Romanesque

Saint-Sernin

Romanesque

Brick and Stone masonry

Designed as a major stop for the pilgrimage route. Allows people to view relics without disrupting formal liturgical services

Speyer Cathedral

Romanesque

Red sandstone masonry

Burial church and stood as monument to imperial political officer.

San Ambrogio, Milan

Romanesque

Brick and Norte masonry

Built over n Early Christian basilica. Combines Italian architectural traditions with early Romanesque engineering.

Saint-Éttienne, Caen

Romanesque

Limestone masonry

Commissioned by William the conqueror. Served as a direct structural precursor to gothic architecture. Has radiating chapels, ambulatory, aisles, an alternating support system, strong Carolinian- Ottonian architecture,

Eadwine the Scribe

Romanesque

Ink and termpera on vellum

Features a rare bold page self portrait. Massive shift in artist self identity during the Middle Ages. Eadwine calls himself “prince of scribes” stepping away from medieval humility to claim individual creative ownership

Master Hugo, Moses Expounding the Law

Romanesque

Ink, tempera, and golf lead on vellum

Commissioned for the abbey of bury st Edmund’s. Master Hugo was a rare well made artist than a monk

Durham Cathedral

Romanesque

Stone masonry

Built by Normans in England as a defensive outpost along Scottish border.

South Portal, Saint-Pierre, Moissac

Romanesque

Limestone relief sculpture

Built for wealthy monastery aligned with clunaix order. Designed to psychologically prepare viewers as they transition from the secular outside world into sacred interior

Frieze, Modena Cathedral

Romanesque

Marble relief

Commissioned as part of a major civic and religious renewal program. Depicts genesis.

Last Judgement, Saint-Lazare

Romanesque

Limestone relief sculpture

Created as a church to hold relics of Lazarus.

Bayeux Tapestry

Romanesque

Wool embroidery

commissioned by bishop odo of baeyeux to validate the Norman conquest of England. Political propaganda

Initial R, Moralia in Job

Romanesque

Ink and tempera on vellum

Produced right before this type of art was banned in monasteries. Symbolizes monks daily struggle against sin and the devil

Canterbury Cathedral

Romanesque

Destroyed

Semi circular stone cut barrel vault

Groin vaults

Engaged columns

Geometric floor plan

Tympanum

The prominent, semi-circular decorative wall space located directly above a church portal lintel, typically filled with high-yield narrative relief sculptures

Alternating support system

An architectural design pattern down the length of a nave where different structural supports alternate rhythmically—such as alternating between a heavy composite pier and a slender column.

Norman Conquest

The 1066 invasion and conquest of Anglo-Saxon England by William, Duke of Normandy. This historical pivot point deeply influenced art history by importing Continental European Romanesque stone architecture (often called Norman style) into England.

Radiating chapel

Small, semi-circular projections opening directly outward from a church's ambulatory or transept arms, specifically designed to house and display individual holy relics for passing pilgrims.

Trumeau

The central stone pillar or post supporting the lintel in the middle of a wide church doorway, frequently carved with expressive, elongated religious figures.

Uniform support system

An architectural layout where every single vertical support (pier or column) running along the nave is identical in size, shape, and decoration.

William the Conqueror

The Duke of Normandy who became the King of England following his victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He served as a massive political patron of monumental Romanesque churches and castles designed to solidify his rule.

Gallery

A second-story lofted space situated directly above the side aisles of a church that opens onto the central nave, used primarily to accommodate overflow crowds of pilgrims.

Vousoir

One of the wedge-shaped stone blocks that are fitted together to form the curve of a semi-circular Romanesque arch.

Ribbed-groin vault

A vault formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults, reinforced along its diagonal seams by masonry stone ribs that help channel the roof's weight outward to specific points on the walls.

Pilgrimage

A religious journey undertaken by medieval Christians to visit sacred relics housed in distant churches. This massive socio-economic phenomenon directly dictated the design of Romanesque churches, forcing architects to add wider aisles and ambulatory paths to handle large tourist crowds.

jamb

The vertical side posts or framing structures flanking a doorway portal, which in the Romanesque period became primary sites for architectural relief sculptures and column-like figures.

Nave-wall elevation

The vertical design and division of the central aisle walls inside a church, which in the Romanesque era typically developed into a three-story layout: the ground-level arcade, an intermediate gallery (or triforium), and an upper clerestory window level.

Archivolt

One of a series of concentric, curved architectural moldings or bands that frame the semicircular opening of a tympanum above a church portal.