Cistercian Reform

The Cistercian reform also brought about changes in architecture. Most architectural reforms take place in the religious buildings. The changes installed in these buildings took them from very artfully decorated to very modest. The reasons behind this are simple. The ornamental designs seems to take away from the spirituality of religion. This resulted in very bland and utilitarian buildings that hardly resembled religious buildings at all. Monks were thought to be distracted by even the most subtle decorations even if they were related to religious artifacts. Because of the simplicity the designs were easy to make and keep up, but churches lost their trademarks of being artfully decorated and proud to call themselves a place of worship. This block technique of building was soon abandoned and Churches returned to their former states.

"Cistercians - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia." Main Page - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 20 Apr. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cistercians>.



"File:Santa Maria Arabona.jpg - Wikimedia Commons." Main Page - Wikimedia Commons. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santa_Maria_Arabona.jpg>.


"Cistercian Architecture - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia." Main Page - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 20 Apr. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cistercian_architecture>.