Category Archives: LETTER A

Abbey Inscribed in Life of Christian Community

More generally speaking, an abbey is a Christian community of monks overseen by an abbot, or of nuns by an abbess. Precisely, it is a monastic complex focused on a church or even a cathedral. In terms of architecture, the church stands for the main building of that community. The whole abbey is composed hence of various sacral buildings of a different purpose, associated with a set of usable rooms, such as a scriptorium, library, dining room, bedrooms, the kitchen or other utility rooms. Any abbey’s layout is dictated by the founding order. The idea of creating an abbey had been developed throughout centuries.

The monastic ideas first appeared in the Egyptian desert, in the fourth century, together with such great anchorites as Saint Anthony and Saint Paul the Great who lived in an isolated place, far away from urbanist centres, in order to offer their life to God through the ascetism. Their godliness started to attract much attention of others who followed Saint Anthony into the desert. In such a way, first monastic communities started to grow; they were usually composed of small cells around the place where a hermit dwelled. With time, an original eremitical life changed into coenobitism, whose idea was continued by another Egyptian monk, Pachomius, who introduced a set of significant architectural elements; firstly, the church, monks’ cells, refectory (dining hall), kitchen, infirmary (hospital), and guest house for the community’s gatherings. The whole architectural complex was surrounded by an enclosure with strongholds. Such communities were known either as the laurae or caenobia.

Such a monastic progress was also observed in Hiberno-Scotland, where early medieval ascetics first built beehive huts in remote places, such as bogs or lonely islands, and then proceeded to constructing larger communal monastic sites with oratories, scriptoriums and stone high crosses. The idea of abbey as the ecclesiastical formation had already been known in early Christianity, for both male and female communities, but its Romanesque and Gothic variant was primarly spread by the Benedictines, whose order slowly replaced Insular way of worshiping God by an anchoretic life. The term ‘abbey’ originated either from Latin word abbatia or Aramaic abba, which refers to the idea of fathership. Hence, an abbot or an abbess. The title of an abbey for a monastic complex has been approved by the Holy Church of Rome, so although the term abbey can refer to each monastery with such a title, not all the monasteries can become an abbey. In England, abbeys were established by the Benedictines but after the Reformation of the English Church, they were transferred into cathedrals, though their names still include the term “abbey” (e.g., Westminster Abbey).

In the case of an abbey, it is a self-sufficient and autonomous structure. It is rather open to visitors, where at least a group of twelve monks lead a more communal life than in the case of a monastery, while the latter can be secluded and closed for people coming from the outside. Whereas a monastery is usually established to provide a dwelling place for monks and hermits, an abbey is the seat of an abbot to supervise the conducts of monks. Therefore, the community of an abbey follow their religious and daily duties under control of their abbot, and even train young ecclesiastics. In such a sense, the term abbey can be understood as a version of a monastery but of an untimelier idea of the monastic life. See: The Middle-Way Point of the Angels’ Battle in the Piedmont Region).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Admin, 2012. Difference Between Abbey and Monastery, in Difference Between. com. Available at <https://bit.ly/3RABOnu>. [Accessed 4th February, 2023].

Davies, N., Jokiniemi, E., 2018. Dictionary of Architecture and Building Construction, p. 3. Oxford: Architectural Press is an imprint of Elsevier.

Julita, 2010. ‘Difference Between Abbey and Monastery’, in DB Difference Between.net. Available at <https://bit.ly/3l3PLOl>. [Accessed 4th February, 2023].

‘Abbey’, 2022. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3Ysx7hH>. [Accessed 4th February, 2023].

Sacred Enclosure of Abaton in the Ancient World

In ancient times, the name given to holy places, sacred district or underground, usually Greek temple buildings, or a sacred grove, accessible only to priests and so restricted to common people. Sometimes, it was accessible to the faithful who have submitted to ritual cleansing. In Greek, the definition described ‘untrodden place’, as only priests were allowed to set foot in most of them.

The term stands either for an inaccessible religious building, such as a monastery or part of a sacred building and its enclosure. In ancient Greece, abaton was also meant as a bedroom for patients expecting miraculous healing while sleeping and it was usually built as a long stoa.

Among others, abaton is mostly used in reference to an enclosure or a temple of Asclepius, in Epidaurus (sixth century BC.-fourth century AD., Peloponnese, Greece), a temple on the island of Bigeh, in the Nile river situated in historic Nubia, where ancient Egyptians venerated the burial of Osiris (The Middle Kingdom, 2055–1650 BC.), and finally a monument on the island of Rhodes, erected by Artemisia the Second of Caria to celebrate her conquest of the island (the fourth century BC.).

