1. Romanesque Architecture
Architectural History
ACT 322
Doris Kemp

2. Topics Carolingian Pre-Romanesque
Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
Romanesque Architecture
Romanesque Architecture: Early Romanesque in Germany and Normandy

3. 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

4. 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

5. Carolingian 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

6. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
Traits of Carolingian Pre-Romanesque structures:
Strongly defined spatial units
Chains of modular construction
fragmentation

7. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
Palatine Chapel
c. 796 – 805
Located at Charlemagne's palace at Aachen
Domed
Double-shelled
Two-storied octagon plan
Monumental façade

8. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
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

9. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
Photo: Sullivan

10. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
Photo: Sullivan

11. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
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

12. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
Photo: Sullivan

13. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
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

14. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
Photo: Sullivan

15. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
Photo: Sullivan

16. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
Germigny-des-Pres
Located on the Loire River
c. 806
Reflects the influences of both Byzantium and Islam
Photo: Sullivan

17. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
Photo: Sullivan

18. Carolingian Pre-Romanesque: Structures
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

19. Romanesque Architecture
Charlemagne’s 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

20. Romanesque Architecture: Early 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

21. Romanesque Architecture: Early 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 cathedral’s Byzantine models and the determination of Charlemagne's architecture

22. Romanesque Architecture: Early Romanesque in Germany and Normandy
Photo: Sullivan

23. Romanesque Architecture: Early Romanesque in Germany and Normandy
St. Michael’s Cathedral
Located at Hildesheim, Germany
More contemporary style than at Munster
Square schematic c
Photo: Sullivan

24. Romanesque Architecture: Early Romanesque in Germany and Normandy
Imperial Cathedral of Speyer
Located in Speyer, Germany
c – 1060
Built by Emperor Konrad II
Impressive wall articulation
Crucial for the development of Romanesque architecture
Wall shaped into powerful multilayer configuration

25. Romanesque Architecture: Early Romanesque in Germany and Normandy
Photo: Sullivan

26. Romanesque Architecture: Early 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

27. Romanesque Architecture: Early Romanesque in Germany and Normandy
Mont-Saint-Michael
Medieval shrine in Normandy, France
Norman counterpart to the Speyer Cathedral in Germany
Photo: Sullivan

28. Romanesque Architecture: Early 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

29. Romanesque Architecture: Early Romanesque in Germany and Normandy
Photo: Sullivan

30. Romanesque Architecture: Early Romanesque in Germany and Normandy
Photo: Sullivan

31. References Sullivan, Mary; http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/
Trachtenburg/Hyman; Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity
Wodehouse/Moffett; A History of Western Architecture

32. Romanesque Architecture
Architectural History
ACT 322
Doris Kemp