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Romanesque Architecture: Revision

Romanesque architecture first emerged in Europe during the Middle Ages. It spread across the continent linked to pilgrimage routes, particularly to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The style is characterized by thick stone walls, small windows, and vaulted ceilings in churches, as well as other buildings like monasteries and castles. Regional variations emerged across Europe, incorporating local influences, but maintaining the defining features of Romanesque architecture.

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62 views30 pages

Romanesque Architecture: Revision

Romanesque architecture first emerged in Europe during the Middle Ages. It spread across the continent linked to pilgrimage routes, particularly to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The style is characterized by thick stone walls, small windows, and vaulted ceilings in churches, as well as other buildings like monasteries and castles. Regional variations emerged across Europe, incorporating local influences, but maintaining the defining features of Romanesque architecture.

Uploaded by

RUSHALI SRIVASTAVA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Romanesque Architecture

Revision
Introduction
• This art appeared during the Middle Age
• It is the first style that can be found all
over Europe, even when regional
differences
• The expansion of the style was linked to
the pilgrimages, mainly to Santiago.
Introduction
• Romanesque art developed thanks to a
series of causes:
– The end of Barbarian invasions
– The decomposition of Cordoba’s caliphate
– The establishment of peace in
the Christian world, with the
development of the cities,
commerce and industry.
Expansion
• The factors of the expansion of
Romanesque arte were:
– Development of feudal system,
that demanded works (castles)
– The expansion of religious orders
(Benedictines), expanded the monasteries
– The pilgrimage routes
– The crusades
Typologies
• There are three main architectonical typologies:

Monasteries Castles

Churches
Monastery
• It was designed as a microcosm, as the city of
God
• They had several dependencies:
– Church
– Cloister
– Chapter room
– Abbot’s house
– Monks/ nuns rooms
– Refectory
– Hospital
Church
• It was the main building
• It symbolized God’s kingdom
• The holiest part was the apse
• It had cross shape
• Symbolism was important:
– Circular parts reflect perfection so they were
linked to God
– Squared parts are related to the human.
Church
• Characteristics:
– Monumental, trying to imitate the Roman models in the
Pilgrimage churches
– Small in country churches
– They were designed for advertising Catholic church
– They were lasting, made of stone
– Plans could be:
• Latin cross
• Polygonal
• Basilical

Latin cross Polygonal Basilical


Church
• Parts of the plan
Church
• Parts from the outside
Church
• Elevation:
• The church is covered by
stoned vaults
• Wall are thick
• They need strong
buttresses
• Foundations are strong
• Few windows
Church
Clerestory • Interior elevation: it
consists of three levels:
• First floor with columns or
cross-shaped pillars
Tribune • Second floor with the
tribune (corridor over
looking the nave, over the
aisles)
• Clerestory: area of
windows opening to the
Pillar outside.
Column
Church
• Type of covers:
Barrel vault: it was
used mainly to cover
the central nave

Groin vault was


common in aisles and
ambulatory

Dome: spherical were used


in apses. The central could
stand on pendentives or
squinches
Castle
• Castles were defensive
constructions
• They were fortified for
providing shelter
• The wall was one of the
essential elements
• They tend to be build in
stepped areas, easier to
defend.
Romanesque in France
• It was the original
region of
Romanesque art
• It appeared in Cluny’s
abbey
• From there it
expanded thanks to
the pilgrimage routes,
specially to Santiago
in Spain.
Romanesque in France
• It is characterized by
various vaulted styles
• Provence: pointed domes Saint
and façades decorated Trophime
with arches , Arles

• Auvergne with long choir,


side aisles around the
semicircular sanctuary
forming the ambulatory in
which radiating chapels
open Saint Sernin
Toulouse
Romanesque in France
• Burgundy: barrel-
Cluny
vaulted, three-aisled
basilica
• Normandy: Lombard
influences with
groined vaults
supported by flying
buttresses and
façades with two
flanking towers.

Sainte Magdalene, Vezelay


Romanesque in Italy
• Italian provinces
developed a great
diversity of architectural
styles
– Lombardy with groined
vaults of heavy proportions Saint Ambroggio, Milan
– Central Italy classical
decorative elements:
Corinthian capitals,
coloured marble, open
arches, colonnades and
galleries and façades with
sculptures

Saint Miniato, Florence


Romanesque in Italy
– South with Byzantine
and Arabic influences,
using mosaics,
interlaced pointed-
arches.
Cefalu, Sicily
• Three separate
buildings: church,
baptistery and bell
tower.

Pisa Cathedral, in Tuscany,


presents three separate buildings.
Romanesque in Germany
• Churches were planned on a large scale
• They used to be very high
• They had an apse or sanctuary at each end.
• Numerous round or octagonal towers that
conferred them a picturesque silhouette.

Laach

Worms
Romanesque in England
• Before the 10th century
were made of wood
• Stone buildings were
small and roughly
constructed
• The Norman
Romanesque style
replace the Saxon in 11th
century
Romanesque in England
• Long, narrow buildings
were constructed with
heavy walls and piers,
rectangular apses, double
transepts and deeply
recessed portals
• Naves were covered with
flat roofs, later replaces by
vaults, and side aisles
were covered with groined
vaults.
Romanesque in Spain
• First Romanesque:
Catalonia
• In the 11th century
the region was almost
assimilated to France
• Due to this they
receive the art early
• The rest of the Spain
would receive it with
the pilgrimage
Romanesque in Spain
• Catalan churches present,
in the outside, ordered
volumes
• Wall are decorated with
Lombard bands, and blind
arches and galleries
• The plan has three naves,
with a small narthex
• The head has triple apse
Romanesque in Spain
• Pilgrims route to Santiago was an important
route for Romanesque Art expansion.
Romanesque in Spain
• Characteristics of pilgrimage churches:
– Plan with three to five aisles and a transept
– In the transept there are radial chapels
– Inside there is a tribune
– The head has ambulatory and radial chapels
Romanesque in Spain
• There are polygonal
buildings too
• They are related to the
Temple
• They are inspired in
Jerusalem’s Holy
Sepulchre
• Examples are Eunate,
Torres del Rio (both in
Navarre) and Veracruz
(Segovia).
Romanesque in Spain
• Castile and Leon:
• It is deeply influenced
by the pilgrimage
routes
• The churches are
identified with the
spirit of the
Reconquist
Romanesque in Spain
• Buildings are simple
and small
• It created a contrast
in relation to the
refined Hispano
Muslin architecture.
• They frequently have
a covered area in the
outside for the
meetings of the
councils.
Romanesque in Spain
• The best examples are:
– Santiago’s cathedral
– Fromista
– Sant Climent de Tahull
– San Pere de Roda
– San Juan de la Peña
• There are other buildings
such as castles (Loarre, in
Huesca) or bridges,
essential for pilgrims
(Puentelarreina, Navarre)

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