refectory

What is the purpose of a room called a refectory?

From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2023

There, in the abbey’s refectory, the colors of the 16th-century “Last Supper” fresco by Andrea del Sarto are still bright, unlike those of Leonardo’s famous “Last Supper” in Milan.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 23, 2022

The painting, in oil on canvas, was commissioned by her own convent of Santa Caterina; once completed, it was hung on the nuns’ refectory wall.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2019

Another Jesuit, Father Michael O'Sullivan, met him briefly in the refectory one evening during that visit.

From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2018

In addition to the refectory, on the second floor are two small rooms where up to ten women share four beds.

From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario

Designers are conjuring all kinds of nonkitchen-y arenas, like the refectories of old boarding schools, a signature of Christopher Peacock, the English-born kitchen designer once known for his all-white offerings.

From New York Times ● Oct. 2, 2017

These edifices were built in the most substantial manner, and such parts as admitted of it, as the libraries, refectories, and chapels, were finished with elegance, and even splendor.

From The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 3 by William Hickling Prescott

At the end of the long dining-hall, beyond an ikonostas, was a church, as is customary in these refectories.

From Russian Rambles by Isabel Florence Hapgood

On each side of the main court, against the outer wall, is another court, with buildings round it, consisting of kitchen and refectories on the one side, and hospital wards on the other.

From Architecture Classic and Early Christian by T. Roger (Thomas Roger) Smith

The Cathedral Library was formerly the dormitory and refectories of the abbey, as it was originally styled.

From Cathedral Cities of England by George Gilbert