Romanesque Architecture in Europe

Geographical Influences (Page 2)

• Romanesque style developed in countries of Western Europe under Roman rule

• Byzantine art also influenced Romanesque style through trade routes

• Geographical position determined unique characteristics in each country

Geological Influences (Page 4)

• Use of local materials and features from old Roman buildings led to varying characteristics

• Different geological formations across the region contributed to differences in architecture

Climatic Influences (Page 5)

• North and south of the Alps and the Pyrenees had different treatment due to climatic conditions

• Window openings were enlarged in the north for more light, while windows were kept small in the south to exclude sunlight

• Roof slope varied based on climate, with flat roofs in the south and high pitched roofs in the north

Religious Influence (Page 6)

• Christianity was spreading throughout Northern Europe, leading to the construction of churches and cities

• Cathedral churches and monastic buildings were a characteristic outcome of this period

• Monastic system promoted civilization, agriculture, and influenced architecture

• Religious orders played a significant role in the design of cathedrals

Monastic Orders (Page 7)

• Benedictine Order: Founded in the 6th century, all monasteries in England belonged to this order

• Cluniac Order: Founded in 910, known for double transepts in many English cathedrals

• Cistercian Order: Founded in 1098, characterized by simplicity, absence of towers, and painted glass

• Carthusian Order: Founded in 1086, known for severe and unadorned architecture

• Secular Canons: Served cathedrals and collegiate churches

• Augustinian Cannons: Established in about 1050, undertook monastic and pastoral duties

• Premonstratensian Cannons: Founded around 1100, known for their white attire

• Gilbertine Cannons: Exclusively English order founded in the 12th century

Military Orders (Page 16)

• Knights of Templars: Founded in 1119 to protect Holy Places in Palestine and pilgrim routes

• Knights of Hospitallers: Organized in about 1113 under the Augustinian rule

The Friars (Page 18)

• Dominicans: Founded by S. Dominic about 1170, known as Black Friars

• Franciscans: Founded by S. Francis of Assisi in AD 1209, known as Grey Friars

• Carmelites: Expelled from Mt. Carmel in AD 1098, came to England in AD 1229

• Austin Friars, Friars of the Holy Trinity, The Crutched Friars, Jesuits were also significant orders

Note: The transcript contains some irrelevant information and repetitive content, which has been excluded from the note.

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• Feudal tenure caused changes in social and political organization

  • Introduction of feudal tenure led to important changes in social and political organization

  • Towns grew in importance as civilization advanced

  • Constant warfare unsettled the condition of the people and affected craftsmanship

  • Monastic system played an important role in the life of the people, especially in rural districts

  • Freemasons facilitated the building of churches through acquired privileges

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• Feudal pyramid of power

  • Charters, land, and privileges were given to the king, nobles, and towns

  • Nobles provided soldiers and legal protection to the king

  • Peasants gave rent and acted as soldiers in times of war

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• Feudal pyramid of power continued

  • King, nobles, knights, vassals, and peasants formed the feudal pyramid

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• Monastery as a microcosm

  • Monastery designed as a microcosm, representing the city of God

  • Monasteries had various dependencies such as the church, cloister, chapter room, abbot's house, monks/nuns rooms, refectory, and hospital

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• Historical context

  • Breakup of the Roman Empire led to the rise of independent states and nations in Europe

  • Election of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor marked the beginning of a new era

  • Charlemagne gathered artists and craftsmen, restoring arts and civilization to western Europe

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• Architectural character of Romanesque

  • Romanesque architecture based on Roman art from AD 475 to the end of the twelfth century

  • Introduction of the pointed arch marked the end of the Romanesque period

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• Tentative use of new constructive principles

  • Later Romanesque style of the tenth to twelfth centuries showed tentative use of new constructive principles

  • Application of equilibrium to construction, contrasting with the inert stability used by the Romans

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• General architectural character of Romanesque

  • Romanesque architecture is sober and dignified

  • Picturesqueness depends on the grouping of towers and projection of transepts and choir

  • Roman cross vaults used until the twelfth century, gradually replaced by rib and panel vaulting

  • Later produced sexpartite and quadripartite vaulting

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• Roman basilica as a model for Early Christian churches

  • Roman basilica served as the model for Early Christian churches

  • Addition of transepts and prolongation of the sanctuary made the church a well-defined cross plan

  • Transepts generally the same breadth as the nave, which was usually twice the width of the aisles

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• Characteristics of Romanesque walls, columns, and openings

  • Walls roughly built and relieved externally by buttresses or arches

  • Attached columns with rough capitals supporting semi-circular arches formed wall arcading

  • Doors and window openings characterized by receding molded planes known as "orders"

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• Features of Romanesque architecture

  • Rose or wheel windows often placed over the principal west door

  • Vaulting used to fireproof the building

  • Semicircular arch employed in vaulting, sometimes raised or stilted

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• Romanesque architects' use of flying buttresses and columns

  • Romanesque architects used flying buttresses under the aisle roof to counteract the thrust of a vaulted nave roof

  • Gothic architects placed flying buttresses outside the aisle roof and weighted them with pinnacles

  • Columns either cylindrical or of stumpy proportions, treated with flutings or ornaments

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• Variations in column shafts and capitals

  • Columns shafts could be fluted, zigzag, chevron, or wreath

  • Capitals varied, including variations of Corinthian or Ionic capitals and cushioned (cubiform) shape with a twisted shaft

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• Elaborate treatment of cloisters and towers

