# Interior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, French]() - Date: 1101-1150 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary The former Cistercian monastery was founded in 1118. With its church, cloister, refectory, sleeping quarters, bakery and ironworks, it is an excellent illustration of the ideal of self-sufficiency as practiced by the earliest communities of Cistercian monks. Following a typical Cistercian ground plan, the church consists of a nave and two aisles with eight bays, a projecting transept and an angular choir. Square piers with attached columns support the arcades of pointed arches. The wall above is smooth and undecorated and is separated from the pointed barrel vaulting by a simple cornice. High windows on the exterior walls as well as the west wall are the only sources of light. View the <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/support/plans/zzzarchi/12c/2/1/fontenay.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=400,height=600'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">ground plan</a> of the whole site of Fontenay Abbey. ## Related artworks - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Bird's eye view]() - [Burial lantern]() - [Castle]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()