest Cistercian monasteries in Italy. It was a "filiation" of the famous abbey Clairvaux (and maybe even Bernard of Clairvaux was involved). "Chiaravalle" = "claravallis" - just like "Clairvaux". The abbey was sacked and burned in 1248 by Frederick II of Swabia (aka "Frederick the One-Eyed") during his siege of Parma. In 1805 Napoleon's rule led to suppression of the order. In 1810, properties were assigned to the Civil Hospital of Piacenza. The archives and library were sold. Cistercian monks returned in 1937 and by now the abbey has joint ownership with the state. The church was erected during the 12th and 13th centuries, but was refurbished during the 15th century. The abbey has an estraordinary cloister added within the 13th century. At that time, the strict Cistercian soberity, still visible in the church´s interior, must have softened, as here are even sculpted capitals, or as Bernard of Clairvaux called them "ridicula monstruositas". The portal of the monks chapter room open to the cloister, that is mirrored in the windowpane. Untypically for a Cistercian abbey is the architectural beauty - and the sculpted capitals.