ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE

HISTORY OF ARHITECTURE, ART AND CULTURE III

Lecture 11

INTRODUCTION
GEOGRAPHICAL:
The style which grew up on the decay of the Roman empire, and is known as Romanesque,
was carried on throughout practically the whole of the Western empire that is, in those
countries which had been under the rule of Rome.
The influence of Byzantine art brought through Ravenna and Venice also influenced the
Italian Romanesque in general.
GEOLOGICAL :
In these early times a rough use of the material at hand characterizes the style in each
country.
CLIMATE
Local styles were favoured by the variations of climate north and south of the Alps.
RELIGION:
The Christian Church, which was the civilizing and educating agency of the period, was
striving to extend its boundaries in Northern Europe, and the erection of a church was often
the foundation of a city.
The monastic communities, with the encouragement and aid of Charlemagne, came into
existence.
The papacy had been rising to great power and influence, and, directed with skill, it
controlled such civil government as existed.
The Pragmatic Sanction (A.D. 554) had already conferred authority on the Bishops over the
provincial and municipal governments, thus increasing the power of the Church, with which
now often rested the nomination of public functionaries and judges.

 The different countries looked to Rome until each developed its own style.
Religious enthusiasm and zeal prevailed, and was manifested in magnificent edifices, and in
creed warfare, so that when the Turks overran Palestine, the loss of the Holy Places resulted
in the long warfare known as the Crusades (1096-1270) between the Christians of the West
and the Mahometans of the East.
Until the middle of the twelfth century science, letters, art and enlightenment generally were
the monopoly of religious bodies, and pupils of monks afterwards became the designers of
many of the great Gothic Cathedrals.
The Schools attached to certain monasteries discharged to some extent the functions of
universities and the aid thus rendered by monastic institutions to architecture was therefore
important.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL
The system of feudal tenure, or the holding of land on condition of military service, was
growing up, and caused important changes in the social and political organization of states.
The growth of the towns as civilization advanced is noticeable , and the privileges which they
acquired, amounting almost to independence, rapidly gave them importance.
Constant warfare rendered the condition of the people unsettled during this period, and skill
in craftsmanship was at the lowest edge.
Christianity and civilization gradually extended from southern to western Europe.
The clergy the scholars of the period directed the building of the churches, while the
influence of the freemasons produced important results.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES
The term Romanesque is said to include all those phases of Western European architecture
which were based on Roman art, and which were being carried out \ in various parts of
Europe.
The general architectural character is sober and dignified, while picturesqueness is obtained
by the grouping of the towers, and projection of the transepts and choir.
The appreciation of the character of Romanesque architecture is recognised only by the
multitude of its monuments, some intact, others injured or partially destroyed .
In the ruins of vast edifices, some still standing among heaps of stones hewn and carved, of
sculptured capitals and friezes, of monoliths of porphyry and marble, while any shelter
afforded little protection either from heat or cold.
As time went on they gathered up the smaller fragments and arranged them perhaps upon
the foundations, still intact, of an ancient building, and as they gradually acquired the
knowledge of the uses the fragment, they insensibly produced a new art founded on the old.
This explains the birth of Romanesque, for on the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the
quarry of the ruins of ancient buildings largely influenced the work done, both in
construction and decorative treatment, for the earlier buildings of the period were often
built from the remains of ancient Roman buildings in the vicinity.
In the course of time, however, a new style was evolved, for, putting aside spasmodic efforts,
the period of the tenth to the twelfth centuries is remarkable for the tentative employment
of a new constructive principle and a new use of material.

 The first was the principle of equilibrium which succeeded that of inert-stability as used by
the Romans, and the second was the employment of dressed stonework in comparatively
small pieces, connected with mortar beds of considerable thickness.
This was a method not before attempted, because the materials in use up to that time had
not demanded it.
By this new employment of materials, the whole current of architecture was turned to a
constructive system which should answer to its needs, and which, after many tentative
experiments, was to lead to the next glorious period of architecture the thirteenth century in
which elasticity of structure was joined to the principle of equilibrium.
In Italy there were various early Christian edifices erected at Ravenna from the fifth to the
seventh centuries, for Ravenna was the principal city in Italy during this period, being the
seat of the representative of the Byzantine Emperor in the western part of his dominions.
These buildings partake, naturally, of the elements of the fully developed Byzantine style, in
the same way in which S. Mark, Venice, and S. Front, was the result of the close connection
of these centres with the trade and commerce of the East.
In France, especially in the Western and Northern Provinces, the old traditional basilican plan
was preferred and adhered to during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with certain ,
exceptions, notably S. Front, but the dome raised on pendentives became the common kind
of vaulting, in the South, in conjunction with the aisle less nave.
It is worthy of note also that the use of the pointed arch occurred in the South of France
sooner than in the North, and it is considered by some, but with apparently little foundation,
to have been derived from contact with the Saracens, who invaded this portion of France
from 719-732.

