HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I:

Romanesque Architecture
By: Ar. Chris Luna, uap
The word Romanesque means in the Roman
style or Roman-like. It took its name from its
Roman origin and it owed something from the
Byzantine art. It was a style greatly inspired by
Christianity.

GENERAL INFLUENCES
1. Geographical

Romanesque
style
originated in W. Europe (Italy, Germany,
France, Spain & Portugal & the British Isles)
& in N. Europe, the Scandinavian kingdoms.
2. Geological

3. Climatic - North (dull climate) large

windows to admit light and high-pitched
roofs to throw off snow. South (sunny)
small openings to exclude dazzling
sunshine.
4. Social the establishment of feudal
systems
&
attacks
from
invaders
led to the building of fortified castles.
5. Religious Christianity was the chief
source of education & culture. Religious
enthusiasm found their material expression
in the magnificent cathedral churches &
monastic buildings. Architecture
was
regarded as sacred science.
Romanesque architecture is characterized by
the desire to articulate, to stress every structural
division
in
order
to
produce
unified
compositions.
GENERAL FEATURES
1. PLANS
Latin cross with transept altar at east end,
in the direction of Jerusalem
main entrance from west
a crypt on the lower floor or beneath the
altar housed the relics of a saint
a screen or parapet separate the
congregation from the clergy

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2. ROOFS
towers with steep roofs ( round, square or
octagonal )
two towers on the west entrance
a tower above the crossing of the nave
and transept pitched roofs with gables

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Sexpartite vault for an oblong bay

Quadripartite vault for a square bay

Squinch arches were used when the crossing

of the nave and transept was crowned by an
octagonal tower

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3. WALLS
Corbels of projecting blocks of stones; a
row of corbels is called a corbel table.
pilasters strips with arched
moldings

4. OPENINGS
round arch for windows & doors
doors are deeply recessed & flanked by
a series of receding columns & arches
known as orders
above the door is a tympanum filled with
sculptures

A rose or a wheel window above the principal

door

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6. MOULDINGS are elaborately carved

Windows are narrow and small and made to

look larger by the columns, arches and moldings
which surround them.

5. COLUMNS
massive and cylindrical
cushion capital

7. ORNAMENTS
plant forms
animal forms

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Stained Glass

Predominant Building Types:

1. Church
2. Monastery
3. Monastic Village- group of buildings
designed for all the occupations of the
monks.
Monastic church
Cloister court chapter house,
sacristy,
dormitory,
refectory,
kitchen
Inner court infirmary, guest house,
kitchen, servants hall, library&
scriptorium (for writing)
Common court granaries, bake
houses, stables, store rooms,
abbots lodging & barn
Mills
Workshops
Gardens / Orchards
Ponds

Mosaic

Monastic Village of St. Kevin, Ireland

Fresco Painting

Arlington Row Monastic Wool Shops

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ROMANESQUE IN ITALY
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER (Central
Italy)

Faade has ornamental wall passages which

rose one above the other sometimes even into
the gables.

Principal innovation was the ribbed vault

Arched corbel table

Flat faade with projecting porch

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Cruciform plan & coupled columns from Norman

influence
EXAMPLES: Central Italy

Colored mosaic from Byzantine influence

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER (South Italy
& Sicily)

The Pisa Cathedral is one the finest of the

Romanesque period.

Stripes of
Influence

colored

marbles

from

Moslem

The PISA CATHEDRAL with Baptistery,

Campanille & Campo Santo form one of the
most famous building groups in the world.
Stilted pointed arches from Moslem influence

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The PISA CATHEDRAL has exterior bands of

colored marble.

The baptistery became an integral part of the

church group & was used for the sacrament of
baptism

The CAMPANILLE, PISA is a circular tower, 16.

m. in diameter, rising in 8 storeys of encircling
arcades.

The BAPTISTERY, PISA was designed by

Diotisalvi (God save You), on a circular plan with
a diameter of 39.3 m.

This world famous leaning tower (5.5 deg.) is its

most arresting feature. The belfry was added in
1350.

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The BAPTISTERY, PISA dome detail

San Miniato al Monte, Florence stands atop

one of the highest points in the city & is one of
the most beautiful churches in the city.

The CAMPO SANTO, Pisa was constructed to

consolidate the remains of people who were
once buried throughout the Field of Miracles.

