In a 14th-century Normandy monastery, a long bench like this ran the length of the refectory wall, the monks lined down it shoulder to shoulder for every meal taken in silence. Found in Avignon, this antique French monastery bench is built in oak with a long plank top, six turned baluster legs set in pairs, and a low stretcher running the full length of the floor for the feet of whoever was seated. Benches like this were the working furniture of religious life for centuries, made long enough to hold a whole community, with the kind of joinery built to outlast the order that commissioned it. Sylvie sets it down the length of a dining table with chairs on the other side.
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