Architecture in Provence

One of the most interesting aspects of Provence is the architecture. There are so very many centuries of buildings here and it is fascinating for me because in America all of our architecture is so young in comparison. I especially enjoy photographing buildings because of the geometry and graphic quality the photographs produce. On Saturday my Treasures of Provence (art history class) went to the Abbaye de Senanque near Gordes. The main building is Romanesque from the 12th century, it is a Cistercian Abbey which means the architecture is very simple, no decoration and little ornamentation. I like Cistercian architecture because of this simplicity, I agree with their beliefs against materialistic and highly decorative monasteries/churches because it makes sense to me and if you want to be closer to go you must be further away from worldly things. As a formalist I find the greatest beauty in the shape, lines and forms of architecture and Senanque focuses on just that.

Trying to photograph the interior spaces was somewhat difficult, navigating around 30 other students, trying to hold my camera steady and still trying to listen to the tour guide. I found that I would have to hold my camera against my chest in a somewhat locked position to keep it from moving, but this meant I wasn’t able to look through the viewfinder to see what I was taking a picture of. It was fairly dark inside so I had to use a wide aperture and slow shutter speed to take the photos. A tripod would have been most useful at this time. Even though I didn’t get to hear that much of what the tour guide was talking about, I felt I really got a good look at the structure due to me being the straggler still taking photos. I’m glad we went in the morning because the light was beautiful; morning light is so pretty to me since it is a brighter more blue light. And since the walls were bare, blue light makes the stones look cooler, which to me helps describe the space because it was like a refrigerator in there. I think the Abbaye de Senanque is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in and it will forever stand out in my memory.