The Abbey of Cluny is its origin. Cluny Monastery

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The Abbey of Cluny was closed after the French Revolution in 1790, and three years later it was burned and looted by peasants. In 1798, the remains of the abbey were sold and used as a quarry for several decades. Only about 10% of the Basilica of Cluny III has survived to this day, including the southern bell tower. The surviving buildings were restored in the 20th century.

Not far from Cluny is the world famous ecumenist community of Taizé.

Literature

“Cluny” // Catholic Encyclopedia. Ed. Franciscans. T.2. M.:2005
Moulin, Leo Daily life of medieval monks in Western Europe (X-XV centuries). - M.: Young Guard, 2002. - ISBN 5-235-02450-8
Catholic Encyclopedia. Congregation of Cluny

Links

Abbaye de Cluny (French)

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See what “Cluny (monastery)” is in other dictionaries:

- (French Cluny; or Clugny Clugny) estate in Upper Burgundy, near Macon. On September 11, 909, it was donated by the Duke of Aquitaine, William I the Pious, to Abbot Bernon for the founding of a new monastery. Cluny was taken out of custody... ... Catholic Encyclopedia

Cluny (French: Cluny): Cluny monastery in Burgundy, France. Cluny (congregation) monastic congregation, a branch of the Benedictines, based in the monastery of Cluny. Cluny (France) a commune in France Hotel Cluny Parisian museum.... ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Cluny (meanings). Cluny Monastery Cluny ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Cluny (meanings). Basilica of Cluny III (reconstruction) Cluny, Cluny monastic congregation ... Wikipedia

Benedictine abbey in Burgundy (see Burgundy) (department of Saône-et-Loire) founded by Duke William of Aquitaine. During the reign of Abbot Odon (927,942), Cluny became the center of the Cluny reform, which played a huge role in history... ... Geographical encyclopedia

- (from the Greek monasterion hermit's cell), in a number of religions communities of monks (monasteries) or nuns (nunneries), accepting common rules of life (rules). The architecture of the monastery is associated with national regional... ... Art encyclopedia

Monastery- (monastery), religious. a community of monks or nuns living in prayer and work according to uniform rules (rules), often in secluded and remote places. Monasticism is characteristic of almost all religions. Buddha (c. 563 c. 483 BC) founded the monastic... ... The World History

Cluny- and the Cluny congregation. K. monastery in upper Burgundy, in the diocese of Macon. After France began to recover from internal unrest, as well as the raids of the Saracens, Hungarians and Normans, and peace and silence was restored, the nobility with a new... ... Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary

Monastery- (Greek monasthrion solitary dwelling, from monas lonely and threw to protect) communities of monks (monasteries) or nuns (nunneries), accepting common rules of life (rules). The most ancient Buddhist monasteries appeared in the 2nd half. 1 thousand... Architectural Dictionary

Or Cluny (Clugny) estate in Upper Burgundy, near Macon. In 910 it was presented to Abbot Bernon for the founding of a new monastery. K. was removed from dependence on any secular or spiritual authority and was subordinated ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Abbey of Cluny

The city of Cluny is located in east-central France, northwest of Lyon, in Haute-Burgundy. It grew up around the Benedictine monastery of Cluny, which was founded in 910 AD. and was the center of an influential religious order. At first it was only a village, the domain of Duke Guillaume, when the monastery was first founded, but Cluny gradually increased in importance as the religious brotherhood developed after.

In 1474 the city was taken by the troops of Louis XI. In 1529 the abbey was transferred “in trust” to the Guise family, who held the position of abbot for the next hundred years. Around the 16th century, the town and monastery were damaged during the Wars of Religion and the abbey was closed in 1790. 12 cardinals and several popes emerged from the abbey, including Gregory VII, the initiator of the Gregorian reform.

Monastery of Cluny

In the Middle Ages, the Cluny library was one of the richest not only in France, but throughout Europe. In 1562, many valuable manuscripts were destroyed or stolen as the monastery was plundered by the Huguenots.