Pistoia Cathedral arcaded faade in black and

white marble

S. Martino, Lucca faade similar to the style of

the Pisan group

S. Michele, Lucca faade similar to the style of

the Pisan group

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EXAMPLES: North Italy

San Ambrogio, Milan underwent several

reconstructions after it was damaged by war.
The CREMONA CATHEDRAL, Lombardy is a
dazzling example of Romanesque architecture.
The marble faade has two rows of colonnades,
rose windows and a porch surmounted by a
shrine.

SAN ZENO MAGGIORE, VERONA has a stern

simple faade. It has a fine projecting porch and
above it is a great wheel window which lights the
nave

Spoleto Cathedral has a notable external porch

& the belfry was added in the 15th and 16th
century respectively.

S. Michele, Pavia is one of the most striking

examples of Lombard-Romanesque style
finished with sandstone.
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Santa Maria Matricolare (Verona Cathedral)

The interior was completely remodeled in the
Gothic style in the 15th & 16th cent.

th

Fondaco dei Turchi is a 12 century mercantile

palace on the Grand Canal. It is an example of a
high level domestic architecture as the outcome
of her prosperous trade with the East.

MONREALE CATHEDRAL, Sicily is the most

splendid of all the monuments of the Norman
Period, built by King William II.

Basilica di San Nicola, Bari has square

appearance; seemingly more suited to a castle
than to a church & was indeed used several
times as castle during its history.

EXAMPLES: S. Italy & Sicily

CEFALU CATHEDRAL was founded by Count

Roger (King Roger II of Italy).

Palazzo dei Normanni (Royal Palace) by King

Roger houses La Capella Palatina, known for its
marvelous & colorful mosaics.

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The cloister, enriched by a luxurious garden, is

the best preserved part of the ancient
monastery. It has notable small double columns
with capitals decorated by vegetable motifs,
which support ogival arches. It also includes an
Arab cistern.

S. Giovanni degli Eremiti, Palermo with

mosaics & dome of Byzantine & Moslem
influence

San Cataldo is a notable example of the

Arabian - Norman architecture which flourished
in Sicily under the Norman domination of the
island. Founded around 1160 by admiral Majone
di Bari, in the 18th century the church was used
as a post office.

The church's origins date to the 6th century.

Later, after the Islamic conquest of Sicily, it was
converted
into
a
mosque.
After
the
establishment of the Norman domination of
southern Italy, it was returned to the Christians
by Roger II of Sicily who, around 1136,
entrusted it to the Benedictine monks of Saint
William of Vercelli.
In the 19th century it was restored and brought
back to a form more similar to the original
Mediaeval edifice. The ceiling has three
characteristics red, bulge domes (cubole) and
Arab-style merlons. The interior has a nave with
two aisles. The naked walls are faced by spolia
columns with Byzantine style arcades. The
pavement is the original one and has a splendid
mosaic decoration

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Although the catacombs were originally intended

only for the deceased friars of Capuchin, it soon
became apparent that the rich and famous
wanted their dead relatives to be buried there as
a status symbol.

La Zisa, Palermo is a 3-storey Norman castle.

La Zisa,Palermo is entirely of Moslem influence

as seen in its muqarnas (stalactite or
honeycomb moulding).

Imagine walking into a crumbling stone crypt

and coming face to face with row upon row of
carefully preserved mummies. A total of 8,000
mummies are housed in niches along the walls
of the Capuchin Catacombs, Palermo, Italy.

The last person to be interred there was a small

girl, aged two, named Rosalia Lombardo, on
Dec. 6, 1920. She remained in a perfectly
preserved state & nicknamed Sleeping Beauty

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ROMANESQUE IN GERMANY

3. Walls are relieved with pilaster strips

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
1. A distinctive characteristic of church
planning is the three-apse plan of trefoil
form.

4. Coloured bricks used externally

2. Helm roof (4 gables forming a pyramidal roof

with 4 diamond-shaped sides meeting at the
apex.
EXAMPLES:

The crypt of the magnificent SPEYER

CATHEDRAL, Germany keeps the coffins of 4
kings and 4 emperors.
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The AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, Germany was built by

Emperor Charlemagne as his tomb. It was the
coronation church of the Holy Roman Emperors.

WORMS CATHEDRAL has apses at both ends

It was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage

List in 1978.
Along with the cathedrals of Worms and Speyer,
Mainz Cathedral represents the high point of
Romanesque cathedral architecture in Germany.
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TRIER CATHEDRAL is the oldest in the country

& listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in
1986.

