Online Study Guide

ARCHITECTURE

The term Romanesque (meaning "Romanlike") is used to designate a period lasting approximately 150 years, from 1050 to 1200, when buildings incorporated certain architectural elements that resemble ancient Roman architecture. While mural painting and manuscript illumination continued much as before, there is a resurgence of monumental stone sculpture.

Romanesque architecture is noteworthy principally for the use of the round arch and for the use of stone barrel and groin vaults. Walls are also thick and solid. Most of the new buildings were cathedrals, churches, and monasteries that varied in style from one region to another. A number of churches were designed to accommodate visiting pilgrims.

The rise of towns:

The increase in trade and the growth of towns and cities in the Romanesque period began to replace feudalism.

Monasteries and churches:

Separated by design form the busy secular life of Romanesque towns were the monasteries and their churches.

Pilgrimages:

The enormous investment in ecclesiastical buildings and furnishings also reflected a significant increase in pilgrimage traffic in Romanesque Europe.

France

Wood and stone at Vignory:

Regional diversity is evident in Romanesque buildings. Specific to northern style of French Romanesque architecture is the use of large sawn blocks of stone to construct the walls of the buildings, but roofed with timber.

12-1: Interior of Saint-Étienne, Vignory, France, 1050-1057.

12-2: Plan of Saint-Étienne, Vignory, France, 1050-1057.

Vaulting at Tournus:

Further south, in southern France, Spain, and Lombardy, early Romanesque builders generally preferred to construct their edifices with brick or small bricklike blocks of stone and to cover the nave and aisles with vaults.

12-3: Interior of Saint Philibert, Tournus, France, nave vaults, ca. 1060.

Toulouse's Pilgrimage Church:

Saint-Sernin is an example of the new church of the "pilgrimage type".

12-4: Aerial view (from the southeast) of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, ca. 1070-1120.

12-5: Plan of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, ca. 1070-1120 (after Kenneth John Conant).

Geometry and vaulting:

The Saint-Sernin plan is extremely regular and geometrically precise. The crossing square, flanked by massive piers and marked off by heavy arches, served as the module for the entire church.

12-6: Interior of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, ca. 1070-1120.

Europe's largest church:

At the time of its erection, the stone-vaulted monastery church at Cluny (Cluny III) was the largest in Europe. The church had an innovative and influential design, with a barrel-vaulted nave, dour aisles, and radiating chapels, as at Saint-Sernin, but with a three story nave elevation (arcade-tribune-clerestory) and slightly pointed nave vaults.

12-7: Model of the third abbey church ("Cluny III"), 1088-1130. Musée du Farinier, Cluny, France.

Cistercian austerity:

The church of Notre-Dame, at Fontenay is representative of the Cistercian approach to architectural design. The Cistercians' rejection of worldly extravagance and their emphasis on poverty, labor, and prayer are reflected in the austerity of their churches.

12-8: Interior of abbey church of Notre-Dame, Fontenay, France, 1139-1147.

Germany and Lombardy

Groin vaults in naves:

During the 11^th century, masons, using ashlar blocks joined by mortar, developed a groin vault of monumental dimensions that allowed for clerestory windows.

The Speyer solution:

The design of Speyer Cathedral follows a modular scheme and employs an alternate-support system in the nave.

12-9: Interior of Speyer Cathedral, Speyer, Germany, begun 1030; nave vaults, ca. 1082-1106.

Lombard innovation:

The modular scheme and alternate-support system employed at Sant'Ambrogio in Milan created a series of domical ribbed groin vaults.

12-10: Sant'Ambrogio, Milan, Italy, late eleventh to early twelfth century.

12-11: Interior of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan, Italy, late eleventh to early twelfth century.

Normandy and England

The conqueror's church:

The Normans in Normandy and (after 1066) in England developed a distinctive Romanesque architectural style.

The twin-towered façade of the church of Saint-Étienne at Caen is divided into three bays. The nave employs an alternating system of compound piers with engaged half-columns and piers with half-columns attached to pilasters that rise through three stories to support rib vaults.

12-12: West facade of Saint-Étienne, Caen, France, begun 1067.

12-13: Interior of Saint-Étienne, Caen, France, vaulted ca. 1115-1120.

12-14: Plan of Saint-Étienne, Caen, France.

English Romanesque:

Durham Cathedral alternates large ornamented pillars with compound piers that support a series of seven-part groin vaults each covering two bays. It is the earliest example of ribbed groin vaults placed over a three-story nave.

12-15: Interior of Durham Cathedral, England, begun ca. 1093.

12-16: Plan and transverse section of Durham Cathedral, England (after Kenneth John Conant).

Tuscany

Romanesque Pisa:

Tuscan Romanesque architecture adheres closely to the traditions of the Early Christian basilica.

The cathedral complex at Pisa comprises a cathedral, a free-standing bell tower, and a baptistery. The cathedral has a timber ceiling and a nave arcade of reused classical columns. Arcaded galleries decorate the exterior of the leaning bell tower.

12-17: Cathedral complex, Pisa, Italy; cathedral begun 1063; baptistery begun 1153; campanile begun 1174.

Florence baptistery:

The exterior of the octagonal Baptistery in Florence is decorated with polychrome marble incrustation.

12-18: Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy, dedicated 1059.

The Basilican tradition:

Geometric polychrome marble incrustation decorate the exterior of San Miniato al Monte, while the inside of the nave is divided by diaphragm arches and roofed with timber.

12-19: Interior of San Miniato al Monte, Florence, Italy, ca. 1062-1090.

Architecture :: Sculpture :: Painting