Acceptation et refus de la modernité stylistique dans l’architecture cistercienne: L’exemple de la Bretagne

Abstract

When Cistercian architecture began opening up to modernity, sobriety made way for elements comparable to those of secular and non-reformed Benedictine architecture. Large chevets, complete with an ambulatory and radiating chapels, that began with the abbey church at Clairvaux, spread to other locations such as Royaumont, Moreruela and Alcobaça. Grand chevets with an ambulatory and multiple rectangular chapels grew in popularity. The delay in the incorporation of such features in the ecclesiastical architecture of Brittany has often been attributed to the supposed isolation of the Armorican peninsula. This article describes the characteristics and chronology of the implantation of the White monks in ducal Brittany and, through an analysis of various characteristics of Cistercian religious architecture in the area, concludes that the choices made regarding tradition and modernity were deliberate.