Visiting the 12th century Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque in May before its renowned lavender fields had burst into vibrant bloom, Martha McCormick discovered equal beauty in its austere Romanesque interior.
Located near Gordes in Provence, the abbey is occupied by a community of Cistercian monks. The Roman Catholic Cistercian Order grew from a late 11th century reform movement started by monks who wished to return to the pure traditions of monastic life practiced in Saint Benedict’s time.
Following the strictures of Cistercian design, the abbey lacks decorations such as frescoes, sculptures, or stained glass windows with Biblical illustrations.
According to the early founders, these ornamentations were meant for lay people who had little access to the Bible.
Decoration brought them closer to God. For the devout monks, however, such embellishment was unnecessary and would distract them from prayer. Thus, the decorative elements allowed are those of the architecture itself: vaults, arches, stairways, transepts, capitals and columns.
These were constructed using the finest methods because the Cistercian monks highly valued craftsmanship. Stonecutters were particularly prized, and each initialed the stones they cut as a matter of pride.
One might think this austerity creates a rather drab place. But instead, the austere décor heightens the beauty of the pale gray stone and the purity of line.
Added to this is the welcoming of light: la vrai Lumière—the true light—a symbol of God.
According to an early founder, Saint Bernard: “…shadow and darkness shall disappear and the splendor of the true Light will invade the whole space…”