Sobriety and harmony, as aesthetic and spiritual principles, guided the first Cistercian constructions. They follow the precepts that Bernard states in 1125 in a letter entitled 'l'Apologie'. All forms of luxury and decor are banned: buildings too vast, stone steeples, paintings and sculptures are prohibited, considered contrary to simplicity and poverty. The chapel of Mondeville fully embodies this Bernardine ideal of simplicity: the only factors of beauty lie in volumes; the only wealth, in bare stone; the only genius, in proportions.

Address
Rue de Mondeville, 10200 Champignol-lez-Mondeville, Aube, Grand Est, France