Constantine began construction of the TRIER

CATHEDRAL to celebrate the 20th anniversary
of his reign. A small chapel inside contains the
cathedral's most important relic, the Holy Robe
of Christ.

The CHURCH OF THE APOSTLES, Koln is

one of a series of trefoil churches in the city.
The towers are crowned with the helm roof.

S. MARIA IN THE CAPITOL with a three-apse

plan, is the largest of the 12 Romanesque
churches in Cologne.

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GERNRODE ABBEY (St. Cyriakus) is probably

the earliest instance of a church with an apse at
both ends

St. Martins Church, Koln, Germany

MARIA LAACH ABBEY is a Benedictine church

built of local lava. The the exterior is a fine
grouping of 6 towers, double transepts, & east &
west apses.
The architecture of its eastern end forms a trefoil
plan. Its soaring tower is a landmark of
Cologne's Old Town,

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ST. KUNIBERT is the youngest Romanesque

church in Koln.
ROMANESQUE IN FRANCE
Geological Influence:

LIMBURG CATHEDRAL is one of the most

accomplished buildings of the late Romanesque.

Caen is a cream-colored limestone quarried

near Caen, France, for use in building &
sculpture.
EXAMPLES:

ST. GEREON, Cologne: According to the

medieval legend, the name patron of St. Gereon
was a Roman officer, who died along with 318
legionaires for his faith.

The ABBEY OF ST. SERNIN, TOULOSE has

an octagonal tower with a spire, 66 m. high that
belongs to the Gothic period.

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S. AUSTREMOINE, Issoire was inspired by

Notre Dame du Port & also one of the 5 greater
churches in Auvergne

ANGOULEME CATHEDRAL has a long aisle

less nave, transepts with lateral chapels and an
apsidal choir with four chapels forming a latin
cross. The western facade is rich with tiers of
arcades divided in five bays by lofty shafts.

NOTRE DAME DU PORT, Clermont-Ferrand,

built in sandstone, is one of the Romanesque
churches in Auvergne known as the greater
churches,

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carved heads of grimacing and fantastic figures.

A marquee is elephant faced. Above the portal,
has a frieze depicting biblical scenes.

LE PUY CATHEDRAL,
different colored lavas

Auvergne

used

ST. GILLES-DU-GARD has an elaborate

sculptured faade & is among the most beautiful
of the great Romanesque portals.

"Notre-Dame-la-Grande" is a collegiate church

of Roman style situated in Poitiers. Its facade is
carved masterpieces universally recognized
religious art of this period. There are frequent
motifs of Roman art: foliage, bestiary, corbels

ROYAL ABBEY OF FONTEVRAUD is often

described as the royal necropolis of the 'Angevin
Kings and Queens of England.

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ST. MADELEINE, Vezelay has one of the

earliest pointed cross vaults in France.

ABBAYE-AUX-DAMES, Caen The faade has

two large towers on the sides, each with doors
leading to the aisles
ROMANESQUE IN GREAT BRITAIN
BRITISH ISLES MONASTIC BUILDINGS

ST. PHILIBERT, TOURNUS is a structure of the

early First Romanesque style & early Gothic
styles during the beginning of the 11th cent.
FOUNTAINS ABBEY, Yorkshire is one of the
largest Cistercian structures in England.

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S. AUGUSTINES ABBEY
Benedictine abbey in England

was

the

first

MT. GRACE PRIORY, Yorkshire is one of the

best preserved Carthusian Charterhouses.

EASBY ABBEY, Yorkshire or the Abbey of St

Agatha is a Premonstratensian abbey on the
eastern bank of the River Swale.

BAYHAM OLD ABBEY, Sussex was built from

local sandstone in the first half of the 13th
century by Premonstratensian canons

WATTON PRIORY was a Gilbertine monastery

used as a double house for the Augustinian
canons & the Cistercian nuns

TEMPLE CHURCH, Northampton

It is the largest and best preserved of the
remaining round churches in England connected
with Knights Templar. It is also the oldest
standing building in Northampton.

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CHURCH of S. JOHN THE BAPTIST, Little

Maplestead, Essex was built as the church of a
commandry of the Knights Hospitallers in 1340,
and consisted of a chancel and hexagonal nave
with a circular aisle.

The TOWER OF LONDON is a historic

monument in the centre of London, England, on
the north bank of the River Thames.