Currently, only 10% of the buildings remain, the rest was destroyed and stolen for building materials, as is always the case everywhere, if you read history. In the 20th century, the remains were restored and today Cluny Abbey is a popular tourist destination. To better understand the architecture of Cluny, you need to visit the Burgundian churches, large and small monasteries of France. The monastery church in Turnus, 30 km to the northeast, was built a little earlier and is distinguished by its power and solidity of construction. Basilica of the 11th century. in Parel-Monial shows, albeit on a smaller scale, what Cluny originally looked like.

Medieval castle photo

Currently, the Burgundy Hotel is located around the abbey, where you can visit 18th-century cellars and taste different wines, buy souvenirs in cozy shops and try Germaine chocolate. Sit in small restaurants with terraces and plunge into the atmosphere of that time.

Castle Hotel Burgundy

Cluny has become a regional center for equestrian sports, with the National Stud Breeding thoroughbred stallions for racing. You can see Arabian and French horses. In addition, this small town has a prestigious High School of Arts and Crafts

Plan diagram of the Cluny monastery on an old engraving

So it's easy to see why artists, craftsmen, poets and writers are drawn to the city's surroundings, which are home to Romanesque churches, picturesque villages and river valleys.

Includes the famous monastery and the Gothic church of Notre Dame, which laid the foundation for the emergence of Gothic architecture in France, and the Church of St. Marcel with its beautiful Romanesque spiers. As well as a number of picturesque houses of the Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles.

Gothic church

Walking along the streets of the town you can take a trip into the past and imagine a time when Cluny was the “light of the Western world” and.

Somehow I don’t even dare call Cluny a city. So, a provincial regional center, quiet and sleepy, whose whole life revolves on several hectares of land around an ancient, long-inactive abbey. Cluny had long ago forgotten what it was like, when it really was an abbey, and with a capital A. And no one is surprised by the slightly confused and disappointed looks of pilgrims of the 21st century - tourists who see only monumental ruins in front of them. Although you don’t even need to use much of your imagination to be amazed by the size of these ruins - in the open spaces that once were the central nave, the city square is now freely located, and the only really well-preserved part of it - the southern tower - is the height of a nine-story building.

Every word, every phrase, every historical fact never exists on its own, and if you just cling to it, it will pull behind you a whole chain of further historical events associated with it. History is not a linear structure, but a whole tangle or, if you like, many parallel realities that coexist peacefully or not so peacefully in a single period of time, and perhaps even on the same territory.

Preparing for another trip to France, this time to Burgundy, I sat down to study the history of Cluny Abbey and very quickly realized that it was by no means limited to the history of the monastery and church in the city of Cluny, like an octopus, spreading the tentacles of its influence wherever it was possible. Why, even the city of Cluny itself owes its birth to this abbey... however, this is just a completely ordinary story. Just as metallurgical and oil-extracting enterprises are now, so in the Middle Ages abbeys, monasteries and large basilicas were such “city-forming enterprises.” In France, there is even a concept of “Cathedral City” - not “Cathedral City”, but exactly that.

Created by Guillaume I the Pious to atone for his own sins, for the same reason the Cluny Abbey was exempt from all taxes, and at the same time from subordination to the local episcopate - apparently, Guillaume did not want the monks to be distracted by anything other than the salvation of his immortal soul. Moreover, there was a sin behind him, and apparently it gnawed at his soul pretty much - Guillaume brazenly expropriated the possessions and title of his relative, Count of Poitiers Eble Manzer. It is possible, rather more than likely, that the sin was far from the only one, because power is a very dirty game, and the higher you climb, the more corpses you will have to step over. And the practice of creating your own personal “pocket” monasteries in medieval Europe already existed in full swing.

But in fact, the monks quickly got rid of not only episcopal, but also any secular interference in their affairs, declaring their accountability only directly to the Pope. This was an unusually cunning political move - the Pope is very far away... at that time - probably more than one month of travel, and besides, the authority of the churchmen was not just great - but indisputable, so it’s unlikely that anyone would have even thought of asking they have a simple and uncomplicated question - “And, actually, why would that be?” And very little time passed before people started talking about the abbey that in the lands of the Franks from Burgundy to Normandy it surpassed even the Vatican itself in its power.

