CLOISTER ICONOGRAPHY AND LITURGICAL AREAS: THE CASE OF SAINT MARY OF ZADAR

The premises involved in cloistered life have been adapted over the centuries to meet the primary needs of community life, its rhythms and functions. The same applies to liturgical environments, which were modelled according to requirements for common worship and prayer by individual monks; images, altars and furnishings not only embellished the areas of worship artistically, they were mainly functional for the monks’ meeting with God. However, some elements and devotions, such as the atrium, the choir, the chapels, or the worship of the cross and the memory of the deceased, took on such a symbolic value and ritual importance as to change the perception and articulation of the areas themselves. Following this development, like the case of St. Mary of Zadar, helps lead to an understanding of monastic architecture in the service of Opus Dei in Christian Europe, even after the Middle Ages.