1. Alan Peterson’s Art History Site
Romanesque Architecture and Sculpture
11th and 12th Century France
Images and some text from
Alan Peterson’s Art History Site
and Gardner’s Art History

3. Plan of a Roman Basilica
                                                                                                                      
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE
The term Romanesque ("Roman-like") was first used to designate a style of architecture that used Roman arches and had thick, heavy walls, based upon the basilica. The style is pervasive throughout Europe.
Plan of a Roman Basilica
Arch of Titus 81 AD

4. The Romanesque Era is marked by:
Immense relief that the world had not ended at the turn of the millennium
The resurgence of cities and trade
The emergence of Europe as we know it
The strengthened authority of the Pope
The emergence of a middle class and merchant class
The evolution of the Romance languages
The peak of feudalism as a political system

5. The Great Age of Monasteries
Monasteries housed the relics of saints, and during the Romanesque period the cult of relics became a major cultural factor influencing architecture. Devout Christians would undertake long pilgrimages in order to visit and venerate the relics of saints and martyrs. People traveled widely to visit sites and see relics because they believed them to have curative powers. The large numbers of travelers created standard routes from one monastery to another: “Pilgrimage Roads” became routes of trade/commerce as well as travel.
Nave of St. Savin. Poitou, France c. 1100

6. Pilgrimage Routes to Santiago de Compostella

7. A Medieval Building Boom
To meet the needs of large numbers of travelers, large scale building projects were undertaken - the first massive building resurgence since the Roman Empire had collapsed more than six hundred years before.
A boom in building occurred due to the need, in some cases, to replace wooden churches which had been burned by the Norsemen.
The boom contributed to the continued growth in the cult of religious relics and pilgrimages.
St. Sernin Toulouse

8. Romanesque Architecture:
Thick heavy walls support stone roofs.
Blocky, earthbound appearance
Simple geometric masses
The exterior reflects the interior structure and organization.
Interiors tend to be dark because the massive walls dictate small windows.
Over time, a growing sophistication in the understanding of how to use vaulting to span the large spaces led to the use of groin vaults and rib vaults.
San Sernin, Toulouse

9. The Plan of a Romanesque Cathedral
San Sernin, in Toulouse, is a typical pilgrimage church in the Burgundian style.
The floor plan is a Latin cross with clearly defined parts.
It is modeled on a basilica plan modified for large crowds to provide a large apse.
The square of the crossing is the module for the rest of the plan:
½ (crossing square) = 1 (bayside aisle)

10. The Plan of a Romanesque Cathedral
The side aisles form a continuous circuit around the transept nave and transept.
The ambulatory aisle enclosed the choir- the area east of the transept- was separated by a screen to give privacy to monks during the mass or other services.
The side aisles allow visitors to walk back to view the relics without disturbing anything going on in the nave or choir areas.
Transept

11. Relics: The Attraction
During the Romanesque period churches were in the relics business: more relics= more business= more donations.
Each chapel would have different relics funded by wealthy donors
St. Sernin, looking toward the altar and apse

12. Looking up at the dome in the crossing
Looking up at the dome in the crossing. Note the massive blocks of multi-colored stone.

13. A prominent feature of many Romanesque churches is the addition of multiple chapels "radiating chapels".
Stone barrel vaults require massive support because they create a lateral thrust requiring heavy, buttressed walls.

14. Sainte-Foy
Conques, France, c

15. Sainte-Foy Cathedral
Sainte-Foy is one of the earliest surviving examples of a Romanesque pilgrimage church: a church designed specifically to accommodate visiting pilgrims. Sainte Foy, to whom the church is dedicated, was martyred as a child in 303 CE. The church was built above the site of her tomb, and it holds relics associated with her.

16. You can see from  the plan of Sainte-Foy that it shares much in common with the plan of St. Sernin. Sainte-Foy, however, is much shorter in proportion. It does have radiating chapels and a circumambulatory aisle: key characteristics of pilgrimage churches.

17. Another view of the apse, transept and bell-tower
Another view of the apse, transept and bell-tower. This is a nice illustration of the massive quality of Romanesque buildings.

