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Where they washed their hands before entering the refectory...
THE MONKS' LAVABO
The
Lavabo 
of the refectory (where the monks washed their hands before entering
the refectory) stands within an arch of the cloister opposite the entrance
door (the most eleborate portal,
back-ground). It consists of two ancient sarcophagi from some Roman
tomb, placed one above another in such a way as to allow the water which
was contained in the upper one to run into the lower through six small
holes carefully pierced, and probably at one time fitted with metal
taps. The upper sarcophagus is
of marble, of a late Roman type, decorated with animal heads and festoons
of foliage and flowers, a curious evidence in its present position of
a medieval appreciation for classic art. There is no trace of any pipe
or conduit by which the upper sarcophagus could have been filled; in
all probability it would have been supplied with water by a metal pipe,
all trace of which has disappeared.
This was a symbolic cleansing as much as a hygienic measure.
The wash-stand
comprises two marble sarcophagi: the upper vessel is decorated with
a circumscribing wreath, supported by homed beasts at the comers, and
by cherubs in the middle of the long sides. Carved lion's heads punctuate
the wreath.
The lower sarcophagus, which
is quite plain, received water from the one above. This entire apparatus
is covered with a sort of porch formed by linking the two buttresses
on either side.
There are six holes in the upper
sarcophagus which were bored below the carved design on the front to
avoid spoiling the effect of the decoration, but this nicety necessitated
the excavation of little bowls inside the sarcophagus down to the level
of the holes. Spigots may have been fitted to these holes, though the
spacing seems a little close, and the stretch across the lower receptacle
is a little far for comfort.
An additional impediment was
the central mullion supporting the tracery of this arcade which descended
into the lower tank where the outline of its base may be clearly discerned.
Alternatively, water may have gushed out perpetually through spouts,
and the lower tank may have overflowed through the V shaped groove on
the left (now blocked, but easily recognised) into a foot-bath to the
left of the tank. This in turn would drain back into the adjacent open
water channel in the cloister quadrangle.
Traces of the system which supplied
this lavabo have not yet been identified, but it is likely that water
was conducted in pipes from a source higher up the mountain. A ceramic
pipe exits from beneath the porch of the church, and this may have fed
water to the upper sarcophagus from
below. The hole in the bottom of this cistern is approximately the
size of the ceramic pipe.
