Romanesque architecture

Chair of History and Theory of Urbanism and Architecture

EiABC
Ephrem Nigusie
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 MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE
• The time between the fall of Rome in 5th c. and about
15th c. is often called the dark age
• Which includes three periods the Pre - Romanesque
the Romanesque and the Gothic.

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What is Romanesque?
Romanesque means literally “roman – like”

Refers to period between 1050-1200 AD

Architectural elements heavily borrowed from Rome.

The first distinctive style to spread across Europe since

the Roman Empire.

Maintained the rounded Roman arch and thus appeared

to be a continuation of the Roman tradition of building.
Expansion
Development of feudal system, that
demanded works (castles)
• The expansion of religious orders
(Benedictines, Cluniac, Cistercians,
Carthusians), expanded the
monasteries
• The pilgrimage routes

• The Crusades, 1095–1270, brought

about a very large movement of people
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Romanesque architecture

Characteristics
• The general impression given by Romanesque
architecture, in both ecclesiastical and secular
buildings, is one of massive solidity and strength.

• Romanesque architecture, in common with Byzantine

architecture, relies upon its walls, or sections of walls
called piers.

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Romanesque architecture elements
Walls
• Often of massive thickness with few and comparatively small
openings.
• Often double shells, filled with rubble.
• Common building materials were brick (Netherlands, Italy, and
Poland), limestone, granite and flint in other areas.
• The stone were small in size and irregular in shape

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Romanesque architecture elements
Piers
• Often employed to support
arches.
• Built of masonry and square or
rectangular in section,
• Generally having a horizontal
moldings representing a capital
at the springing of the arch.

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Romanesque architecture elements

• Sometimes piers have vertical shafts attached to them,

and may also have horizontal moldings at the level of
base.

• Piers that occur at the intersection of two large arches,

such as those under the crossing of the nave and
transept, are commonly cruciform in shape, each arch
having its own supporting rectangular pier at right angles
to the other.

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Romanesque architecture elements
Types of Columns
Salvaged columns
• Columns which are collected
from other old buildings and
reused in the interiors and
porticos of the new ones.
• The majority are vertically
bedded and are sometimes of
a variety of colors
• They may have retained their
original Roman capitals,
generally of the Corinthian or
Roman Composite style
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Romanesque architecture elements
Drum columns
• In most parts of Europe,
Romanesque columns were
massive, as they supported
thick upper walls with small
windows, and sometimes
heavy vaults.
• The most common method of
construction was to build
them out of stone cylinders
called drums

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Romanesque architecture elements

Hollow core columns

• Where really massive
columns were called for,
such as those at Durham
Cathedral, they were
constructed of ashlars
masonry and the hollow
core was filled with rubble.

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Romanesque architecture elements

Capitals
• The foliate Corinthian style
provided the inspiration for many
Romanesque capitals
• The Corinthian capital is essentially
round at the bottom where it sits
on a circular column and square at
the top, where it supports the wall
or arch.
• This form of capital was maintained
in the general proportions and
outline of the Romanesque capital.

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Romanesque architecture elements
Alternation
• A common characteristic of Romanesque buildings, occurring both
in churches and in the arcades which separate large interior spaces
of castles, is the alternation of piers and columns.
• The most simple form that this takes is to have a column between
each adjoining pier. XYX
• Sometimes the columns are in multiples of two or three. XYYX

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Romanesque architecture elements
Arches and openings
• Mostly semicircular
• While small windows might be
surmounted by a solid stone lintel,
larger windows are nearly always
arched.
• Doorways are also surmounted by a
semi-circular arch

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Romanesque architecture elements
Vaults and roofs
• The majority of buildings have
wooden roofs, generally of a simple
truss, tie beam or king post form.
• In churches, typically the aisles are
vaulted, but the nave is roofed with
timber
Barrel vault
• The simplest type of vaulted roof, in
which a single arched surface
extends from wall to wall

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Romanesque architecture elements

Groin vault
• A groin vault is almost always square in
plan and is constructed of two barrel
vaults intersecting at right angles.
Ribbed vault
• In ribbed vaults, not only are there ribs
spanning the vaulted area transversely,
but each vaulted bay has diagonal ribs.
• In a ribbed vault, the ribs are the structural
members, and the spaces between them
can be filled with lighter, none-structural
material.

