6.2: --Romanesque Art & the Religious Pilgrimage Craze

Sculptural Relief/ Romanseque Art

• This is just a sculptural relief.

• these devilish figures are competing with angels for souls and they're weighing souls.

• It's a sense of scale... who's going to get into heaven; who's going to go into hell and the angels are trying to advocate for good Christians that kind of thing.

• But again this is part of the psyche of that age.

Reliquary statue of Saint Faith, late 10th to early 11th century.

-Relics = The body parts, clothing, or objects associate with a holy figure, such as a Christian saint.

Reliquary = A container for holding relics.

typical of this era.

• Work in sculpture, late 10th–early 11th century.

• Possibly a repurposed late Roman sculpture of a seated emperor.

• Converted into a reliquary.

• Saint Faith: 12-year-old early Christian martyr, executed for her faith.

• Parts of her skull believed to be housed inside the reliquary.

• Made of wooden core, gold coating, jewels, silver, and gold gilding.

• Jewels possibly donated by wealthy pilgrims to honor Saint Faith.

• Height: just under 3 feet.

• Saint Faith's relics were highly venerated.

• A monk stole her relics to bring them to another pilgrimage church because they attracted pilgrims.

• (Possible repurposed Roman sculpture explains her masculine appearance.)

Church of St. Sernin, Toulouse, France, 1070-1120

• First example of a Romanesque church.

• Bell tower added later.

• Very reminiscent of Old Saint Peter's.

• Cruciform (cross-shaped) plan reminds people of Christ's sacrifice and redemption.

• Churches competed for pilgrimage traffic and the economic benefits that came with it.

Plan of Saint Sernin-Mix of ratios and repeated forms along with barrel arch (nave) and groin vaults (aisles).

Vault = a masonry roof

or ceiling constructed on the arch principle, or one that shares the same shape.

• Cross-shaped plan.

• Harmony comes from ratios and repeated forms.

• Nave leads to the altar.

• Barrel vault runs over the center nave.

• Groin vault = intersection of two barrel vaults.

• Vault: masonry roof built on the arch principle.

• Keep in mind—stone vaults, not the wooden ceilings of Old Saint Peter's.

• Revival of Roman vaults, stonework, and architecture.

Roman Concrete Construction revolutionizes architecture

*Barrel vault = long tunnel.

• Groin vault = intersection of two barrel vaults.

• Both are Roman inventions.

• Romanesque period brings them back into use.

• Pilgrimage movement → churches popping up all over Europe.

Interior Saint-Sernin at 68' high inside nave

• Long tunnel-like barrel vault over the center nave.

• Looking up feels like you're in the belly of the whale.

• Transverse arches look like ribs.

• Compound piers (engaged columns) support the arches, it appears interval with the arches that take you to the end of the nave ( the arches on the side)

• Each bay is delindated/ marked off by the transverse arches.

• Transverse arches provide more structural support.

Each bay divided by engaged columns or compound piers and transverse arches

Old Saint Peter's vs. Romanesque Churches

• Old Saint Peter's had a wooden roof.

• Romanesque churches use stone vaults.

• Stone = greater height, stronger, and more fire resistant.

• Romanesque architecture revives Roman arches and vaulting techniques.

→Romanesque Architecture Summary

• Rational, orderly scheme.

• Built with ratios and repeated architectural forms.

• Revival of Roman arches, vaults, and stone masonry.

• Rebirth of church architecture in the Romanesque age.

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*Compound Pier, Transverse Rib, Barrel Vault( the image)