Cloister

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Cloister

A cloister (from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
claustrum) is a covered walk with an open colonnade

Colonnade

In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, as in the famous elliptically curving colonnades that Bernini added to the fa?ade of The apostel Peter's Basilica in Rome, which embrace and define the Piazza....
on one side, running along the walls of buildings that face a quadrangle

Quadrangle (architecture)

In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building....
or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a Religion building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christian and some Lutheranism churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a dioc...
or church usually indicates that it is (or was once) part of a monastic foundation.

Cloistered (or "claustral") life is also another name for the life of a monk

Monk

A Monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, the unconditioning of mind and body in favor of the realization of one's true nature, and does so living either alone or with any number of like-minded people, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose....
or nun

Nun

A Nun is a woman who has taken special vows committing her to a religious life. She may be an monasticism who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent....
in the enclosed religious orders; the modern English term enclosure is used in contemporary Catholic church law to mean cloistered, and cloister is sometimes used as a synonym for monastery
Monastery

Monastery , a term derived from the Greek language word ???ast?????, neut. of ???ast????? - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of Monk, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in Cenobium or alone ....
.

In medieval times, cloisters served the primary function of quiet meditation or study gardens.

The largest cloister in the world is at the Certosa di Padula

Certosa di Padula

Padula Charterhouse, in Italian language Certosa di Padula , is a large and famous Carthusian monastery, or charterhouse, located in the town of Padula, in the Cilento National Park in Southern Italy....
near Salerno

Salerno

Salerno is a town in southern Italy, capital of the Province of Salerno of the same name, in the region of Campania. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
in southern Italy.