I.13.2
STAIRS
The traditional assertion that "stairs are omitted altogether"
on the Plan[262]
is incorrect. Where stairs are vital to the
liturgical service or are of an extraordinary construction,
they are delineated with the greatest care. Two flights of
seven steps (septem gradus, similiter) lead from the crossing
of the Church to the forechoir (fig. 99). The altars in the
transept rise from platforms that are raised by two steps
over the pavement of the transept arms (fig. 99). The apse
of St. Peter at the western end of the church is raised by
one step over the contiguous pavement of the nave (fig.
84); the same condition is found in the two apses of the
church of the novices and the sick. Finally, the altars of St.
Michael and St. Gabriel at the top of the two circular
towers are made accessible by a circular stair, the winding
course of which is delineated by meticulously drawn spirals
(fig. 84).
On the other hand, one observes with some surprise that
the large double-storied buildings of the monks, which
surround the cloister, contain not the slightest suggestion
of stairs. We do not know at which point and by what
means the monks entered the Vestiary, above the Refectory
(fig. 211), or the Larder, which lies above the Cellar (fig.
225). The structure which houses Dormitory (above) and
Warming Room (below) has four exits. One of them, a
passage leading to Bathhouse and Laundry, is designated by
its title as issuing from the Warming Room. The others
may refer either to ground level or upper story—or to doors
located one above the other on two levels. The Privy was
probably on Dormitory level with cesspool and running
water beneath, but might also have been accessible from
ground level by stairs connecting Warming Room and
Dormitory internally (for suggestions how this might
have been accomplished see below pp. 253 and 261; also
cf. fig. 192).
Likewise, in the Abbot's House (fig. 251) we are not told
from what point and by what means the Abbot reached the
solar and other rooms located in the upper level of his
residence. These details the designing architect left to the
ingenuity of the builder—perhaps to protect the Plan from
being overloaded with particulars. It is to policy decisions
of this kind, bringing relief to areas that required minute
attention to other details, that the Plan owes its extraordinary
over-all clarity.