The Cluny monastic order was not only the most powerful religious formation of that time - and we are now talking about the 10th century - but it also started numerous disputes, many other monastic orders and communities spun off from it, in particular Clairvaux - whose zealous offspring, Bernard of Clairvaux, created a doctrine that determined the spiritual and partly political life of Europe over the next 500 years.

Despite the fact that the seeds thrown by Cluny Abbey sprouted for a very, very long time (as can be seen in the example of the same Bernard of Clairvaux), his own life turned out to be more like a supernova explosion. Having begun its rapid rise at the end of the 10th century, the abbey almost completely withered away in the 13th century. There were many reasons for this, but first of all - the decline of morals in the monastery itself (no one had ever managed, having practically unlimited power and freedom, to use it only for good) and the associated financial crisis. In addition, at this time new branches of the Benedictine order appeared and rose to power, challenging the autocracy of Cluny.

Well, after in 1516 the French king Francis I, just a year after his accession, had already successfully captured half of Italy and greatly frightened Pope Leo X, the Bologna Concordat was adopted. The pope, although he remained formally the head of the church, lost almost all levers of control over religious organizations in France - the king now appointed hierarchs himself, and church income also went directly to the French treasury.

And going back to the thirteenth century - local rulers, dukes and counts, also had absolutely no need for such strong and independent competitors - besides the fact that they had real power of influence on the people, they also accumulated quite decent funds, which were transferred ( not in full, of course, but still!) to Rome. The cracks through which finances flowed had to be plugged, and the sources of influence on fragile human minds had to be neutralized. Therefore, the secular authorities relied on local religious separatism, fueled by the “national feeling” that was just beginning to take shape. History has repeatedly shown that this is the most effective method if you need to destroy something from the inside. In general, Oswald Spengler wrote in his “The Decline of Europe” that the carefully cultivated idea of nation-states is what will ultimately destroy this world. And we can now observe this process in all its glory...

The idea is not new at all, or rather even as old as this world - the history of the Tower of Babel goes back more than one millennium, but for some reason people, more than anything else, like to contrast themselves with everything around them. But this is what they say in the theater - “a line to the side.” And although now we see only the sad ruins of what a thousand years ago was the greatest religious center of the medieval West, let’s try to use our imagination as much as possible and imagine how it was...

Moreover, now we are just wandering through the remains of how it was. At the very entrance to the museum, which is now the ruins of a monastery, there is a model - only it is small and not at all representative. It is much better to lift your head under these colossal heights of stone vaults... in the dead silence of which every step echoes loudly. Cluny has something of the monumentality of ancient Roman ruins and the mournful silence of the Lisbon Monastery of Carmo - it also resembles the skeleton of a huge whale washed up on the shore...

The first basilica appeared here in 927 under the first abbot, Abbot Bernon. But the growing influence of the abbey and its religious ideas led to the fact that the church quickly ceased to suit the church fathers - the influence must be visible and tangible and expressed in completely material forms, otherwise what good is it? The basilica was rebuilt, but very quickly they decided that, apparently, it would not be enough, and they decided to rebuild it again. As a result, this giant was born, 187 meters long and 40 meters high. Before the construction of the current St. Peter's Basilica in the sixteenth century, the largest religious building, can you imagine??? And not in Rome, but here, in Cluny...

The church in Cluny became the apotheosis of the Romanesque style - you, of course, know that it was from the Romanesque style of south-eastern France that Gothic grew, and it was in Cluny that the experiments that preceded this rebirth began. In this colossal church, a system of pointed vaults was used for the first time to lighten the structure. Of course, the first pancake turned out to be lumpy - after all, the ancient builders built, as they say, by eye - they did not yet have either the experience of their ancestors or computer modeling... Just as the first dome of Hagia Sophia collapsed in Constantinople, the first version of the tower collapsed a few years later in Cluny.

But the medieval builders learned their lesson - the second vault they erected stood until the Great French Revolution, when the central portal was blown up in a destructive frenzy, and the subsequent fire did not leave much chance for the rest of the building. But the palace of Jean of Bourbon, built nearby in the 15th century, was filled to capacity with the wreckage of former luxury - add to this a number of ancient Roman artifacts found in the area, and voila, the archaeological museum is ready!

