Romanesque art

Romanesque

Western European artistic production,

especially architecture, of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

southern France and Spain

had first-hand knowledge of the many Roman monuments in the region

The Insular style of Northern Europe

• The art of Byzantium, by way of Italy

The term ignores the two other formative influences

Saint-Martin-du-Canigou

France, 1001 – 1026 CE

common traits of architecture

• Fat piers and round arches supporting stone vaults or wooden

ceilings

• Problem: How to build with fire-resistant masonry, without

access to ancient Roman concrete technologies

• Thick stone walls, small windows, fortress-like appearance, the

impression of solidity and heaviness

• Considerable regional diversity and variety due to climate,

traditions, materials, and communication

Church of Sainte Foy

Conques, France

church of sainte foy floor plan

cruciform plan

Tympanum

last judgment

Westwork (German:

westwerk):

An entrance area

at the west end of a church

with an upper chamber and

usually with a tower or towers

Crossing tower:

The tower which

sometimes occurs above the space

at the intersection of the nave,

chancel, and transept of a church

San miniato al monte

Geometric marble veneer

façade

San Miniato al Monte floor plan

Simple Early Christian basilica

plan

• Single pair of aisles flank the

nave with clerestory windows

commons.wikimedia

Wood trusses support the roof

Cathedral of Durham

England

Cathedral of Durham floor plan

ilgrimage Church built mainly in the 12th Century

• 470’ long – 1st Church to have ribbed vaults

• Earliest Church to use Pointed Transverse Arches

to divide the Nave into Bays