Featured image: View of the Island of Philae with Isis Temple and Trajan’s Kiosk, in the Nile, Nubia. Island of Bigeh and its ruins in foreground. 1838 painting by David Roberts. Painting by David Roberts (1838). Public domain. Image cropped. Photo and caption source: “Bigeh” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“Bigeh” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3kjpuYy>. [Accessed 21st August, 2021].

“Abaton (disambiguation)” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3D4SWdg>. [Accessed 21st August, 2021].

“Epidaurus” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3sD1VgI>. [Accessed 21st August, 2021].

“Artemisia II of Caria” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/2XL5Htj>. [Accessed 21st August, 2021].

“Abaton” (2018). In: Wikipedia. Wolna Encyklopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3B08ehr>. [Accessed 21st August, 2021].

“Abaton” (2021). In: Powered by Oxford Lexicon. Available at <https://bit.ly/3D3rnkt>. [Accessed 21st August, 2021].

PWN (2007). Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych, p. 1. Kubalska-Sulkiewicz K., Bielska-Łach M., Manteuffel-Szarota A. eds. Wydanie piąte. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Columns ‘in Antis’ in Ancient Temples and Tombs

In ancient architecture, an anta or antae (antas) is an architectural term that describes the end of the protruding side walls of the naos (the inner chamber or sanctuary of a temple), forming a pronaos (a porch). By these means, the antas, as a part of the front walls, create posts or pillars on either side of an entrance to the naos and are usually shaped as pilasters, usually with more decorative capitals than the front columns. However, the anta differs from the pilaster, where the latter is purely decorative element and does not function as a structural support of the anta. The term in antis, applied to a pronaos or a temple (aedes in antis, templum in antis), meaning a type of structure (a temple, a tomb) with two (or more) columns or caryatids in the pronaos, placed between the antas.

The Athenian Treasury in Delphi with two antae framing a set of two columns. Photo by Dennis Jarvis from Halifax, Canada (2005). CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo and caption source: “Anta (architecture)” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

The antas could also appear from the side of the naos‘s rear wall, as a repetition of the arrangement used from the front side of the temple (the so-called temple in double antis). In the layouts of temples with a full colonnade in the facade (such as, for example, prostylos or amphiprostylos), the antas are much shorter.

Templum in antis. Drawing by CLI (2009). Public domain. Photo and caption source: “Anta (architektura)” (2021). In: Wikipedia. Wolna Encyklopedia.

Featured image: Athenian Treasury with two columns in antis. Photo by Rob Stoeltje from loenen, Netherlands (2015). CC BY 2.0. Photo source: “Athenian Treasury” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“Anta (architecture)” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3nuIC6L>. [Accessed on 28th April, 2021].

“Anta (architektura)” (2021). In: Wikipedia. Wolna Encyklopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3eCBHVg>. [Accessed on 28th April, 2021].

“Athenian Treasury” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3A3hNNd>. [Accessed on 24th June, 2021].

PWN (2007). Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych, p. 14. Kubalska-Sulkiewicz K., Bielska-Łach M., Manteuffel-Szarota A. eds. Wydanie piąte. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Abacus in Architecture of Classical Greece

Parts of the column. Mooney S. (2006). “Abacus in Architecture”. In World Book Encyclopedia ©2002 by Woodward S. Photo by Edwardtbabinski (2006). CC BY 2.5. Image cropped. Drawing source: “Abacus (architecture)” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

In plural: abacuses or abaci; from Latin: abacus; from Greek: ábaks.

A square plate constituting the uppermost part of the capital (head) of a column. In the Doric order, the abacus together with the echinus form the actual capital; in Ionic and Corinthian orders, it is a thin profiled and decorated plate; in Ionic and Composite orders, the sides of the abacus are recessed and decorated with a rosette. In the arcade system, in late antique and medieval art, the abacus often turned into impost.

Featured image: Doric capital of the Parthenon from Athens with a squared plate of abacus. Photo by Codex (2012). CC BY-SA 3.0. Photo source: “Classical order” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“Abacus (architecture)” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/3c4f9gk>. [Accessed 22nd January, 2021].

“Classical order” (2020). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/364embC>. [Accessed 22nd January, 2021].

Koch W. (2009) Style w architekturze. Arcydzieła budownictwa europejskiego od antyku po czasy współczesne. [Baustilkunde], pp. 16, 424. Baraniewski W., Kunkel R., Omilanowska M., Sito J., Zięba A., Żak K. trans. Warszawa: Świat Książki.

PWN (2007). Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych, p. 1. Kubalska-Sulkiewicz K., Bielska-Łach M., Manteuffel-Szarota A. eds. Wydanie piąte. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.