The Cistercians

The Cistercian adventure began in the year 1098, when Robert of Molesme, Alberic and Stephen Harding, prompted by the desire to return to the Rule of Saint Benedict, founded their Novum Monasterium in a place called Cistels. With Bernard of Clairvaux, the Cistercian Order multiplied its foundations. Appreciated by religious and political powers, great organizers, the men who were called the white monks created an original, mystical theology, as well as opening new paths in art and architecture. Still today, the spiritual heirs of the founders of the Order, the members of the great Cistercian family, continue to write its history.