Cistercian Abbeys

Thanks to their spirituality, asceticism, technical skills and craftsmanship, the Cistercians became one of the most influential monastic orders of the high Middle Ages. Nine centuries ago, when the dynamic energy of the Benedictine order was threatening to ossify into mere grandeur and formalism, the Cistercians returned to the original holy rules of Benedict of Nursia and working with their hands. The text describes the development of the order and the life of Bernhard of Clairvaux. A selection of original texts, pictures and chronological tables offers information on the artistic and cultural historical characteristics of the individual monasteries and their inhabitants.