MONASTRY OF CLUNEY III

• In 910, Duke William of Aquitaine endowed a monastery on his hands at Cluney.

• The new monastery was exempted from the jurisdiction of the local bishop and made directly
under the Pope.
• Twelve monks came to Cluney seeking a strict following of the Benedictian order and slowly
the monastery started to grow/ prosper.
• The exemplary life of the monks attracted more people to convert and the monastery
became an influential organization.
• By 1088, the church and monastic complex ( known as Cluney II) built after the original villa
had been outgrown and so a new church , Cluney III was begun, to accommodate the
increasing number of monks.
• The Church of Cluney III had the features of mature Romanesque architecture, as
Romanesque architecture allowed them to portray the splendor of Christendom, which was
necessary to reflect the importance of the Monastery.

• It was based on the Basilican plan. The church was enriched by a double set of transepts and
further followed by a series of radiating chapels around the apse and eastern wall of the
transept.
• The nave is 100ft high and 496 feet long. It was large enough to accommodate processions
and was flanked by 2 aisles on each side; the innermost pair of which continued around the
choir as an ambulatory, linking the 5 radiating chapels of the east end.
• On the exterior each of the plan
elements was clearly expressed as an
individual volume but all were
beautifully integrated as a coherent
whole.
• Towers provided vertical emphasis, a
pair of towers at the western entrance
one over each arm of the major
transept.
• The highest tower was at the
intersection of the major transept and
nave. And shorter towers over the
crossing of the minor transept.
• Viewed from the east the church
appeared as a triangular mass with
roofs ascending from the chapels to the
ambulatory, and the apse semi dome.

• The interiors was filled with light from

the many windows in the chapels and
clerestories.
• The great vaulted spaces of the
monastery created excellent acoustics
for the elaborate services sung by the
monks.
DURNHAM CATHEDRAL
• Located in the city of Durnham, England.
• Present cathedral was found in 1093.
• The building is notable for the ribbed vault of the nave roof, with pointed transverse arches
supported on relatively slender composite piers alternated with massive drum columns and
flying buttresses or lateral abutments concealed within the triforium over the aisles.
• The skilled use of pointed arch and ribbed vault made it possible to cover far more elaborate
and complicated ground plans than before. Buttressing made it possible to buildings.