Four-sided enclosure surrounded by covered walkways and usually attached to a monastic or cathedral church; also, the walkways themselves.
The earliest cloisters were open arcades , usually with sloping wooden roofs. This form was generally superseded in England by a range of windows lighting a vaulted ambulatory (aisle). In southern climates, the open-arcaded cloister remained standard. An especially fine example is Donato Bramante 's two-story open arcade at Santa Maria della Pace, Rome (1500–4).
Open arcaded cloister of Saint-Trophîme, Arles, Fr.
Jean Roubier