Cloister facts for kids
A Cloister is a term in architecture. It describes a structure which is usually found in monasteries, churches and old colleges. It is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries. It has open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle.
In the time of Charlemagne the requirements of a separate monastic community within an extended and scattered manorial estate created this "monastery within a monastery" in the form of the locked cloister, an architectural solution allowing the monks to perform their sacred tasks apart from the distractions of laymen and servants.
Images for kids
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Cloister at Salisbury Cathedral, UK.
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The Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral, UK
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The Romanesque cloister of Santo Domingo de Silos, Spain
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Cloister of Saint-Michel de Grandmont Priory (Languedoc-Roussillon, France)
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Chiostro del Paradiso, Amalfi Cathedral, Italy
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Cloister of the former Cistercian Eberbach Abbey, Germany
See also
In Spanish: Claustro para niños
