ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE
The term Romanesque is given to the period between the beginning of the
9th and the middle of the 12th century, but there was no real break in
the continuity of the evolution of Christian architecture in Europe from
the time when that art first freed itself from Pagan influence till it
reached its noblest development in the Gothic style.
[Illustration: Simple Intersecting Vaulting]
From first to last the keynote of structure was the use of the arch for
vaulting and for the spanning of piers and columns, and its form is, as
a general rule, indicative of the phase of development to which it
belongs. Although, however, it may be said that the semicircular arch is
characteristic of Romanesque buildings, the lintel is occasionally used
simultaneously with it in interiors, and the chief entrances are in many
cases spanned by horizontal beams or courses of stone that are, however,
as a general rule surmounted by arches. Moreover in late Romanesque work
the pointed arch is now and then introduced shadowing forth the
approaching change.
It was not in the invention of new forms of vaulting but in the
adaptation and improvement of those already in existence that Romanesque
architects chiefly displayed their skill. The earliest Romanesque vaults
were simple intersecting arches similar to those which had long been in
use, but as time went on these were superseded by what is known as
ribbed vaulting; that is to say by roofs divided into bays by a
framework of diagonal ribs supporting fillings in of thin stone called
severes, which in their turn gradually developed into the complex and
ornate system of Gothic vaulting. To counteract the thrust of arched and
ribbed vaulting the device of buttresses was hit upon. These buttresses
consisted at first of a series of supports introduced beneath the roof
of the aisles and extending from the back of the nave to the aisle wall,
which were later supplemented by the external buttresses known as
flying, that were to be so distinctive a feature of Gothic architecture.
[Illustration: Ribbed Vaulting]
[Illustration: Ribbed Vaulting]
Other characteristics of Romanesque architecture are the slenderness of
the columns as compared with those of earlier buildings, the disuse of
classic capitals, and the substitution for them of what is known as the
basket form, that is to say, semicircular mouldings enclosing floral
designs, later replaced by a great variety of forms, such as flowers,
leaves, human and animals' heads. The grouping of columns in clusters
also came into use, the general tendency being towards the production of
an effect of grace and lightness rather than of strength and solidity.
Arched cornices were introduced to relieve the monotony of the walls
above the pillars of the nave, whilst an even more marked change took
place in the windows, which, though small and few in early Renaissance
buildings, gradually increased in number, in size, and in the beauty of
their tracery. At the eastern end of churches several windows were in
some cases grouped together, divided only by slender pilasters, and
above the western entrance large circular windows known as the rose or
wheel--according to certain peculiarities of their tracery--were
introduced, whilst the walls were pierced by rows of complex windows,
each with a number of different lights.
In Romanesque churches the beautiful colonnaded narthex of the early
Christian basilica is replaced in Northern and occasionally in Southern
Italy by a projecting, and elsewhere by a simple, porch; but to make up
for the loss of what was a very effective feature, the whole of the
western facade, including the recessed doorway giving access to the
nave, is generally most richly decorated with sculpture and carving,
figures in niches, grotesque animal forms of symbolic meaning, with
floral and geometrical designs of great variety and beauty adorning
every portion.
[Illustration: Clustered Column]
[Illustration: Buttress]
[Illustration: Buttress]
On either side of the west front of many Romanesque buildings, more
rarely also from the point of junction of the transepts and nave, rise
lofty square or octagonal towers, the earlier with flat, the later with
more or less steeply pitched roofs, that gradually developed into the
tapering spires so characteristic of the Gothic style. Occasionally the
eastern apse is flanked by a turret or small tower, and in some cases,
chiefly in Italy, a detached and lofty tower known as a Campanile or
Bell Tower--though it only rarely contains bells, being sometimes merely
a secular monument--rises close to the church or at a little distance
from it, but connected with it by a cloister.
