The Cistercian Settlement and Architecture of San Galgano Abbey

the symbolic interpretation of the apse of the abbey built shortly after the death of Saint Galgano, which in some way synthesizes the perception that contemporaries had of the Saint's work. THE CISTERCIAN SETTLEMENT After the death of Galgano Guidotti, a canonization process was almost immediately undertaken by Bishop Pannocchieschi. The hypothesis that Galgano was a Cistercian affiliate of the Casamari convent would justify the rather unusual request that was immediately advanced in 1185 for the remains and place of Saint Galgano by the Cistercians. This request was granted to them, and thus from 1185 the lands of MonteSiepi became Cistercian territory. At that time, only the community of hermits who were friends of Saint Galgano lived in the place, whom he had gathered and who operated in the hermitage of Montesiepi. This community was quite active at the time, and the chronicles speak of healings and acts of charity performed by these hermits, probably Cistercian affiliates. The Cistercians began to settle officially in the place in 1185, and the first charter of San Galgano concerning the Cistercian monk Bono dates back to 1190. At that time, the monks probably lived in the Hermitage of Montesiepi which, as mentioned, is a construction decidedly older than the abbey proper, and which can be dated around the 10th century if not earlier. After about twenty years, therefore, at a date between 1207 and 1218, it was decided to build an abbey which is precisely the Abbey of San Galgano of which we speak. The Abbey is a typical Cistercian abbey, although with many Gothic traits as we shall see, built by the Cistercian architects of Casamari to whom an unknown French architect probably joined. GENERAL INFORMATION ON CISTERCIAN ARCHITECTURE To understand the hidden meaning of the abbey of San Galgano, it is nevertheless necessary to know the typical traits of Cistercian architecture studied and developed by Saint Bernard and his brother Gerard, in order to identify the new and characteristic element present in the abbey. FORMATION OF THE CISTERCIANS AND BIRTH OF CISTERCIAN ARCHITECTURE As you know, the Cistercians are a monastic order founded by Robert of Molesme on March 21, 1098, on Palm Sunday at Cîteaux with the aim of establishing in the New Monastery a Rule more aligned with the rigorous one of Saint Benedict which had naturally been relaxed in other monasteries. At the beginning of its history, precisely because of the excessive asceticism it invoked, the Order of Cistercians had some difficulty taking off, so much so that when Saint Bernard joined the Order, the monks were in total 12 or 13 and their ascetic rule threatened their disappearance. Saint Bernard, however, brought considerable impetus to the monastic order, and already a few years after his entry into the order and the foundation of a new temple that he followed, vocations began. Vocations grew to such an extent that at the time of his death, the Cistercians had reached the considerable number of 300 monasteries scattered throughout European territory, thus making necessary at a certain point in the history of the order architectural and constructive canons that would allow the homologation of the different abbeys among themselves. Saint Bernard immediately noticed the importance of directly overseeing the construction of the abbey, so the Cistercians adopted as a general rule to directly supervise the construction work. The canons for such Cistercian architecture were developed precisely by Bernard in collaboration with his brother Gerard who, as Bernard himself says, was so industrious during the construction of the abbey of Clairvaux that he took care of all the practical and constructive realization of the Abbey, leaving Bernard only the name of supervisor. Saint Bernard judged the architecture of the Abbey as a very important element of the Cistercian Order. He noted how some practical solutions relating to the arrangement of rooms, latrines, the choice of place, general orientation, land reclamation, all constituted small precautions during the construction phase that could, however, lead to great differences during the life of the monks. Thus, even under the strong expansion of the Order in the 30s and 40s, Saint Bernard made sure to ensure uniformity of style in the formation of the various Abbeys and indeed sent some brothers trained at Clairvaux to assist in the design and construction of other Abbeys. The cases of brother Achard who went to Himmerod, Geoffrey of Aigney who went to Fountains in England, and the monk Robert who was sent to Ireland are well known. The reason for this uniformity desired by Saint Bernard resided mainly in some architectural norms of a practical nature to facilitate the daily life of the monks and some of a psychological and ascetic nature to facilitate their recollection and mental stability. ARCHITECTURAL NORMS OF A PRACTICAL CHARACTER The Cistercians were great ascetics, but also men very versed in technical work, particularly in engineering and architectural works. Indeed, the Cistercians boasted of having among their affiliates the best stonecutters of the time, and their hydraulic and reclamation works were known to all at the time. With their technical innovations, they promoted the reclamation of many marshy valleys and swamps, realizing that once reclaimed they could constitute excellent terrain for the construction of their Abbeys, especially for the income from agricultural harvest which instead turned out to be scarcer in the mountains. Thus the motto spread: "To Benedict the mountains, to Bernard the valleys." However, the part dedicated to the Abbey had to be located in the highest part of the valley, so as not to have stagnant water, and indeed it had to be situated in the southern area of the valley and close to a watercourse so as to elegantly solve the problem of latrines and the bodily needs of the monks. The typical layout of Cistercian abbeys then reflects a rational and functional division of space obtained by reproducing according to precise geometric proportions a basic square module corresponding indicatively to a quarter of the size of the central cloister within which there was a fountain or a well. Within the abbey enclosure, the arrangement of buildings always followed the same scheme: