The Shape of a Benedictine Monastery: The SaintGall Ontology (Extended Version)

TL;DR

Problem: encode the Saint Gall plan as a machine-readable ontology to support comparative analysis of Benedictine monastic architecture. Approach: an OWL 2 ontology (SaintGall Ontology) with >400 classes, ~60 object properties, and >1000 axioms, employing existential and qualified cardinality restrictions and the Fact++ reasoner to model buildings, green spaces, orientations, and functional areas. Contributions: a detailed, reusable framework that enables cross-monastic comparison, supports integration with CIDOC-CRM and other cultural heritage ontologies, and demonstrates rich spatial-structural reasoning for historic layouts. Significance: provides a principled, semantically interoperable resource for humanities research in architectural history, monastic studies, and cultural heritage.

Abstract

We present an OWL 2 ontology representing the Saint Gall plan, one of the most ancient documents arrived intact to us, which describes the ideal model of a Benedictine monastic complex that inspired the design of many European monasteries.

Figures (10)

• Figure 1: The plan of Saint Gall.
• Figure 2: Subclass hierarchy of Building.
• Figure 3: Description of NorthArea.
• Figure 4: Inferred hierarchy of NorthArea.
• Figure 5: Subclass hierarchy of Shape.