[Illustration: Rose Window]
In S. Ambrogio, Milan, begun in the 9th and completed in the 12th
century, the gradual change from the early Christian to the Romanesque
style as developed in Italy can be studied. It has a nave of basilican
type, a narthex surmounted by a gallery, a pediment-like gable at the
western end, an octagonal cupola roofing over the eastern apse, with a
circle of windows flooding the choir with light, a triforium or arcaded
storey above the aisles, and most characteristic of all, an open
external arcaded gallery, admitting air and light beneath the roof of
the apse, such as was to become so effective a decorative feature of
later buildings, and in some cases to be extended along the aisles and
above the chief entrance.
[Illustration: Example of Arched Cornice]
S. Michele, Pavia, is a typical and very beautiful example of the
Romanesque style of the twelfth century, specially noteworthy features
being its cruciform plan, its two-storied aisles, and its external
gallery with clustered pilasters; and the contemporary S. Zeno, Verona,
though it has no triforium and is not vaulted, has noble clustered piers
from which sprang arches--only one of which remains--spanning the nave,
alternating with single columns.
Other fine Romanesque buildings in Italy are the Cathedral of Verona,
which has a fine two-storied porch; the Cathedral of Novara, specially
noteworthy for its beautiful atrium; S. Miniato, Florence, that is of
basilican plan, and, though it is without transepts, has the distinctive
Romanesque feature of transverse arches upheld by clustered piers
spanning the nave and aisles; S. Antonio, Piacenza, with transepts at
the western instead of the eastern end, fine intersecting vaults roofing
in the whole building, and a tower rising from the junction of the nave
and transepts; and the Cathedral of Pisa, the last a complex building
with vaulted aisles, a dome above the intersection of the transepts and
nave, a flat roof over the latter, and a lofty triforium gallery running
round the entire church, the general effect being most pleasing and
harmonious. Close to the cathedral are the 12th century circular
Baptistery, that has considerably later additions, and the famous
Leaning Tower, the three buildings forming one of the finest
architectural groups in the world.
Certain very marked characteristics distinguish the buildings of Sicily
from those of contemporary date on the mainland of Italy, the Romanesque
style, as is very clearly seen in the Cathedral of Monreale, having been
there considerably modified alike by Saracenic and Norman influences.
The pointed arch was adopted long before it came into use elsewhere in
Europe, having been, it is suggested, a modification of the horse-shoe
form so characteristic of Moorish mosques.
In France, Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture followed, in the main,
the same lines as in Italy, with, in many cases, one notable addition,
that of the chevet, a circlet of chapels round the eastern apse, which
gradually grew out of what was known as an ambulatory, that is to say, a
space in which perambulation was possible, obtained by the extension of
the aisles behind the choir. In early examples of the ambulatory the
circle was continuous, as in the church of S. Saturnin, Auvergne, but as
time went on, small semicircular chapels were introduced, with windows
between them, that gradually developed into the chevet, the chapels
increasing in number and in size, and in some cases extending westwards
along the aisles.
The churches and cathedrals of Southern France differ in several
respects from those of the North, the aisleless basilica plan with
barrel, intersecting, or domed vaulting being of frequent occurrence in
the former, whilst in the latter the beautiful arcaded aisles and
steeply pitched roof presage the approach of the Gothic style with its
pointed arches, groined roofs, flying buttresses, and tapering
pinnacles.
The five-domed S. Front in Perigueux, though it has rudimentary aisles
only, is a good example of an early French Romanesque building, in which
Oriental influence is very perceptible, it being in some of its features
a copy of S. Marco, Venice, whilst in the later Cathedral of Angouleme
of cruciform plan with apsidal chapels, that of Le Puy with a triple
entrance porch, the church of S. Hilaire, Poitiers, with its irregular
domes, the uncompleted S. Ours, Loche, with its pyramidal octagonal
spires, S. Saturnin, Toulouse, with its central many-storied tapering
tower, the 12th century churches of Vezelay and Avallon; the cathedral
and church of La Trinite at Angers, both combining pointed arches with
domed vaulting, the gradual development of the southern branch of French
Romanesque architecture can be very clearly studied.
In many of the noble churches and cathedrals of Northern France and
elsewhere the Romanesque may justly be said to have melted into the
Gothic style, some of them combining as they do the most beautiful
features of both. To the cost of their erection ecclesiastics and laymen
alike contributed with eager zeal, and amongst the architects and
craftsmen employed on them, class and professional rivalry were merged
in one common enthusiasm to promote the glory of God, all desire for
individual distinction being merged in an unselfish ambition to aid in
producing a building worthy of His worship.
