Aedificium

In the Aedificium there is an atmosphere of reticence; they are all keeping something quiet.

The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto 1980

We re-entered the Aedificium and cast a quick glance at the refectory as we crossed it, heading toward the east tower.

The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto 1980

In its bulk and in its form, the Aedificium resembled Castel Ursino or Castel del Monte, which I was to see later in the south of the Italian peninsula, but its inaccessible position made it more awesome than those, and capable of inspiring fear in the traveler who approached it gradually.

The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto 1980

"I was thinking that a monk who wanders at night about the Aedificium, where, by the abbot's admission ... terrible things can happen ... to those who enter during forbidden hours-well, as I say, I was thinking he might have had diabolical visions that drove him to the precipice."

The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto 1980

He led us along the side of the garden and brought us to the west fa-ade of the Aedificium.

The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto 1980

You must have noticed-or, rather, you cannot have noticed yet, because you have not yet spent a night in the abbey-that during the hours of darkness the upper floor of the Aedificium is illuminated.

The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto 1980

For he winked at William (as if to say: You and I understand each other because we speak of the same things) and he hinted: "But over there" - he nodded toward the Aedificium - "the secrets of learning are well defended by works of magic. ..."

The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto 1980

"There could be a passage leading to the Aedificium."

The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto 1980

As I entered the vast kitchen, I realized that the entire height of the Aedificium enclosed an octagonal court; I understood later that this was a kind of huge well, without any access, onto which, at each floor, opened broad windows, like the ones on the exterior.

The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto 1980

But, he added, the great works of stained glass that adorned the church and the Aedificium had been completed at least two centuries before.

The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto 1980