Victoria Young

Discusses the design of Mount Sainte-Bernard Abbey in England (1840-44) by the English architect Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-52) focusing on its representation of an international Catholic sensibility in architecture and providing a wider context for the development of Gothic revival architecture during the 19th century. The author explores Pugin's extensive travels around Europe and study of medieval architecture, examines his designs for the abbey, and considers the role of the abbey's founder and patron Ambrose Phillipps de Lisle in reviving monasticism and his association with European Catholics and its impact on the abbey's design. He explores the public reception to the building, and concludes by arguing that it represented an international Catholic achievement in terms of its use of Catholic imagery, its architecture, and ideas transcending national boundaries.