This novel is presented as the diary of the master builder who, in the twelfth century, built the abbey of Thoronet in Provence, an example of Cistercian architecture. Day after day, we see this monk builder struggling with the weakness of men and the inertia of things, harassed by the contrary elements and, even more, by his own contradictions. The life of a medieval building site, the technical, financial or doctrinal problems that its smooth running posed, the solutions of an astonishing modernity that were given to them appear here to be far from conforming to this conventional Middle Ages whose image often clutters our memories.

However, this lively chronicle of the birth of a masterpiece, based both on original historical research and on a long experience of the builder's trade, is also a passionate reflection on the relationship between the beautiful and the necessary, between the human order and the natural order. It is also a lyrical meditation on the Order in which all orders have their place, and on the art that gathers all others: architecture.

But it is, first of all, an act of faith.

213 pages