BRITISH ISLES CASTLES

Castles were private strongholds for king or lord,
and were an outcome of the feudal system. Of
some fifteen hundred castles in England, more
than twelve hundred were founded during the
11th and 12th centuries.

DROMORE CASTLE, Limerick, Ireland was built

in the 2nd half of the 19th century by the 3rd
Earl of Limerick and designed by Edward
William Goodwin.

WINDSOR CASTLE is the largest inhabited

castle in the world & is the oldest in continuous
occupation. The castle's floor area is about
45,000 sqm.

CORFE CASTLE, Dorset was a ring and bailey

castle built in early Norman times during the era
of William the Conqueror.

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BRITISH ISLES MANOR HOUSES

A manor was the district over which a lord

had domain.
In strict architectural terms a manor house is
a late medieval country house.
The manor house was the dwelling house of
a feudal lord of a manor, which he occupied
only on occasional visits if he held many
manors.
It was built with strong fortifications as
castles. The primary feature of the manorhouse was its great hall.

PARTS OF A MANOR HOUSE

1. Great Hall - meeting and dining area.
2. Solar - sleeping and private sitting
room.
3. Garderobe - a toilet or latrine.
4. Kitchen - cooking & baking. Kitchens
were often connected to rooms called
the buttery and the pantry.
5. Buttery - for storing and dispensing
beverages, especially ale.
6. Pantry - storage of perishable food
products.
7. Storerooms storage of non-perishable
kitchen items and products.
8. Chapel - for prayer.

BADDESLEY CLINTON, England is a medieval

moated manor house

COTHAY MANOR considered being the most

perfect of small, classic, medieval buildings in
England today.

STOKESAY CASTLE, Shropshire, England is

one of the best preserved medieval manor
houses in Britain.

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ROMANESQUE IN SPAIN, PORTUGAL AND

THE HOLY LAND

RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS in Spain & Portugal

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
The mediaeval architecture of the Iberian
Peninsula & the Crusaders of the Eastern
Mediterranean were both produced by Christian
& Moslem influences.

SAN MIGUEL DE ESCALADA is the finest &

largest of the Mozarabic churches. It was
founded by the Cordoban refugees.

Horseshoe arch

The OLD CATHEDRAL OF SANTIAGO de

COMPOSTELA, Galicia was unequalled in
magnificence and maturity in Spain in its time.

Basilican or Greek Cross Plan

The EVORA CATHEDRAL, Portugal is

Romanesque-Gothic. It was built in solid
Romanesque but restored in the Gothic style
centuries later.

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ZAMORA CATHEDRAL is one of the most

important examples of Romanesque-Gothic
architecture in Spain.

SAN MARTIN DE FROMISTA is the only

complete example of Spanish pilgrimage style.

MONASTERIO DE POBLET, Catalonia is a

Cistersian fortified monastery. It has an in-house
wine shop produced by the monks.
COLLEGIATE
CHURCH,
Toro.
The
combination of Romanesque and Gothic styles
makes the church especially attractive.

MONASTERIO DE STA. CREUS, Catalonia

was inhabited by monks almost 700 years. The
abbey was abandoned in 1835.

BASILICA DE SAN VICENTE, Avila stands on

the traditional site of the martyrdom of St.
Vincent at the hands of the Romans. It is an
interesting Romanesque church just outside the
walls of vila.

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RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS in the Holy Land

Crusader
church
architecture
generally
possesses transitional half-gothic features with
traditional Romanesque planning.

CATHEDRAL OF OUR LADY OF TORTOSA,

SYRIA was the headquarters of the Templars &
functioned as both a fortress and a church. It
has been described as the best-preserved
religious structure of the crusaders.

The CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION,

Lebanon was built on the spot where Jesus
Christ was crucified and buried.

CRUSADER CHURCH OF. S. ANNE,

Jerusalem
Saint Anne's acoustics, designed for Gregorian
chant, are so perfect that the church is virtually a
musical instrument to be played by the human
voice.
MILITARY BUILDINGS in Spain & Portugal

LOARRE CASTLE is the oldest fortified castle

in Spain and the most spectacular. It was the
base of the regions resistance to the Moorish
occupation.

AVILA, Castle is the best preserved walled city

in the world. Its walls, which form an impressive
monument, are rectangular in shape, with a
perimeter of about two and a half km.

