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cloister
cloister unroofed space forming part of a religious establishment and surrounded by the various buildings or by enclosing walls. Generally, it is provided on all sides with a vaulted passageway consisting of continuous colonnades or arcades opening onto a court. The cloister is a characteristic part of monastic institutions (see abbey ), serving both as sheltered access to the various units of the group and for the recreation of the monks. Cloisters became an important architectural form in the 11th cent., a period marked by active monastery building all over Europe. They were not limited to monastic houses, but were built in some English colleges, as at Oxford and Eton, and in some churches, mostly in England and Spain. In N France many of the original cloisters have disappeared, but superb Romanesque cloisters remain in S France, Italy and Sicily, and Spain. In the typical examples the arches are supported by delicate columns, generally coupled, the elaborate capitals of the paired columns sometimes being interlaced. The 13th-century cloisters of two Roman churches, St. John Lateran and St. Paul's outside the Walls, are notable Romanesque examples, distinguished by twin spiral columns inlaid with rich glass mosaics. Of the Gothic period, the English cloisters are especially fine, as at Salisbury, Wells, and Westminster Abbey. The Renaissance cloisters are confined chiefly to Italy and Spain. In the New World the Spanish colonists began in the 16th cent. to build simple cloisters, generally arcaded, in Mexico, Cuba, and California. |
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"cloister." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "cloister." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-cloister.html "cloister." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-cloister.html |
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the Cloisters
the Cloisters museum of medieval European art, in Fort Tryon Park, New York City, overlooking the Hudson River. A branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , it was opened to the public in May, 1938. Designed by architect Charles Collens (1873-1956), the building includes elements from five French cloisters, a 12th-century Romanesque chapel, and a chapter house; three of the reconstructed cloisters enclose authentic medieval gardens. The core of the collection the museum houses consists of several hundred examples of medieval painting, sculpture, and other forms of art gathered in France by George Grey Barnard . This collection was bought by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (see under Rockefeller, John Davison ), in 1925, and presented to the Metropolitan Museum. Later additions include a series of 15th-century tapestries, Hunt of the Unicorn; a tapestry series of the 14th cent., The Nine Heroes; the famous Mérode Altarpiece by Robert Campin ; the Bury St. Edmunds ivory crucifix; and Les Belles Heures de Jean, Duc de Berry , an early 15th-century illuminated book of hours. The holdings also include outstanding examples of stained glass, ritual objects, metalwork, and enamels.
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"the Cloisters." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "the Cloisters." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Cloister.html "the Cloisters." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Cloister.html |
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cloister
cloister. Enclosed court, attached to a monastic or collegiate church, consisting of a roofed ambulatory, often (but not always) south of the nave and west of the transept, around an open area (garth), the walls (panes) facing the garth constructed with plain or traceried openings (sometimes glazed or shuttered). It served as a way of communication between different buildings (e.g. chapter-house, refectory), and was often equipped with carrels, seats, and a lavatorium in which to perform ablutions before entering the refectory. In basilican and Early Christian churches the cloister was at the west end, often with a fountain for washing in the garth, and was called an atrium, with one side either doubling as or leading to the narthex. This type of cloister, not intended as a means of communication between conventual buildings, was sometimes used for burial, and in due course became a detached building-type, used as a walled cemetery, such as the Campo Santo, Pisa, with memorials set around the walls. See also coved vault.
Bibliography Braunfels (1972); |
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JAMES STEVENS CURL. "cloister." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAMES STEVENS CURL. "cloister." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-cloister.html JAMES STEVENS CURL. "cloister." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-cloister.html |
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cloister
clois·ter
/ ˈkloistər/
•
n.
a covered walk in a convent, monastery, college, or cathedral, typically with a wall on one side and a colonnade open to a quadrangle on the other.
∎ (the cloister)
monastic life.
∎
a convent or monastery.
∎
any place or position of seclusion:
college is a cloister apart from the cares of the world.
•
v. [tr.]
seclude or shut up in or as if in a convent or monastery.
DERIVATIVES:
clois·tral
/ ˈkloistrəl/ adj.
ORIGIN: Middle English (in the sense ‘place of religious seclusion’): from Old French cloistre, from Latin claustrum, clostrum ‘lock, enclosed place,’ from claudere ‘to close.’
cloister |
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"cloister." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "cloister." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-cloister.html "cloister." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-cloister.html |
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cloister
cloister a covered walk in a convent, monastery, college, or cathedral, often with a wall on one side and a colonnade open to a quadrangle on the other. The word is recorded from Middle English (in the sense ‘place of religious seclusion’, and comes via Old French from Latin claustrum, clostrum ‘lock, enclosed place’, from claudere ‘to close’.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "cloister." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "cloister." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-cloister.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "cloister." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-cloister.html |
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cloister
cloister enclosure, close XIII; convent, covered walk (esp. a round a court) XIV. — OF. clo(i)stre (mod. cloître) :- L. claustrum, clōstrum bolt, place, f. claud-, stem of claudere CLOSE, + -trum, instr. suffix.
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T. F. HOAD. "cloister." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "cloister." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-cloister.html T. F. HOAD. "cloister." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-cloister.html |
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cloister
cloister. An enclosed space which normally forms the central part of a monastery or other religious building. The term is also used in general for a Religious House and for the Religious Life.
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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "cloister." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "cloister." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-cloister.html E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "cloister." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-cloister.html |
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Cloisters, The
Cloisters, The. See Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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IAN CHILVERS. "Cloisters, The." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. IAN CHILVERS. "Cloisters, The." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O3-CloistersThe.html IAN CHILVERS. "Cloisters, The." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O3-CloistersThe.html |
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cloister
cloister
•exploiter, goitre (US goiter), loiter, reconnoitre (US reconnoiter), Reuter
•anointer, appointer, jointer, pointer
•cloister, hoister, oyster, roister
•accoutre (US accouter), commuter, computer, disputer, hooter, looter, neuter, pewter, polluter, recruiter, refuter, rooter, saluter, scooter, shooter, souter, suitor, tooter, transmuter, tutor, uprooter
•booster, rooster
•doomster • freebooter • sharpshooter
•peashooter • six-shooter
•troubleshooter • prosecutor
•persecutor • prostitutor
•telecommuter
•footer, putter
•Gupta • Worcester • Münster
•pussyfooter • executor
•contributor, distributor
•collocutor, interlocutor
•abutter, aflutter, butter, Calcutta, clutter, constructor, cutter, flutter, gutter, mutter, nutter, scutter, shutter, splutter, sputter, strutter, stutter, utter
•abductor, conductor, destructor, instructor, obstructor
•insulter
•Arunta, Bunter, chunter, Grantha, grunter, Gunter, hunter, junta, punter, shunter
•corrupter, disrupter, interrupter
•sculptor
•adjuster, Augusta, bluster, buster, cluster, Custer, duster, fluster, lustre (US luster), muster, thruster, truster
•huckster • Ulster • dumpster
•funster, Munster, punster
•funkster, youngster
•gangbuster • filibuster • blockbuster
•semiconductor • headhunter
•woodcutter
•lacklustre (US lackluster)
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Cite this article
"cloister." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "cloister." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-cloister.html "cloister." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-cloister.html |
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