Bond Chapel Cloister

Bond Chapel Cloister. The University of Chicago campus.

The Joseph Bond Chapel, a jewel of the late Gothic revival style, is located in the middle of the University of Chicago campus. It belongs to the University of Chicago’s School of Divinity which is housed in Swift Hall next door.

Bond Chapel is connected to Swift Hall by this peaceful stone cloister.

Have you ever wondered what is actually a cloister? Dictionary definition says it is a covered walkway in a monastery or cathedral with a solid wall on one side and a colonnade with a waist-high wall open to a courtyard on the other.

Having a waist-high wall with columns holding up the roof of the walkway is very important. You cannot just walk between the columns into the cloister from the courtyard or garden. You are enclosed, protected inside the cloister.

Nuns and monks used the cloisters to get fresh air and a view of a garden without anyone seeing them or distracting them from their prayers. It is a perfect place for meditation and studies.

I always wanted to have a house with an open courtyard and garden inside and a cloister surrounding it.

Would you?