Inside the huge destroyed basilica it is empty, echoing and uncomfortable... The colossal space is oppressive with its silent emptiness. You won’t be able to feel it from the photographs - because even the volume of this structure, from the stone floor slabs to the ceiling, simply does not fit into the lens. But now we are standing only in the transept, that is, in the short “sleeve” of the temple... I already told you about the central nave; we walked through its ruins while walking to the entrance to the museum - it is, of course, completely impossible to identify it now, but nevertheless, this is what he is.

Stucco molding, stained glass frescoes... of course, at one time all this was also in abundance here. The Cluniac monks tried to ensure that their church made the right impression not only from the outside. For which they paid - in the wake of the religious wars of the mid-sixteenth century, the Huguenots reached Cluny and completely plundered the abbey. Just don’t think that religious wars were fought exclusively for the glory of the triumph of the true faith...

The fate of the abbey after the revolution was also predictable - what survived was stolen by peasants and city residents for building materials. The pitiful remains of what was once the great and formidable Abbey of Cluny were restored in the twentieth century - and even then they were not so much restored as simply mothballed, because there was too much “to be completed to the original”, I’m afraid that even the tireless Viollet-le-Duc I wouldn't take this on. And the former monastery premises were given to the National Higher School of Arts and Crafts - in the buildings surrounding this cloister there are absolutely empty monastery and museum halls, the purpose of which can only be learned from the signs on the doors, adjacent to the institute's auditoriums.

The territory of the former abbey is huge - perhaps comparable in size to the rest of the town of Cluny. If you want to see this, climb up to the observation deck of the Tour de Fromage - the “Cheese Tower”, which is located at the beginning of the street where the entrance to the Abbey Museum is. Now there is a tourist office there.

In the town itself there is absolutely nothing else that could be classified as any significant landmark. And there is no need for this, everything here is imbued with the silent grandeur of the old abbey.

If you find yourself here, go and see the Notre Dame Church, sandwiched between the houses, built in the transitional Romanesque-Gothic style. True, from above, from the tower, Notre Dame makes a much more interesting impression, because you can see its texture - but inside it is completely ascetically empty.

Abbey of Cluny located in France in the city of Cluny in the Saône-et-Laura department. This is one of the oldest monasteries in France. More than one thousand one hundred years have passed since its foundation. The history of the creation of this monastery complex is interesting. The monastery was built on lands that served as hunting grounds for Duke William the First Pious.

In 910, construction of a monastery of Benedictine order monks began here. In the first years of their existence, the monks were completely exempt from paying all taxes and obeyed only the Pope himself. The monastery was surrounded on all sides by powerful fortress walls. Construction of the first church was started by the Abbot of Cluny in 910 and continued for 17 years. In 981, a new, larger temple was additionally built at the abbey.

Over time, the number of monks increased, and the territory of the monastery increased. Construction of new buildings was underway. In 1088, the Great Cathedral of Cluny Abbey was founded.

St. Michael's Cathedral was built in the Romanesque style. Its construction was completed in the 15th century. The cathedral was decorated with stone carvings and paintings by masters of medieval painting. In 1081 the Cathedral was destroyed. In 1088, construction of the third church was completed in the abbey. This temple was considered the largest of the temples of Western Christendom.

In 1095, Pope Urban II consecrated all five altars of the temple. Part of this cathedral has survived to this day. In 1562, the Huguenots attacked the monastery, plundered it and destroyed buildings. But even greater destruction befell the monastery during the French Revolution in 1790.

Before the destruction of the monastery by revolutionary crowds, there was an excellent library in which the most valuable copies were stored; various types of arts, including music and painting, also flourished in Cluny. Today, the surviving manuscripts from the Cluny library are kept in Paris at the Bibliothèque Nationale.

The Abbey of Cluny reached its greatest prosperity in the years one thousand forty-nine - one thousand one hundred and nine during the reign of the sixth abbot, Hugo of Semur. During this period, Cluny monasteries appeared not only in France, but also in Spain, Italy, Germany, and England. The Cluny Order had a wide ramified network in many European countries.

For several centuries, thousands of monks lived here according to the Rule of St. Benedict. At different times, the abbots of the monastery were Richelieu and Mazarin. Four popes emerged from the walls of the monastery. At the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance, the political and economic importance of the Abbey of Cluny weakened, and during the French Revolution the monastery was destroyed and looted.

