APPLIED SCIENCE UNIVERSITY

History of Architecture II | Spring 2024

Dr Duaa Al Maani

Medieval Europe
Par t 1 | Romanesque Architecture

R E M E M E B E R!
This is a summary taken from the following books/ articles / websites. You can always refer to
them to get more info about this topic.

1- Global History Of Architecture By Ching, Jarzombek , and Prakash. 2nd edition.

2- Architecture: A Visual History by Jonathan Glancey
3- The Romanesque churches of Tuscany: San Miniato in Florence & Pisa Cathedral. Article By Dr. Diane Reilly.
4- A beginner's guide to Romanesque architecture. Article by Valerie Spanswick.
5- Introduction to the Middle Ages. Article by Dr. Nancy Ross.
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HANDOUT 2
Romanesque Architecture
INTRODUCTION
Petrarch, the Italian poet and scholar of the fourteenth century, believed that the Dark Ages was a
period of intellectual darkness due to the loss of the classical learning, which he saw as light.
Later historians picked up on this idea and ultimately the term Dark Ages was transformed into
Middle Ages. During this time, the Roman Empire slowly fragmented into many smaller political
entities. The geographical boundaries for European countries today were established during the
Middle Ages. It’s a period during which Christianity flourished in Europe. Christianity, and
1 specifically Catholicism in the Latin West, brought with it new views of life and the world that
rejected the traditions and learning of the ancient world.

Romanesque architecture is based on Roman architectural elements . It is the rounded Roman

arch that is the literal basis for structures built in this style. All through the regions that were part of
the ancient Roman Empire are ruins of Roman aqueducts and buildings, most of them exhibiting
arches as part of the architecture. When Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800
C.E., Europe began to take its first steps out of the “Dark Ages” since the fall of Rome in the fifth
century. The remains of Roman civilization were seen all over the continent, and legends of the great
empire would have been passed down through generations. So, when Charlemagne wanted to
unite his empire and validate his reign, he began building churches in the Roman style–
particularly the style of Christian Rome in the days of Constantine, the first Christian Roman
emperor.

THE ROMANESQUE PERIOD 800-1100

After a gap of around two hundred years with no large building projects, the architects looked to
the arched, or arcaded, system seen in Christian Roman edifices as a model. It is a logical system of
stresses and buttressing, which was fairly easily engineered for large structures, and it began to be
used in gatehouses, and churches in Europe.
The Romanesque church, a development of the roman basilica, was sponsored by abbots and kings
hoping to recreate the architectural glory of ancient Rome. Charlemagne, a patron of art and
learning, was a great defender of the city of Rome. From then on, Romanesque architecture spread
across Italy including Sicily, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and England. The style which despite
regional variations is remarkably consistent. The order built some of the greatest pilgrimage
churches of the era, including Maria Laach abbey in Germany and Durham cathedral in England.

CHARACTERISTIC OF ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE:

Romanesque churches were typified by their cruciform plans, by ambulatories (walkways) around
the apse, where pilgrims could visit chapels, and by stone vaults carried on piers and extremely thick
walls. Architects and masons (the two were often synonymous) had yet to learn how to develop the
light and airy vaults of the coming gothic era, so their buildings appear massive and usually rather
dark (Articulation of every structural division. Visually heavy quality).
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Characterized by castle-like solidity, Romanesque was the style of Christian warrior-kings who
wished to emulate the fortunes of legendry roman emperors. They adopted some of the forms of
ancient Rome, while developing many more of their own, influenced by both the Islamic and
Christian architectural traditions. To build with strength and height required deep walls with small
windows, although this was rather appropriate for an architecture nurtured and developed by
warrior kings-not only Charlemagne in the 9th century, but also William of Normandy who
conquered England in 1066. William knew full well the power of architecture as a sign of control and
domination. Nevertheless, although his tough regime began with the construction of fortresses, it
was to lead to such Romanesque marvels as the nave of Durham cathedral.
2 Roman semicircular arch used almost exclusively throughout: western facade with 3-5 portals, often
with towers. Nave, often with barrel vault ceiling. Thick walls and exterior buttresses to support the
arches and vaults inside.
The arches that define the naves of Romanesque churches are well modulated and geometrically
logical—with one look you can see the repeating shapes, and proportions that make sense for an
immense and weighty structure. There is a large arcade on the ground level made up of bulky piers
or columns. The piers may have been filled with rubble rather than being solid, carved stone. Above
this arcade is a second level of smaller arches, often in pairs with a column between the two. The
next higher level was again proportionately smaller, creating a rational diminution of structural
elements as the mass of the building is reduced. The decoration is often quite simple, using
geometric shapes rather than floral or curvilinear patterns. Plain circles were also used, which
echoed the half-circle shape of the ubiquitous arches.
Early Romanesque ceilings and roofs were often made of wood, as if the architects had not quite
understood how to span the two sides of the building using stone, which created outward thrust
and stresses on the side walls. This development, of course, didn’t take long to manifest, and
led from barrel vaulting (simple, semi-circular roof vaults) to cross vaulting, which became ever
more adventurous and ornate in the Gothic.
Levels: Level 1 rows of arcaded bays between piers, level 2 gallery, level 3 clerestory windows above
the nave (small windows).

