The Lithic Garden

Medieval church builders strategically employed vegetal ornament, particularly foliate friezes, to integrate the interior and exterior of sacred structures while reinforcing connections between the church and the profane world. Contrary to conventional beliefs, these motifs were not merely decorative but semantically charged components that conveyed core Christian symbolism, such as the paradisiacal garden, Christ as the True Vine, and Eucharistic rituals. The study, focusing on sites like Amiens Cathedral, Cluny III, and Mont-Saint-Michel, situates this architectural trend within the broader context of Crusader-era exchanges between France, Byzantium, and the Levant, offering new insights into medieval art and architecture's global dimensions.

Doquang, M. S. (2018). The Lithic Garden. Oxford Scholarship Online. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190631796.001.0001