### parent monastery, cistercian architecture, Bélapátfalva
parent monastery The main aim of forming the Cistercian order was to restore the declining disciplines of the Benedictine order. The founder thought that structural centralisation was the appropriate means of this process. The new Cistercian monasteries were found in the following way: the parent monastery released 12 persons to the newly founded monastery, who were subordinated to the abbot of the parent monastery concerning disciplines. The abbot of the new abbacy had to visit the the abbot of the parent monastery regularly and report to the convent about the functioning of tthe new monastery. SZK Cistercian architecture The architecture of the Cistercian order, founded in Citeaux (in its Latin name Cistercium) in Burgundy by St Robert in 1098. In contrast with the rich details of Roman architecture, represented by the Benedictine order, the simple and modest monasteries and churches of the Cistercians were built in concert with strict workshop traditions and regulations. Its characteristic features: churches with a cross ground-plan, without a tower; there were usually three naves, each of which ended with a straight chancel, with a transcept in front of the chancel. Instead of the fantastic animal-shape decorations of the Benedictine order, they applied only geometric or ornamental decorations. The order had more than 350 monasteries in Europe. In Hungary they had 17 abbeys in addition to nunneries. The bloom of Cistercian architecture in Hungary was the period before the Tartar Invasion. Many of their monasteries were deserted by the 14th century. The first Cistercian monastery in Hungary was founded in 1142 at Cikádor (today Bátaszék), where the first missionaries came from Heiligenkreutz. The spread of the order dates back to the age of Béla III. Their oldest church, which survived, was the one at Bélapátfalva (originally Bélháromkút). The order might have had its own workshop of lay brothers, which worked under the supervision of monks, and they possibly built for other orders, too (for example, for the Premontreans at Gyulafirátó, for the Benedictine at Pannonhalma - in their parent monastery, and for the Queen's castle at Óbuda). The ground-plan of their monasteries at Pilis, Pásztó, Szentgtthárd, Bélapátfalva is known; in the case of Cikádor only the ground-plan of the church survived. the Cistercian abbey of Virgin Mary in Bélapátfalva - the second third of the 13th century The Cistercian abbey of Bélháromkút, called the "Trium Fontium", was one of the latest monasteries of the order, since Kilit, Bishop of Eger, founded it in 1232 as a familiy monastery. Its constructions were finished after the Tartar Invasion - though the surrounding walls were built quickly, according to its capitals. It was a basilica with three naves, a transept and pillars. Next to its square main chancel there were smaller side chancels, which closed the same way. So presumably only a few monks lived in the monastery, which lay south of the church. In front of its facade there was a hall, but only in front of the nave and the southern side-aisle, which were decorated with the local colourful stones (red and light gray). The existence of the vaulted hall is proved by the supporting stones of the pillars and also by the archaeological findings. As the church perfectly fits the scenery - the Cistercians were the masters of arrangement - it is still one of the most beautiful Roman churches in Hungary. Its simple decorations reflect the strict disciplines of monastic architecture, just as the human dimensions and proportions of the church and the lack of the tower. It is likely to be the creation of a workshop formed of the lay brothers, who lived in the Cistercian monastery.