• Carved columns
The massive, rubble-filled columns at Durham cathedral, are lightened by zigzag
carving, which brings a play of light and shadow into the heart of the muscular nave.
• Naturalistic carving
This column capital from Monreale cathedral, Sicily, is based loosely on classical
Corinthian design, but enlivened by the carved figure of a shielded knight wrapped
around with typically frond-like decoration.
• Blind arcading
This was a distinct form of decoration aimed at relieving otherwise blank walls,
and far cheaper and easier to construct than openings for glass windows.
• Sculpted tympanum
Like the pediment of a roman temple, the tympanum (the area between the top of a
door or window and the arch above it) of a Romanesque church was filled with relief
sculpture.
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MARIA LAACH ABBEY - GERMANY

This imposing abbey church stands in an idyllic lakeside location on the southwest bank of the
Laacher lake, south of Cologne. Although heavily influenced by Italian style, it is one of the finest
examples of German Romanesque architecture.
Built chiefly of local lave, Maria Laach abbey’s most obvious external features are its towers, three
at the west and three at the east. The central and largest tower at the west end is square, while the
tower of the crossing is octagonal.
The west end is also marked by a dominant apse and contained within the circular towers, a western
transept. Less usual is the cloistered atrium at the western end, which leads to the main entrances
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in the circular towers. Three apses also mark the east end.

The interior of the abbey is strikingly sparse and echoing, with the massiveness of the construction
everywhere apparent. Decorative relief is provided by the naturalistic carving on some of the
capitals. The half columns on the square piers of the nave and aisles is a suggestion of the emerging
Gothic style. The vaulting bays of the nave and aisles are the same width- another hint of things to
come.
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DURAHM CATHEDRAL - ENGLAND

Durham Cathedral (1093–1133) is important for its architectural features, specifically, its rib vaulting
(the first of its kind in England), and its high standard of masonry. The nave of the three-aisled church
was built between 1093 and 1133, but the west towers were not completed until 1220. Durham,
which has heavy round columns carrying the arcades introduces the idea of attached half- columns
that guide the eye to the ceiling. The massiveness of churches had always been a feature of
Romanesque architecture; what is novel here is the structural openness of the walls (the reduction
of solid walls to a thick but open skeleton of arches).
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It was the first building in Europe to use pointed
rib vaults. Ribbed vaults had been used before,
but never in this way or to such dramatic effect.
This was more than just a matter of being able
to enclose a huge space with a stone roof,
impressive though this was. Visually, the
interior has an exceptional unity and power,
and the exterior has its own monumentality. It
was also an early hint of the coming gothic
style. Despite the gothic touches, Durham is
overwhelmingly Romanesque.
The piers in the nave, which are decorated by geometric patterns, are massively solid.

The decoration of the columns, with its zigzag and chevron motifs, also made extensive use of color,
specifically black and red, which was an influence from Islamic architecture that came to the country
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through the Crusades. Geometric patterns, and other features of the inner decoration can later be
found in several other cathedrals in northern England, suggesting that the same masons moved on
to work in Scotland.

Durham Cathedral is considered a forerunner of what is now

called the Gothic style, largely because of the fusion of the
ribbed vault and the pointed arch, which are considered
essentially Gothic features.

PISA CATHEDRAL

Before the Italian peninsula was unified into a single nation in the nineteenth century, it was divided
into numerous separate countries, papal-controlled territories, and city states with constantly
shifting boundaries.

Roman walls, aqueducts, monuments, and buildings dotted the landscape, and this Roman heritage
profoundly impacted the appearance of the region’s churches. During the Middle Ages, residents of
the cities of Tuscany valued their Roman past, particularly as it was associated with the origins of
institutional Christianity. Florence and Pisa are wonderful examples of this. During the eleventh
century, each city’s Roman heritage was still visible in the form of roads and bridges, walls and
cemeteries, but each city also took on its own character based on the preferences of its inhabitants
and the sources of their economic strength. The architecture of the Cathedral of Pisa visibly
expresses its unique regional and civic qualities, as well as links to the Roman past. In part this was
a celebration of local architectural traditions, in part it reflected the country’s classical heritage;
both worked against the adoption of non-Italian styles.

