Arts & Culture
A detective/architect’s medieval enigma
Photos by Justin Knight
Exhibit details scholar’s pursuit to reconstruct abbey ruined after French Revolution
Cluny III, once the most expansive structure in Europe, was reduced to mere debris by the time Harvard architectural historian Kenneth Conant encountered it in the 1920s. His endeavor to meticulously recreate the medieval abbey as it appeared in the Middle Ages — highlighted in an exhibition currently displayed at the Graduate School of Design — demonstrates how architects develop the ability to visualize what is absent.
“Envisioning Cluny: Kenneth Conant and Representations of Medieval Architecture, 1872–2025,” showcased in the Druker Design Gallery until April 4, examines the evolution of medieval architecture studies, transitioning from hand-drawn illustrations to photography, and evolving to 3D digital designs and virtual experiences.
“The exhibit narrates the tale of a man and his devotion, which centers around the Cluny cathedral, and illustrates how we can experience it today utilizing contemporary tools,” stated Matt Cook, digital scholarship program manager at Harvard Library, who collaborated closely with curator and architectural historian Christine Smith. “Various teams across Harvard Library enabled Christine to fulfill her vision for the exhibit using cutting-edge technology.”
The Benedictine abbey of Cluny III, located in the Burgundy area of France, commenced construction in 1088. It endured for over 700 years, expanding to exceed 500 feet in length and 100 feet in height; at one point, it housed roughly 1,000 monks. However, following the French Revolution, the grand edifice was torn down and its materials were sold as scrap.
When Conant first visited Cluny decades post-destruction, the only remnants were the south transept and eight partially damaged capitals, or the ornately designed tops of columns, which once existed behind the altar.
Conant earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard and taught architectural history at the University from 1920 until 1954. This period was characterized by architectural historians still striving to categorize medieval architecture and comprehend how a building might have looked in its original incarnation before modifications accrued through the centuries.
“It embodies a form of idealism,” remarked Smith, who holds the Robert C. and Marian K. Weinberg Professorship in Architectural History.
Conant’s “idealist” mission was to envision Cluny III as it once was, in painstaking detail, drawing from his understanding of comparable structures and two decades of excavations.
Conant endeavored to discern the original architecture of the cathedral prior to subsequent additions.
Conant created accurate illustrations of Cluny III’s interior from multiple angles, despite never having witnessed the structure.
“It was unimaginably vast,” asserted Christine Smith concerning Cluny III.
Similar to Conant’s own journey, “Envisioning Cluny” strives to recreate the sensation of being within one of medieval Europe’s grandest structures, which has long since succumbed to decay.
“In my research, I endeavor to engage with my subject matter so deeply and thoroughly that I reside within it,” Smith remarked. “I believe that’s what he’s achieving: He’s immersing himself in it. He aims to visualize it. He aspires to experience it in multifaceted ways. He seeks to comprehend it in a factual manner, but also regarding the hue, the illumination, the movement within it, and the feeling of actually being present.”
Modern technology permits observers to engage with architectural creations in manners that Conant’s peers could never have envisioned.
The persistent enigma of the Cluny capitals
The eight capitals unearthed at Cluny III captivated Conant. Though damaged, and with vital elements missing, each appeared to showcase intricate illustrations of individuals, vegetation, and musical apparatuses. It was uncertain which sides should be displayed at the front, the sequence they should be arranged in, or whether they even conveyed a unified narrative.
“Some individuals believe they all originate from a single sculptor; others assert they are crafted by two distinguishable sculptors; yet others contend we remain unsure,” Smith noted. “There’s considerable ambiguity surrounding them, which adds to the intrigue.”
Initially, Conant wished for the columns to convey a singular tale about the merits of monastic existence, Smith recounted. However, over time, he grew convinced that there was minimal connection among them as a group. To this day, no definitive answers exist, yet they continue to serve as a subject for exploration, embodying one of the earliest instances of figural sculpture from the Romanesque period.
From plaster reproductions to 3D visualizations
Modern students of architectural history are not constrained to depending on the stone capitals themselves, nor the cumbersome plaster replicas that scholars have conventionally utilized as reference materials.
Employing a technique called photogrammetry, Harvard Library Imaging Services captured photographs of the plaster casts of the Cluny columns to produce the 3D representations presented in the exhibit. The team took hundreds of individual images of each capital cast to craft each model. Additionally, library conservators, archivists, and curators assembled the printed and photographic reproductions on exhibit.
With the 3D scans, Smith and her students are capable of zooming in, rotating, and rearranging the eight capitals alongside each of their motifs in ways previous generations could not, providing them fresh insights into the persistent riddle surrounding the octet.
“I have the ability to juxtapose them in a way that’s impossible with the plaster replica,” Smith remarked. “I can examine all eight of them lined up together.”
It offers a different experience for today’s architecture students compared to Conant and his contemporaries, she noted. Nevertheless, at its essence, the activity remains unchanged: Learning to perceive what is present and to envision what is absent.
“Envisioning Cluny: Kenneth Conant and Representations of Medieval Architecture, 1872–2025” is currently on view until April 4 in the Druker Design Gallery.