Excavation of Ancient Benedictine Monastery at Cluny Reported by Conant--Charts Aid Study of Its Architecture

"The old Benedictine monastery at Cluny, France, is one of the largest and most magnificent of all Romanesque buildings, and it is for that reason that I am taking such great interest in its excavation," said Kenneth Conant '15, associate professor of Architecture, in an interview yesterday. Professor Conant has recently returned from Europe, where for the sixth consecutive summer, he has headed the work being carried on at Cluny, by the Medieval Academy of America.

"To write a comprehensive history of the style," the noted archaeologist continued. "It is necessary to know exactly what the church was like, which it is impossible to obtain from the few existing charts describing the monastery. The only possible way to achieve this knowledge is by excavating the remains, and with the aid of available chairs, to reconstruct the buildings on paper. Moreover, the role of this church was considerable in the history of the tenth and eleventh centuries, having contributed many famous churchmen and having played an important part in the reformation of the Catholic Church, during the last years of the Dark Ages. The sculpture is most essential for a complete study of that particular style, and consequently, I hope to be able to reconstruct temporarily a part of the apse at full size in the court of the Fogg Museum.

"The original church was dedicated in the year 981." Professor Conant went on, "and was taken down in 1120, to make way for a larger and more magnificent one. The new church remained intact until the year 1810, when much of it was pulled down, in order to furnish building material. The restoration of the old church is impossible, but it is our purpose to get plans of the layout. We have gone quite a long way by now and expect to complete the work by 1935, at which time I expect to begin work on a book describing the monastery. Work on the newer church has also gone a long way, fairly accurate drawings of it have been already completed. Fortunately, many fragments have been found, aside from the sections which were left standing."