of St Gall (c. 820) is the plan for an ideal 9th century monastery, with a great variety of buildings and rooms, but none that really can be assigned the function of chapterhouse; nor is such a room mentioned by Saint Benedict. But the chapter house is mentioned in the proceedings of the Council of Aachen in 816. The church or cloister may have been used for all meetings in earlier monasteries, or there was usually a refectory (hall for eating). But by at least 1000 such a room had become normal in large monastic establishments. The east side of the cloister on which the chapter house was often located was usually the first to be constructed; it would have been begun shortly after the church walls were built. Examples Important examples of chapter houses from an architectural or artistic point of view can be seen at: Monastery of Santa María de Sigena, Spain, whose very important Romanesque frescos are now in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona Elgin Cathedral - octagonal, unusually for Scotland Wąchock Abbey, Romanesque in Poland Westminster Abbey Canterbury Cathedral rectangular chapter house Wells Cathedral palm tree like central pillar carrying 32 lierne ribs that form the inner part of the vault Exeter Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral the earliest English octagonal annex Salisbury Cathedral Southwell Minster, with famous carved capitals York Minster octagonal Late Gothic Fontevraud Abbey, France, a Plantagenet base, large and low-vaulted The "Spanish Chapel" at the Dominican Basilica of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, with important frescos Alcobaça Monastery Romanesque, in central Portugal Batalha Monastery Late Gothic with Manueline elements, in central Portugal Convent of the Order of Christ in Tomar The Pazzi Chapel at the Franciscan Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze, a key building in Early Renaissance architecture Toledo Cathedral, 16th century and later, with important frescos Non-religious use of the circular chapter house style of plan: Library of Parliament, Parliament of Canada Gallery References External links Historical Images of Chapter House at Westminster Abbey circa 1870 - 1990 Cathedral architecture Monasticism