Product Description

Le Thoronet Abbey, one of the wonders of twelfth-century Cistercian architecture and still revered by architects today, nestles in a wooded valley in Provence, south of France. This book is a pictorial appreciation of the abbey, photographed by Lucien Hervé in the mid-1950s and introduced by Le Corbusier. 'The pictures in this book are witnesses to the truth', is how he describes Hervé's photographs of the Romanesque abbey. Hervé's exquisite study presents the building throughout the course of a day, depicting the changing play of light and shadow on its stone vaulted exterior and interior. Highly textured and almost abstract in quality, his photographs reveal how the abbey is defined as much by light as by the conventions of Romanesque architecture, as well as conveying the intense spirituality of the Cistercian monastic order. Arranged according to the canonical hours of prayer, Hervé's photographs are complemented by quotations from the psalms and the saints. An essay by Father Samuel of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Sept-Fons provides an insight into the Cistercian monastic order, while architect John Pawson contributes a personal appreciation of this fine example of Cistercian architecture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #107228 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Customer Reviews

Truly Cistercian
This gorgeous book flawlessly demonstrates the architecture of the Cistercians, the photographs conveying the principles of asceticism which governed their monastic spaces. The continuity of pages filled with black and white photos, alongside which black text communicates wisdom from some of the greatest religious personages, is broken only by the red lettering delineating the beginning of a new section, each of which is named for the canonical hours--mirroring the shift that would have occurred in the monks' day as the bells of terce or nones called them to prayer. Throughout, Hervé's photographs marvelously capture the spirit of light so important to the aesthetic of Cistercian architecture, making it apparent that he truly understands and respects its principles. The essence of L'Abbaye du Thoronet permeates the pages, making me feel (in a way no other book has) as though I am again standing in its cloister, the scent of boxwood in the air, a specific and marked tranquility throughout...
I believe that this is a volume of which St. Bernard himself would approve.