Montmajour Abbey - The Chapel of The Holy Cross (12th Century)

The Chapel of The Holy Cross (12th Century)

The Chapel of the Holy Cross (French: Chapelle de Sainte-Croix) was built to contain the most valuable relic in the Abbey, a piece of the True Cross. It is located a few hundred meters from the Abbey Church, outside the monastery walls, and is in the shape of a cross, with a vestibule on the north side, and four semicircular apses with semicircular domes around a square bay with a cloister vault. The vault is crowned by a perfect stone square, topped by triangular pediments and a small tower. The cornices and pediments are decorated with dentils. The building, with its dignity, simplicity, symmetry and perfect craftsmanship, is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture.

Read more about this topic:  Montmajour Abbey

Famous quotes containing the words chapel, holy and/or cross:

    “I never went near the Wellesley College chapel in my four years there, but I am still amazed at the amount of Christian charity that school stuck us all with, a kind of glazed politeness in the face of boredom and stupidity. Tolerance, in the worst sense of the word.... How marvelous it would have been to go to a women’s college that encouraged impoliteness, that rewarded aggression, that encouraged argument.”
    —Nora Ephron (b. 1941)

    “Here in this holy wood,
    behold,
    behold how good
    is man’s inventiveness.”
    —Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)

    “If I can cross him any way, I bless myself every way.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)