Romanesque Architecture

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Romanesque Architecture

• Architectural History
• ACT 322
• Doris Kemp

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Topics

• Carolingian Pre-Romanesque
• Carolingian Pre-Romanesque Structures
• Romanesque Architecture
• Romanesque Architecture Early Romanesque in
  Germany and Normandy

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Carolingian Pre-Romanesque

• After the move of the seat of the Roman Empire to
  Constantinople, the Greco-Roman culture went into
  collapse
• Latin was displaced as the common language
• Disintegration of Roman law
• Cessation of urban life
• A major decline in monumental art and architecture

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Carolingian Pre-Romanesque

• Charlemagne
• King of the Franks who vowed to restore the Roman
  culture to its height
• Crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Roman pope on
  Christmas Day, 800 A.D.
• Carolingian Renaissance
• Latin for Charles the Great (Charlemagne)
• Renewal of the Latin language, literature, art,
  and architecture
• Birth of Pre-Romanesque architecture

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Carolingian Pre-Romanesque

• Pre-Romanesque
• Architecture looked back to Rome in its glory
  days
• The style was never recaptured despite the effort
• Structures were reinterpretations of antiquity,
  forward-looking and innovative
• Non-Roman qualities of abstraction,
  fragmentation, and volumetric energy

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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures

• Traits of Carolingian Pre-Romanesque structures
• Strongly defined spatial units
• Chains of modular construction
• fragmentation

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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures

• Palatine Chapel
• c. 796 805
• Located at Charlemagne's palace at Aachen
• Domed
• Double-shelled
• Two-storied octagon plan
• Monumental façade

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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures

• Palatine Chapel
• Reminiscent of early Christian and Byzantine
  Architecture
• Was a rebuilt version of S. Vitale
• One of the most impressive of late antique Roman
  structures

Photo Sullivan
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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures
Photo Sullivan
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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures
Photo Sullivan
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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures

• St. Riquier
• Transformed the fundamental concept of the early
  Christian basilica
• More complex, composed of many independent group
  formations
• Powerful vertical massings at both ends

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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures
Photo Sullivan
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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures

• Gatehouse/Torhalle
• Located in Lorsch, Germany
• c. 767 774
• Saddle-roofed central block flanked by twin
  vertical stair towers
• Features a chapel originally dedicated to St.
  Michael
• Resembles Roman triumphal arches
• Two-storied facades
• Richly ornamented

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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures
Photo Sullivan
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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures
Photo Sullivan
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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures

• Germigny-des-Pres
• Located on the Loire River
• c. 806
• Reflects the influences of both Byzantium and
  Islam

Photo Sullivan
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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures
Photo Sullivan
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Carolingian Pre-RomanesqueStructures

• The main aspects of the standard monastery were
  conceived during the Carolingian period
• St. Gall plan
• Ideal architectural plan of a traditional
  monastery
• Was never built
• Plan included
• A small city featuring a medical center and a
  cemetery
• U-shaped corridor to provide orderly traffic flow

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Romanesque Architecture

• Charlemagnes death in 814 led to a dark century
  for Europe due ton invaders
• Slavic, Magyar, Arab pirates, and Vikings
• When the invasions ceased economic conditions
  improved
• Cultural revival and religious enthusiasm brought
  about a wave of church-building

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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy

• Imperial Romanesque (Germany)
• Antithetical tendencies
• Conservative and nostalgic
• Looked back fondly to the works of Charlemagne
• Inventive and progressive
• Drew on early Christian, imperial Roman, and
  Byzantine models

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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy

• Munster Cathedral
• Located in Essen, Germany
• Late 10th century
• Retrospective, loosely based on St. Riquier and
  St. Gall
• Freedom in design and energy that contrast with
  the perfectionist spirit of the cathedrals
  Byzantine models and the determination of
  Charlemagne's architecture

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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy
Photo Sullivan
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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy

• St. Michaels Cathedral
• Located at Hildesheim, Germany
• More contemporary style than at Munster
• Square schematic
• c. 1001 - 1033

Photo Sullivan
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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy

• Imperial Cathedral of Speyer
• Located in Speyer, Germany
• c. 1030 1060
• Built by Emperor Konrad II
• Impressive wall articulation
• Crucial for the development of Romanesque
  architecture
• Wall shaped into powerful multilayer
  configuration

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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy
Photo Sullivan
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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy

• Norman Romanesque
• In the early tenth century the Vikings settled in
  Normandy, France
• Buildings in Normandy were crucial to the
  development in France

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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy

• Mont-Saint-Michael
• Medieval shrine in Normandy, France
• Norman counterpart to the Speyer Cathedral in
  Germany

Photo Sullivan
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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy

• Abbey Church of Notre Dame de Jumieges
• Notable for the immense height of its crossing
  tower
• Facade was derived from Carolingian westwork
  tradition
• Central structure was set forward between twin
  bases of square towers that rise as octagons
  above lines of the roof
• Set precedence for the twin-towered facades that
  dominated the exteriors of the major French
  Gothic cathedrals

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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy
Photo Sullivan
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Romanesque ArchitectureEarly Romanesque in
Germany and Normandy
Photo Sullivan
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References

• Sullivan, Mary http//www.bluffton.edu/sullivanm
  /
• http//www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.htm
  l
• Trachtenburg/Hyman Architecture From Prehistory
  to Postmodernity
• Wodehouse/Moffett A History of Western
  Architecture

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Romanesque Architecture

• Architectural History
• ACT 322
• Doris Kemp