Today, on the territory of the monastery, only the remains of the cathedral, built from the 17th - 18th centuries, the palace of Jean of Bourbon, built in the 15th century, a 13th century building under an oak covering, as well as the remains of drum towers, have been preserved. The Cluny Monastery is one of the main religious shrines of Western Christendom.

The Abbey of Cluny (Abbaye de Cluny), located in the department of Saône-et-Loire, 17 kilometers northwest of Macon, is a monastery complex unique in its historical significance, which played a significant role in the religious, political and general cultural transformations of medieval society.

By the 10th century, France was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, but under increasing pressure from the Vikings and Saracens, the authority of the royal power was greatly weakened, as a result of which local authorities gained greater independence. This phenomenon was especially pronounced in the south and in the Mâcon region, where the Abbey of Cluny was founded. The church at that time was mired in feudal strife and disputes between white and black clergy regarding tithes. The religious crisis particularly affected the monastic clergy. Many monasteries fell victim to Scandinavian raids or were captured by the nobility. The crisis was aggravated by the fact that the Benedictine Rule, which regulated life in monasteries, was not observed everywhere.

In this situation, in 909 or 910, the Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Auvergne Guillaume I founded the Abbey of Cluny, which reported directly to the Pope and had political independence. Very soon, Cluny became a symbol of religious renewal, becoming a hotbed of transformation of the Benedictine Rite and the intellectual center of the beginning of the mature Middle Ages.

The construction of the monastery complex is divided into three stages:

1. Abbot Bernon - the first abbot of Cluny - initiated the construction of the church in 910, which was completed after his death in 927.

2. By 981, a new building was built, replacing the previous one due to its small size. This building had a complex apse with several small apses and a vestibule in the western part. Its architecture reflected the development of pilgrimage and the increasing sophistication of liturgical practices. A high bell tower was erected in the transept. This arrangement of the bell tower became the rule for almost all Romanesque buildings in this region.

3. The development of the order and the increase in the number of monks required further expansion of the abbey. The third stage of construction, which began towards the end of the 11th century under Abbot Hugo (later canonized), lasted more than a century. In 1130 the nave was built, and around the same time construction began on the north arm of the transept and the towers of the narthex. In the second half of the 12th century, construction was suspended and resumed only at the beginning of the 13th century. In 1220, the narthex, built in the Gothic style, was completed. From that moment on, and for almost three centuries, the abbey church was considered the largest temple in the West (187 meters in length and 30 meters in height) until the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in 1506.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and with the beginning of the Renaissance with its religious wars, the political and economic position of the abbey weakened. And during the French Revolution, the monastery complex became a source of building materials for the nearby houses of the bourgeoisie. The world-famous library was burned and the interior was destroyed.

Nowadays, only buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries and an insignificant part of the building of the third stage of construction (less than 10 percent intact), the details of which are known to us from medieval plans, have survived on the territory of the abbey.

In plan, the building has the shape of an archbishop's cross: it has two transepts. The great transept, of which only three-quarters of the wing remains, was so large that its premises could be compared to a small cathedral. This transept was crowned by three bell towers. The Bell Tower of the Holy Water still stands on the southern wing (an octagonal Romanesque tower 31 meters high), while the other two are destroyed. To the east, between the choirs there is the so-called “morning transept”, of which only a part has also been preserved. The crosshair area was crowned by a tower (the purpose of which is not clear), which included a blind octagonal drum with a spire. The main nave was surrounded by four side nave, and the height of the vault reached 33 meters.

You can still see the remains of the drum towers that surrounded the portal and the lower parts of the vestibule.

In addition to the remains of the church, the following buildings are located on the territory of the abbey:

Palace of Jean of Bourbon (15th century), which contains some elements of the interior decoration of the old church (11th-12th centuries) and sculptures from nearby medieval houses. A model of the monastery church from its heyday is also presented here.

Monastic buildings of the 18th century, distinguished by austerity and grandeur and testifying to the Moorish reform, which influenced the aesthetic preferences of the monks.

A 13th-century barn with eight capitals, masterpieces of Romanesque sculpture, displayed under an oak covering.