  • Cloisters in connection with monastic churches often treated with twisted columns, curved capitals, and sculptured arches

  • Towers in Romanesque architecture could be square, octagonal, or circular

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• Ornaments and decorations in Romanesque architecture

  • Ornaments in vegetable or animal form, treated conventionally

  • Carvings and sculpture often rough

  • Frescoes more common than mosaic for interiors

  • Stained glass not widely used yet

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• Architectural character of Central Italy

  • Basilican type of church closely adhered to during this period

  • Naves divided from aisles by antique columns

  • Architectural character governed by classic tradition

  • Façades characterized by ornamental arcades

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• Characteristics of Romanesque architecture in Central Italy

  • Battlemented parapets used as decorative features

  • Churches covered with timber roofs ornamented with bright coloring

  • Campanili or bell towers became an integral part of the church group

  • Arcades, doors, and windows small and unimportant

  • Mouldings roughly imitated old classic mouldings

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• Lombardy in North Italy saw important developments in Romanesque architecture

• The ribbed vault was a significant innovation

• Churches had basilican type plans with vaulted naves and aisles

• Aisles were often two storeys high and acted as buttresses for the vault

• Entrance façades stretched across the whole church, hiding the division of nave and aisles

• Central "projecting porch" with columns on the backs of crouching lions

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• Rose windows and gables with raking arcades were common features

• Use of stones and bricks instead of marbles led to a less refined character

• Departure from Classic precedents in ornamentation, with elements of the grotesque

• Comacine masters from Como were influential in church building and decorations in the 11th century

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• South Italy and Sicily were greatly influenced by Byzantine, Moslem, and Norman rule

• Byzantine influence seen in mosaic decoration and plans of buildings

• Moslem influence seen in colored marbles and stilted pointed arches

• Norman character displayed in cruciform plans and mosaics in cathedrals

• Low lanterns at the crossing of nave and transept were a marked feature

• Lateral walls occasionally decorated with flat pilaster strips and small arches

• Timber roofs and stalactite ceilings under Islamic influence in Sicily

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• Mouldings characterized by grace of contour and intricacy of carving

• Elaborately modeled bronze doors were characteristic externally

• Colored mosaics added to the beauty of the interiors

• Geometrical designs in spreading masses of color were common in internal decoration

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• Pisa Cathedral is one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture

• It has a basilican plan with long rows of columns, double aisles, and a timber roof

• Exterior has bands of red and white marble and wall arcading on the ground storey

• Entrance façade has tiers of open arcades rising one above the other

• Transept with apses and elliptical dome over the crossing

• Focus on ornamental features rather than new structural developments

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• Pisa Campanile is a circular tower with encircling arcades

• Upper part of the tower overhangs its base and has an unstable appearance

• Belfry was added in 1350

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• Pisa Baptistery was designed by Dioti Salvi

• Circular plan with central space or nave and surrounding two-storeyed aisle

• Externally surrounded by half columns and semi-circular arches

• Crowned by a hemispherical roof with a truncated cone and small dome

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• S. Antonino in Piacenza was rebuilt on the site of an earlier cathedral

• Noted for its later Gothic church, Il Paradiso

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• S. Ambrogio in Milan was founded by S. Ambrose in the fourth century

• Partly rebuilt with dome and vault in the twelfth century

• Plan includes an atrium, narthex, vaulted nave and aisles, octagon over the crossing, triforium gallery, raised choir over the crypt, and an apse

• Interior is plain and impressive

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• S. Michele in Pavia is a notable instance of advanced treatment with defined transepts and a raised choir

• Church is cruciform in plan with vaulted crypt and two-storey high side aisles

• Flat façade with recessed portals and vertical pilaster strips

• Wide spreading gable emphasized by a raking arcaded gallery

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• S. ZENO, MAGIORRE

  • Simple façade with stern simplicity

  • Projecting porch with two free-standing columns

  • Great wheel window above the porch

  • Interior has arcade of compound piers with uncarved capitals

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• S. ZENO, MAGGIORE

  • No triforium but with clerestory

  • Choir 2.10 meters above the nave with a high pointed fourteenth-century vault

  • Crypt beneath the choir with seven aisles and the shrine of S. Zeno

  • Detached campanile made of alternate courses of marble and bricks

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• ASTI BAPTISTERY and PHARMA BAPTISTERY

  • Octagonal and modeled on that of Constantine, Rome

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• HOUSE OF RIENZI, ROME

  • Also known as the "Casa di Crescencio"

  • Degraded civic architecture of the period

  • Said to be the only private house in Rome older than the fifteenth century

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• MONREALE CATHEDRAL

  • Most splendid monument under Norman rule in Sicily

  • Combination of Early Christian basilican church and quasi Byzantine styles

  • Nave columns with Byzantine form capitals and mosaic encrusted dosseret blocks

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• Sarcophagus of William I and William II of Sicily

  • Walls covered with mosaics representing scenes from biblical history

  • Figure of Christ in the apse

  • Interior is solemn and grand with colored decoration

  • Cloisters, the only remaining portion of the Benedictine monastery, are the finest of the style

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• CAPELLA PALATINA, PALERMO

  • Chapel in the Royal palace

  • Served as the model for Monreal cathedral

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• LA ZISA, PALERMO

  • Three-storeyed Norman castle with a battlemented parapet

  • Shows influence of Saracenic art

  • Vestibule with marble columns and colored tiles

  • Stalactite vaults over the alcoves reminiscent of the Alhambra, Granada