Description

Of all the branches of the Cistercian order, the Trappists­ observe the rules of the order most strictly. Their monasteries are never built in or near to settlements, but are always in remote countryside or woodland areas. The Cistercian Monastery Our Lady of Novy´ Dvůr in Western Bohemia is no exception and is built on the site of a long dilapidated farm estate. The 70.25 metre square four-wing monastery encompasses both the existing restrained baroque building and a new extension.

The west wing is located at the highest point of the sloping site. The former manor house contains the entrance as well as a series of offices, with classrooms for the novices and the monks’ washroom above. The south wing contains the lavatorium, the refectory, the kitchen and clothing store on the ground floor, above the dormitory with 34 beds. Whilst the east wing contains the laundry facilities and infirmary with eight beds, on the upper floor the scriptorium, chapter house and sacristy, the north wing is entirely devoted to the church.

The cloister serves as the backbone for the entire complex. In Novỳ Dvůr this is in some respects a construction without precedent. Disappearing into the manor house – where it is subsumed into the hallway and corridor – it is entirely different on the other three sides along the new wings. Divorced from the ground level outside, and therefore unaffected by the sloping site, the cloister is not structured by pillars or ribwork. Instead, one side wall and barrel roof form a single element that appears to hang silently. On the other side, full-height glazing draws the eye into the courtyard.

Measuring 47.1 by 10.5 by 13.6 metres, the church has almost extreme proportions. As with the rest of the building, the concrete shell of the church is painted pure white. The light comes from the left and right from two sets of three U-shaped frames. Six of the eighteen strips indicate an equivalent of a crossing. Above all, however, they emphasise the radical hierarchy of the processional arrangement – the path from the lay choir to the monks’ choir to the presbytery – additionally underlined by the barriers and steps. Behind the altar there is a wide stair from where the monks arrive from their seclusion and take up position in their choir.

The British architect collected numerous examples of simple buildings for his book “minimum”. On several occasions the book – a canonical reference for the design of pure objects – refers to Cistercian architecture. The barrel vaulting of the cloister in Le Thoronet can be seen to recur here in Novỳ Dvůr. For Bernhard of Clairvaux, abstraction and restraint were an expression of the Cistercian life of solitude. However, today modernist architecture values its aesthetic qualities. In this desire for beauty lies a problem of luxurious minimalism. Only with time will the monastery escape this as the building begins to show its age.

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Originally published in: Rudolf Stegers, Sacred Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2008.