18. Sainte-Foy’s Nave
In this view of the nave, looking towards the altar, you can see how dark the interior seems. Notice the windows around the base of the bell-tower near the upper-left of the image.
Gregorian Chant: Introit: Puer natus est nobis

19. St. Etienne Cathedral Caen (Normandy) 1067 – 1120 CE.
St. Etienne is a good example of the Norman style of Romanesque architecture. The style developed during the rule of William the Conqueror. He's buried here at St. Etienne.
Buttresses divide the facade into three bays: a tripartite facade; there are also three horizontal divisions. (The spires were both added during the Gothic period.)
St. Etienne is seen as a precursor of the Gothic style of church architecture that emerged in 1140 with the re-building of St. Denis in Paris. Website: St. Etienne

20. St. Etienne’s Vaulting System
Ribbed groin vaults (or just rib vaults) replace barrel vaults and allow the addition of clerestory windows. Rib vaults are groin vaults reinforced with extra stone ribbing. These vaults at St. Etienne are some of the earliest ribbed vaults. They are supported by large complex piers covered with pilasters and engaged columns.

21. St. Etienne’s Nave
The floor plan reflects a regular system of square modules. The ribbed vaults may be described as sexpartite because there are six elements to each rib vault.

23. St. Etienne A view of the apse and towers of the east end.

24. Romanesque Sculpture Apostle St. Sernin 1090
Large scale stone sculpture was revived during the Romanesque period. For a long time there had been no large scale sculptures produced after the fall of the western the Roman Empire. (No idols!) Romanesque sculpture shows little consideration of earlier (Greek and Roman) styles.
Portals of churches were covered with sculpture for pilgrims to study while they waited to enter, so most early Romanesque sculpture is architectural, not freestanding.
Tympanum scenes are typically of the enthroned Christ and the Apocalypse or the Last Judgment. Early Romanesque sculpture shows little integration with it's architectural setting. Sculptors had no experience with large scale sculpture, so they are conservative.
Apostle St. Sernin 1090

25. Christ in Majesty with Apostles St. Denis 1019 - 1020
This relief panel is carved on a lintel very abstract (flat and decorative) and iconographic Christ, supported by angels, is framed in a mandorla, a nimbus or glory (halo) The Apostles are integrated with the architectural setting

26. Sainte-Foy’s Sculpture
Some of the most notable sculpture of the Romanesque period can be found in the portals of Romanesque churches. You can see the portal as the round arch and the semi-circular tympanum above the doors here on the facade of Sainte-Foy.

28. Tympanum of Sainte-Foy

29. Center

30. On the right side of Christ (your left) are the lucky souls who have been saved: the elect.

31. On his left, though, are poor souls being tortured by demons and dragged off to Hell.

32. Below

33. Below

35. The Church of St. Lazare Autun, France
St. Lazare had the relics of Lazarus, a friend of Christ whom he raised from the dead. There was a medieval legend that he had sailed from the Holy Land to Marseilles and become the first bishop of that city.

36. Tympanum, St. Lazare, c. 1130
This tympanum scene depicts the Last Judgment- something very much on the minds of medieval Christians who were driven by the fear and the faith of the time.

37. Tympanum, St. Lazare
Angels blow the horns announcing the Day of Judgment.
Christ is supposed to look as if he is sitting! But it seems that the sculptor had a hard time figuring out how to represent foreshortened knees. He is static and still, removed from the activity below him.
Two men at the lower left carry staffs and bags, identifying them as pilgrims.

38. Tympanum, St. Lazare
The Archangel Michael oversees the scales.

39. The weighing of souls of the dead who are lifted from the earth and fought over by angels and demons.
Notice that the demon tries to tip the scales (compare to The Miller in Chaucer’s tale)
The condemned are dragged into hell while those waiting seek protection from the angels.

40. Souls Waiting for Judgment
The inscription reads, “Here let fear strike those whom earthly error binds, for their fate is shown by the horror of these figures” The poor souls are agitated and distorted, nothing classical in their figures at all. The figures are contorted to fit the setting but also for expressive purposes.

41. A poor soul being plucked up to judgment.

42. Vezelay, France 1120-32 The Launching Point of the Crusades:
Pope Urban II had intended to preach about the mission of the First Crusade here thirty years before the tympanum was built. Saint Bernard preached the Second Crusade here, and in 1190, Richard the Lionhearted and King Phillip of France set out on the Third Crusade from Vezelay

44. Vezelay, Nave

46. Portal fr. the Narthex of St. Madeleine, Vezelay, 1120

47. Here again we see Christ is enthroned in a manner reminiscent of examples from Early Christian churches and manuscript paintings. Note the very stylized figures and drapery and the rays of the holy spirit that emanate from Christ.