Monastery’s landscape
God-seeking is the goal of the monastic lifestyle. Monastic societies have frequently sought some level of seclusion from the outside world to do this. Cloister walls and the severe vigilance of monastic discipline were built structures that enforced this struggle against the world. However, it was also manifested in the environment that a contemplative hermit or monastic group chose to settle in. Monastics fled to the desert, the wilds, or the woods to find themselves alone with God.
In the Old Testament, the term “wilderness” referred to a variety of social-ecological contexts, including uncultivated terrain close to a settlement. Wilderness or desert areas could potentially be abandoned ruins or conflict zones. These were dangerous locations filled with demons and primal turmoil, where survival was precarious. The arid wilderness is a transitional area. Furthermore, the desert was a place of encounter with God rather than a place of punishment (Hosea 2:14; Matthew 4:1).
The surrounding landscape continued to provide nutrition and significance to medieval monasteries. Their cloisters developed into a crucial component of the monks’ spiritual and physical well-being. It is because the conflict between the body and the soul, between the earth and heaven, and between the paradise-garden and the desert-wilderness was captured in the cloister.
In contrast to the early hermits, who lived in the desert-wilderness, monasticism in Europe strove to transform the forested ‘deserts’ into agrarian paradise-gardens, a process that mirrored the work they were performing within their own souls. Theological abstractions have been grounded in the earth in the cloister. The cloister garth, which was frequently found at the spatial core of the monastery, also served as its theological hub, symbolising the liberty of the soul, the union of earth and heaven, and the long-desired restoration of the monks’ connection with God.
In the Christian universe, monasteries essentially became the Axis Mundi, or world centre. Each monastery served as a liminal threshold that straddled the border between the two, bringing the Paradise-garden and the Desert-wilderness together. The monastery and the surrounding landscape were fused with the monastic vocation of prayer and the Christian cosmological ontology of heaven and earth. In contrast to the desert fathers, who sought God in the apophatic silence of the harsh desert, medieval monks looked for their own “deserts” in Europe’s still-wild rural areas. Rural and untamed environments served as a buffer between the monks and the outside world, a source of income from farming and collecting rent from tenants, and a peaceful environment for meditation.
God-seeking is the goal of the monastic lifestyle. Monastic societies have frequently sought some level of seclusion from the outside world to do this. Cloister walls and the severe vigilance of monastic discipline were built structures that enforced this struggle against the world. However, it was also manifested in the environment that a contemplative hermit or monastic group chose to settle in. Monastics fled to the desert, the wilds, or the woods to find themselves alone with God.
In the Old Testament, the term “wilderness” referred to a variety of social-ecological contexts, including uncultivated terrain close to a settlement. Wilderness or desert areas could potentially be abandoned ruins or conflict zones. These were dangerous locations filled with demons and primal turmoil, where survival was precarious. The arid wilderness is a transitional area. Furthermore, the desert was a place of encounter with God rather than a place of punishment (Hosea 2:14; Matthew 4:1).
The surrounding landscape continued to provide nutrition and significance to medieval monasteries. Their cloisters developed into a crucial component of the monks’ spiritual and physical well-being. It is because the conflict between the body and the soul, between the earth and heaven, and between the paradise-garden and the desert-wilderness was captured in the cloister.
In contrast to the early hermits, who lived in the desert-wilderness, monasticism in Europe strove to transform the forested ‘deserts’ into agrarian paradise-gardens, a process that mirrored the work they were performing within their own souls. Theological abstractions have been grounded in the earth in the cloister. The cloister garth, which was frequently found at the spatial core of the monastery, also served as its theological hub, symbolising the liberty of the soul, the union of earth and heaven, and the long-desired restoration of the monks’ connection with God.
In the Christian universe, monasteries essentially became the Axis Mundi, or world centre. Each monastery served as a liminal threshold that straddled the border between the two, bringing the Paradise-garden and the Desert-wilderness together. The monastery and the surrounding landscape were fused with the monastic vocation of prayer and the Christian cosmological ontology of heaven and earth. In contrast to the desert fathers, who sought God in the apophatic silence of the harsh desert, medieval monks looked for their own “deserts” in Europe’s still-wild rural areas. Rural and untamed environments served as a buffer between the monks and the outside world, a source of income from farming and collecting rent from tenants, and a peaceful environment for meditation.
UNESCO MONASTERY HERITAGE
List in Alphabet
- Abbey of St Gall: Swiss 1983 (ii) (iv)
- Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran: Iran, Islamic Republic of 2008 (ii) (iii) (vi)
- Assumption Cathedral and Monastery of the town-island of Sviyazhsk: Russian Federation 2017 (ii) (iv)
- Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey, and St Martin’s Church: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1988 (i) (ii) (vi)
- Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl: Mexico 1994/2021 (ii) (iv)
- Gelati Monastery: Georgia 1994/2017 (iv)
- Historic Centre of Oporto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar: Portugal 1996 (iv)
- Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra: Ukraine 1990/2005/2021 (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)
- Millenary Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma and its Natural Environment: Hungary 1996 (iv) (vi)
- Monastery and Site of the Escurial, Madrid: Spain 1984 (i) (ii) (vi)
- Monastery of Alcobaça: Portugal 1989 (i) (iv)
- Monastery of Batalha: Portugal 1983(i) (ii)
- Monasteries of Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios: Greece 1990 (i) (iv)
- Monastery of Geghard and the Upper Azat Valley: Armenia 2000 (iii)
- Monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin: Armenia 1996/2000 (ii) (iv)
- Monastery of Horezu: Romania 1993 (ii)
- Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in Lisbon: Portugal 1983/2008 (iii) (vi)
- Monastic Island of Reichenau: Germany 2000 (iii) (iv) (vi)
- Maulbronn Monastery Complex: Germany 1993/2019 (ii) (iv)
- Poblet Monastery: Spain 1991 (i) (iv)
- Rila Monastery: Bulgaria 1983 (vi)
- Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe: Spain 1993 (iv) (vi)
- San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries: Spain 1997 (ii) (iv) (vi)
- Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries in Korea: The Republic of Korea 2018 (iii)
- Studenica Monastery: Serbia 1986 (i) (ii) (iv) (vi)
- The Historic Centre (Chorá) with the Monastery of Saint-John the Theologian and the Cave of the Apocalypse on the Island of Pátmos: Greece 1999 (iii) (iv) (vi)
The Selection Criteria (WORLD HERITAGE)
Sites must be of Outstanding Universal Value and satisfy one of the ten selection criteria on the World Heritage List. The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, in addition to the Convention text, serve as the primary working document on world heritage and explain these criteria. The Committee updates the requirements to reflect changes to the World Heritage designation itself. World Heritage sites were chosen using six cultural and four natural criteria until 2004. One set of ten criteria has been accepted.
(i) to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;
(ii) to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
(iii) to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation which is living or which has disappeared;
(iv) to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;
(v) to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;
(vi) to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);
(vii) to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
(viii) to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;
(ix) to be outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
(x) to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.
Sites must be of Outstanding Universal Value and satisfy one of the ten selection criteria on the World Heritage List. The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, in addition to the Convention text, serve as the primary working document on world heritage and explain these criteria. The Committee updates the requirements to reflect changes to the World Heritage designation itself. World Heritage sites were chosen using six cultural and four natural criteria until 2004. One set of ten criteria has been accepted.
(i) to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;
(ii) to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
(iii) to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation which is living or which has disappeared;
(iv) to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;
(v) to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;
(vi) to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);
(vii) to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
(viii) to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;
(ix) to be outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
(x) to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.