 Further, the development of monasteries in the eleventh century gave a great impulse to
civilization and agriculture, and exercised considerable influence on architecture.
Similarly, the development from Roman to Gothic art was accomplished through the ordeal
of the destructive, yet purifying dissolution . of the Dark Ages, whence the true spirit of
Roman construction emerged, cleared to a great extent of the extraneous elements with
which it had been so long encrusted.
Up to the end of the twelfth century the Provencal architects had led the way, but at this
period the lay architects of the North, seizing on the Provencal principle of the Pointed arch,
soon developed from it the magnificent Gothic system of the perfected architecture of the
thirteenth century.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES IN FRANCE

The southern style is remarkable for its rich decorative facades and graceful cloisters, the
buildings of Provence being a new version of old Roman features, which seem to have
acquired a fresh significance.
In Aquitania and Anjou the vast interiors in one span, supported by the massive walls of the
recessed chapels, are impressive, and seem to revive the great halls of the Roman Thermae.
In the north the style is the promising commencement of a new epoch, having the first
tentative essays of a new system.
The interiors were close set with pier and pillar, and heavily roofed with ponderous arching,
forming a link to the marvellous structures of the next three centuries.
The plain thick walls, usually with flat external buttresses in the north or internal buttresses
in the south, emphasized the richness of the west fronts of the churches in both districts.
The development of vaulting, which was different in the north and south. In the south, naves
were covered with barrel vaults, whose thrust was resisted by half barrel vaults, over twostoried aisles , thus suppressing the clerestory, as at Notre Dame du Port, Clermont-Ferrand.
In the north, naves were covered by groined vaults, often in square compartments and
covered with sexpartite vaulting, the groined ribs being constructed independently and
supporting the infilling,.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES IN ITALY

NORTHER ITALY
The principal aim is perfection, in the construction of vaulting, which influenced the whole
design, where vaulting was now being developed.
Such treatment, caused the introduction of many and new constructive ideas.
Arcades restricted to top of gables and apses.
The character is less refined owing to the use of stone and brick rather than marble.
Wide, flat, and severe facades are typical, covering the whole church, without marking in
any way the difference of nave and aisles.
A rose window and a porch resting on lions are often the chief relief.
In sculpture, hunting and other scenes reflecting the life of the northern invaders are
frequent.
The churches were of the Basillican type, and were nearly all vaulted and roofed.
Side aisles are often in two stories, the clerestory is omitted, the walls between the side
chapels forming buttresses.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES IN ITALY

CENTRAL ITALY
New ideas rarely found.
Constructive boldness not sought after, less departure being made from the ancient
Basillican type.
The Italians have always possessed a greater capacity for beauty in detail, than for
developing a bold and novel construction into a complete style.
Arcades in several stories were employed as an ornament to the facades.
Marble facing was carried to such an extent as to form a style in that material.
The Basilican type was closely adhered to, and beauty and delicacy of detail were preferred
to the invention of fresh architectural forms produced by a new system of construction,
Detail much affected by Classic remains and traditions, which resulted in the production of
carving and ornament of great refinement.
At Pisa ancient sarcophagi richly sculptured with figures existed, by whose study the Pisani
were influenced.
The churches were mostly roofed with plain open-timbered roofs, the members of which
were ornamented with bright coloring.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES IN ITALY

SOUTHERN ITALY
The change from the Byzantine to the other dominion in the eleventh century is traceable.
Byzantine influence is shown in the plans of certain churches, as in the Church of the
Martorana at Palermo, where a square space is covered by a dome supported on Four
freestanding columns.
Mahometan influence is evident, particularly in the decorative parts of churches.
Architecture developed considerably under the Norman rule by the erection of cathedrals,
and a school of mosaic was maintained in the Royal Palace during this period.
The churches have either wooden roofs, or a Byzantine dome, but are hardly ever vaulted.
Dark and light stone was used in courses externally, and rich mosaics and colored marbles
were employed as a facing internally.
The architectural features of the interiors, of which Monreale Cathedral has typical
examples, were subordinate to the mosaic decorations which clothe the walls.

PISA CATHEDRAL
Pisa Cathedral (A.D. 1063-1092) is a fine
example of the style , the interior, with
rows of columns and flat ceiling recalling
the Early Christian Basilican church, but
the transepts with apse at each end were
an advance on the Basilican plan.
Over the crossing or intersection of nave
and transepts is an elliptical dome of
later date.
Externally, blind arcades,built in stripes of
red and white marble, ornament the
facades, which also have small open
arcades, one above the other, producing
a fine impression.
The building depends for its artistic effect
upon the beauty and interest of its
ornamental features rather than the
promise of logical development to a new
style which a northern example
possesses.

 The Campanile (Bell Tower), Pisa

(A.D. 1172), is a circular structure 52
feet in diameter, ornamented with
eight stories of arcades .
During its erection the foundations
gave way, thus causing the tower to
lean about 1 1 feet from the
vertical.

 The Baptistery, Pisa , designed in A.D. 1153, is circular,

129 feet in diameter, with encircling aisle in two stories.
Built of marble, it is surrounded externally on the lower
story by half columns, connected by semi-circular arches,
above which is an open arcade in two heights, supported
on small detached shafts.
It was not completed till A.D. 1278, and has Gothic
additions of the fourteenth century, in consequence of
which it is not easy to ascertain what the original
external design really was.
The structure is crowned by an outer hemispherical
dome, through which penetrates a conical dome 60 feet
in diameter over the central space, and supported on
four piers and eight columns.
Thus, if there were another internal hemispherical
cupola, it would resemble the constructive scheme of S.
Paul, London.