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Talus / Glacis bold sloping thickness at the

foot of walls

MILITARY BUILDINGS in the Holy Land

3 TYPES OF CASTLES
Pilgrim Forts sited to secure the routes
from coastal ports to Jerusalem. It has a thin
curtain wall with rectangular corner towers, a
large fosse or ditch & an outer earth
rampart.
Coastal Fortifications coastal ports were
fortified to secure the sea links.
Strategic Inland Castles protect the
coast roads, safeguard mountain passes &
provide visual command of the approach
routes.
A large part of the strategic strength of the
Crusader castles lay in the elaborate system of
communication between them by means of
carrier pigeons and visual signaling.
PARTS OF A CASTLE:

Bent entrance compels the invaders to follow

a confined route while exposed to lateral fire
hazards of retaliation.

Keep or Donjon inner tower for refuge during

a siege

Drawbridge - a wooden bridge leading to a

gateway, capable of being raised or lowered to
either accommodate or prevent entry into the
castle.

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Machicolations (murder holes) projecting

wall or parapet allowing floor openings, through
which molten lead, boiling oil or stones are
dropped down below.

Bailey open court of a castle.

Motte earthen conical mound of a castle.

Towers deterrent to mining & to deflect

missiles

Rampart defensive earthen bank surrounding

a castle or a fortress

Crenellations (battlements) at the top of

curtain walls. The merlons are upstanding parts
of an embattled parapet between 2 crenels. The
crenels allow the firing of arrows.

Moat - a deep and wide trench filled with water

around the rampart of a fortified castle.

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EXAMPLES

ROMANESQUE IN SCANDINAVIA
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
The earliest domestic building customs were
based upon timber techniques allied to forms.
Medieval dwellings in Scandinavia showed a
tradition of timber building particularly in Norway

CHASTEL PELERIN (Pilgrims Castle), Atlit was

built by the Templars with the help of the
Teotonic Knights & the pilgrims from whom it
derived its name.

The customary technique in Norway was a form

of lafting making use of logs lapped at their
ends.

MARGAT CASTLE, Lebanon was the biggest of

the entire Crusaders castles. It was under the
Knights Hospitaller.

KERAK CASTLE, Moab (Krak des Moabites)

was made famous by the Crusaders & is more
imposing than beautiful.

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STAVE CHURCHES
A Stave Church is an ancient style of church
constructed entirely of wood and unique to
Norway.
Stave churches are constructed using long
vertical timbers called staves.
The roof was often built up in tiers with a
fantastic appearance culminating in a peak or
spire.

In some two-storey versions, the upper storey &

ground level were constructed in palisade
fashion.

A keel beam runs down the centre of the roof

identical to those found in longboats.

The Swedish version of this combined lafting &

palisade technique is known as ramlofstuga.

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Stave churches incorporated elaborate and

vigorous woodcarvings of fabulous beasts and
Norse and Christian legends.

The 12th century BORGUND STAVE CHURCH

is one of 28 surviving churches of this type in
Norway. It is classified as a triple nave stave
church.

EXAMPLES

HEDDAL STAVE CHURCH (12th cent.) is a

triple nave stave church and is Norway's largest.

HOPPERSTAD STAVE CHURCH (1116) is a

triple-nave stave church & one of the oldest still
standing

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GOL STAVE CHURCH was built in Gol,

northwest of Oslo, around 1200. It was moved to
Oslo in 1885

HALTDALEN STAVE CHURCH (1170) is a

windowless stave church. Tar (the black
coloring) was used to preserve the wood

HOYJORD STAVE CHURCH is the only stave

church built in two phases.
The first part was built around 1150, in the
Roman style, with the second phase 100
years later in the Gothic style.
It is one of only 3 preserved stave churches
having a stave or pillar in the middle of the
church.

URNES STAVE CHURCH was built in the 12th

cent. & is an outstanding example of a traditional
Scandinavian wooden architecture.

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HEGGE STAVE CHURCH

(12th 13th cent)

LOMEN STAVE CHURCH

(12th 13th cent)

KAUPANGER STAVE CHURCH

(12th 13th cent)
NORE STAVE CHURCH
(12th 13th cent)

NOTHING FOLLOWS
Topic Sources and References:
th
History of Architecture 20 edition Sir
Banister Fletcher, Architectural Press, 1996.
Romanesque Architecture PowerPoint,
Arch. Ma. Vicenta Sanchez, UST College of
Architecture
Various internet articles related to the topic

KVERNES STAVE CHURCH

(12th 13th cent)

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