From the dust jacket

The early Cistercian abbeys of France have long been revered for their exquisitely proportioned spaces and ethereal acoustics. Built by the Cistercian order of monks nearly 900 years ago, these structures are renowned among contemporary architects and artists for the austere, almost minimal nature of their design and construction.

“Cistercian architecture draws together the fundamentals of masonry and geometry to create a harmony of stone and light, of uncluttered interior volumes and modest external masses. The buildings and ruins that remain today are immensely, almost unspeakably refined. Upon entering le Thoronet or Senanque, Fontenay or Silvacane, one is deeply touched by the quality of the silence and the light. Free by design of distracting details, these are places of recollection, of concentration, of serenity.

David Heald’s luminous photographs provide an extraordinary record of exploration through more than a decade of periodic visits to Cistercian places throughout France. He puts before us not just views but moments — moments when light enters a space or falls on an exterior in ways that illuminate and reveal. His evocative photographs offer loving witness to the bare brilliance, power and subtlety of early Cistercian architecture.”

Roger Lipsey