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Romanesque architecture elements

Buttresses
• An external support built to
stabilize a structure by opposing
its outward thrusts of the
arching action.
• Because of the massive nature
of Romanesque walls, buttresses
are not a highly significant
feature, as they are in Gothic
architecture.

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Romanesque architecture elements
• Romanesque buttresses are generally of flat square
profile and do not project a great deal beyond the
wall.
• In the case of aisled churches, barrel vaults, or half-
barrel vaults over the aisles helped to buttress the
nave, if it was vaulted.

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Romanesque architecture elements
Church and cathedral facades and
external decoration
• Romanesque church facades,
generally to the west end of the
building, are usually symmetrical,
having a large central portal made
significant by its moldings or porch
and an arrangement of arched-topped
windows.
• The common decorative feature is
arcading.

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Romanesque architecture elements

Towers
• Towers were an important
feature of Romanesque
churches.
• They take a variety of forms,
square, circular and
octagonal, and are
positioned differently in
relation to the church in
different countries.
• In Italy towers are almost
always free standing .

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Romanesque architecture elements
Decoration
• Architectural embellishment
Arcading is the single most
significant decorative feature of
Romanesque architecture.

• Architectural sculpture

• Figurative sculpture

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Typologies
There are three main architectonical typologies:

Monasteries Castles

Churches
Church

• The most dominant typology

• Symbolized God’s kingdom
• The holiest part was the apse
• Symbolism was important:
• Circular parts reflect perfection
so they were linked to God
• Squared parts are related to the
human.
Church

• Plans could be:

• Latin cross
• Polygonal
• Basilica
Basilical

Latin cross Polygonal

Church
Parts of the plan
Church

Section
• In section, the typical aisled church or cathedral has a
nave with a single aisle on either side
• The nave and aisles are separated by an arcade carried
on piers or on columns.
• Above the aisle roof are a row of windows know as
the clerestory, which give light to the nave.

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Church
Parts from the outside
Monastery
• Monasteries in Romanesque architecture were
designed as a microcosm, as the city of God
• They had several dependencies:
• Church
• Cloister
• Chapter room
• Abbot’s house
• Monks/ nuns rooms
• Dining hall
• Hospital
Castles
• Castles were defensive constructions
• They were fortified for providing shelter
• The wall was one of the essential elements
• They tend to be build in stepped areas, easier to defend.
 Romanesque architecture examples
1.Santiago de Compostela
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 2.DUOMO PISA (cathedral Pisa)
• The largest Romanesque church in Tuscany.
• The wall is covered with white and pink marble.
• The tower is inclining since the construction and still going on.

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Baptistery
Cathedral Tower
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3. Sant’Ambrogio, Milan

• Dedicated to Saint Ambrose

• Uses compound piers with 3
huge ribbed groin vaults
• No clerestory
• Begun 1080; vaulted after
an earthquake in 1117
Monastery of Santa Maria, Ripoll, Spain
•The Benedictine monastery, located in the region
of Catalonia in northeastern Spain.
•Known for its elegant two-story cloister with its
round arches.

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Romanesque architecture
Conclusion
• known by its massive quality, its thick walls, round (Semi-
circular) arches, sturdy piers, groin vaults, large towers and
decorative arcading.
• Each building has clearly defined forms and they are
frequently of very regular
• Although there was much building of castles during this
period, they are greatly outnumbered by churches
• Cruciform (Latin cross) plans,
• symmetrical plan so that the overall appearance is one of
simplicity when compared with the Gothic buildings that
were to follow.
• No sense of strict proportion

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Transition to
Gothic

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