THE
REFECTORY
Occupying its established position opposite the church, the refectory at Bellapais Abbey is by virtue of its location, its size, and its construction, a building which ranks with the finest in Europe. The audacity of the medieval architects to build a chamber of this scale right on the edge of a cliff shows a high degree of confidence in their statical design capabilities. A more cautious designer would have divided the chamber into two aisles, as at Maulbronn, to reduce the lateral thrust of the vaulting. Indeed since the undercroft is divided in this way, such a construction would have been possible, by placing a central row of columns directly above those in the undercroft. The decision to vault the refectory in one leap is vindicated aesthetically, since the result is a perfectly proportioned and uncluttered space, and structurally, since despite centuries of neglect, the roof has not fallen.
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Occupying its established position opposite the church, the refectory at Bellapais Abbey is by virtue of its location, its size, and its construction, a building which ranks with the finest in Europe. The audacity of the medieval architects to build a chamber of this scale right on the edge of a cliff shows a high degree of confidence in their statical design capabilities. A more cautious designer would have divided the chamber into two aisles, as at Maulbronn, to reduce the lateral thrust of the vaulting. Indeed since the undercroft is divided in this way, such a construction would have been possible, by placing a central row of columns directly above those in the undercroft. The decision to vault the refectory in one leap is vindicated aesthetically, since the result is a perfectly proportioned and uncluttered space, and structurally, since despite centuries of neglect, the roof has not fallen.
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