In Normandy was inaugurated the phase of Romanesque architecture which
was to develop on such noble lines in England, the chief distinctions of
which are the massiveness of the walls and pillars, the great length of
the nave, the richness of the decoration alike of the shafts and
capitals of the columns and of the round-headed arches they uphold. Very
notable examples are the Abbaye aux Hommes, the Abbaye aux Dames, and
the Church of S. Nicholas, all at Caen, the first with circular arched
vaulting and western towers ending in spires, the second with a Gothic
roof of intersecting pointed arches, the third with three apses, each
with a steeply pitched roof, a porch with three arcades at the western
end, and a low gabled tower rising from the point of intersection of the
nave and transepts, the three buildings illustrating well the transition
from the simple basilica to the complex Gothic structure. With them may
be named the Abbey of Jumieges, of which unfortunately but a few relics
remain, which had beautiful clustered piers alternating with single
columns upholding semicircular lateral arches, a flat roofed nave, and
vaulted aisles.
Other fine Romanesque churches of Northern France, all of which differ
somewhat in general appearance from those of Normandy, are the
Cathedrals of Noyon and Soissons, the church of S. Pierre at Lisieux,
all of which combine pointed with semicircular arches, and above all
the Cathedral of Le Mans, which has a very characteristic Romanesque
nave flanked by round-headed arches and roofed over with an equally
characteristic groined Gothic vault, whilst the choir, added in the
early 13th century, is encircled by a beautiful chevet, the exterior of
which with its many buttresses and pinnacles presents a most impressive
appearance.
One of the finest Romanesque buildings in Europe is the Cathedral of
Tournai, Belgium, which has a flat-roofed nave of exceptional length,
picturesque lateral storied galleries, a central tower with a lofty
spire, and two supplementary towers, also with spires, flanking the
northern and southern apses. Elsewhere in Belgium are several
flat-roofed churches of basilican plan, some with ambulatories in the
French style but no apsidal chapels. In Spain, on the other hand, the
chevet is rarely absent from ecclesiastical buildings, whilst a
distinctive local feature is a low central dome or tower known as the
cimborio, which is in many cases scarcely more than a swelling of the
roof at the point of intersection of nave and transept.
Germany is especially rich in Romanesque churches, which, like those of
Belgium, are of basilican plan with flat roofs. In the Cathedral of
Trier can be studied the gradual growth of the Teutonic form of the
Romanesque style, for it was originally an early Christian Church of the
Roman type, which was converted into one of a more distinctive style in
the 11th century by additions, including a western apse, whilst the
noble vaulting of the nave dates from the 12th and the choir from the
13th century. As time went on the multiplication of apses became
characteristic of German churches, it being usual to add one at the
western end, and more rarely also on the northern and southern sides,
the beautiful tapering columns dividing them from the aisles, with the
small chapels beyond them, producing very fine effects of perspective.
Other peculiarities of German Romanesque buildings are their great
height and the noble proportions of the interiors, with the finely
balanced grouping of the cupolas, towers, and turrets of the exterior;
to which must be added the absence of the great Western doorway that
lends such distinction to French, Italian, and Belgian churches.
Very fine examples of the style in Germany are the churches of S. Maria
in Capitolo Cologne, S. Quirin in Neuss, and the cathedrals of Nuremberg
and Bamberg, but it was in those of Speier, Mainz, and Worms that it
achieved its greatest triumphs. The first, it is true, has no western
apse, but this is atoned for by a fine narthex, and in the other two the
western extension is as conspicuous as the eastern. Dignified simplicity
and sense of space are the chief characteristics of all three
buildings, massive columns upholding the arcading flanking the naves,
whilst the walls of the aisles are unbroken by triforia, the piers at
Speier and Worms being carried right up to the clerestory windows,
whilst at Mainz two arches are placed one above the other, the vaulting
of the nave springing from the upper tier.