The cathedral sits at the heart of one of the most imposing architectural complexes in Europe
(square of miracles), comprising the cathedral itself, the baptistery, and the campanile (the leaning
tower). All three are sheathed in brilliant white banded marble and are deliberate almost
overwhelming, statements of Pisan civic pride.

Begun in the 11the century, the cathedral was later extensively remodelled, mostly in the 13th
century when the nave was extended, and the façade added. The latter is a prime example of the
Tuscan “proto-renaissance”: an arcaded ground floor, which extends around the entire building,
topped by four tiers of carved arches, the lower two extending the full width of the building, the
upper two only to the width of the nave.
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Construction on the Cathedral of Pisa began in 1063 after the victory of the Pisan fleet over the
Saracens near Palermo. Pisa could now attempt to fulfill its ambition to develop a greater visual
presence. The cathedral was completed only after considerable alterations in the 14th century.
Stylistically it is a variation of the Mediterranean basilica plan, with influences from Byzantine, and
Islamic architecture. The granite columns in the nave were taken from Roman temples on the isle of
Elba; the capitals range from imperial Roman to Byzantine temples. The walls have marble paneling
inspired by Byzantine practice, and the shape and manner of construction of the dome, rising on the
inside from very high and narrow pointed arches, looks Islamic.
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Traditional influences: renaissance-style arches from a kind of superimposed double-

pedimented temple façade.
Like most cathedrals on the Italian peninsula, Pisa’s was built as an assemblage of freestanding
buildings, including a baptistery and bell tower (campanile) in addition to the church.

The building does not follow the trend of the great pilgrimage churches, in which structure and
surface were becoming increasingly unified. Pisa Cathedral borrows heavily from the architectural
past. It has a basilica footprint with double aisles separated from the nave by colossal Corinthian
columns, a trussed timber roof, and a single semicircular apse, all perhaps intended to recall Old St.
Peter’s in Rome. Each of the arms of the transept repeats this basic formula on a smaller scale, with
single aisles flanking a central space that leads to a smaller apse, creating a four-armed ground plan.
The simple geometry of the façade at Pisa cathedral is amazing! Above the ground floor, the façade
becomes dramatically three-dimensional, with open arcades that screen a wall decorated with grey
and white stripes.
In fact, it defied that trend in its celebration of surface. The elegant and costly marble sheathing that
wraps around the exterior has little if any correlation to inner structure. The massive volume of the
building becomes light and airy even though the openings are few and small, in the typical
Romanesque manner.
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The interior of this church forms a Latin cross, divided into five naves by 68 granite columns. Lit from
above, it is enlivened by mosaic, geometric patterns of coloured marble, and the coffered ceiling.

The unusual and complicated elliptical shape was dictated by

the rectangular outline of the crossing created by the
meeting of the nave, choir and transepts. The builders
bridged the corners of this opening under the dome’s base
with Byzantine-inspired squinches. The colourful mosaic
depicting the Assumption of the Virgin was added in the 17th
century.

Interior, Pisa Cathedral, begun 1063

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The baptistery & the bell tower

The baptistery in front of the cathedral was begun in 1153. In 1173, the foundations were laid for
the campanile, known now as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Parallel to the emergence of the Italian
urban cathedral was the urban baptistery, conceived as a bold, freestanding structure in the
piazza in front of or next to a church.. Architecturally, the most significant baptisteries are at
Florence (1060–1150), Pisa (1153–1265), and Parma (1196–1270).

Cupola, in architecture, small dome placed on a circular,

polygonal, or square base to crown a roof or larger dome.

The bell tower, begun in 1173 as the third and final structure of the
city’s cathedral complex, was designed to stand 56m high and was
constructed of white marble. Three of its eight stories had been
completed when the uneven settling of the building’s foundations in
the soft ground became noticeable.

At that time, war broke out between the Italian city-states, and
construction was halted for almost a century. This pause allowed the
tower’s foundation to settle and likely prevented its early collapse. The
project was plagued with interruptions, as engineers sought solutions
to the leaning problem, but the tower was ultimately topped out in the
14th century.
Twin spiral staircases lined the tower’s interior, with 294 steps leading
from the ground to the bell chamber (one staircase incorporates two
additional steps to compensate for the tower’s lean).