Romanesque Architecture

1. Romanesque Architecture key ideas: • Latin cross plan • coherence of design: unity and symmetry • heavy, thick walls and small windows • the use of a Roman vault—inherently limited; the barrel vault creates tremendous thrust at the springing point • large, ordered space which contrasted strongly with the chaos and uncertainty outside the church walls • creates a wonderful “stage” for the miracle of the Eucharist—the presence of God—God made incarnate again

2. Can you find visual evidence that this church has small windows? • Can you find visual evidence that this church has thick walls and heavy piers? • Can you find visual evidence that this church has symmetry? • Can you find visual evidence that this church demonstrates visual unity? (Look for repeating shapes.) • Can you find visual evidence that this church was designed using the Latin cross plan? floor planAbbey Church of Sainte-FoyConques, France 1125-1135

3. naveLa Madeleine at Vezelay France 1096-1132 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnxm4UQPDTo&index=38&list=PLEEA1BAEC5B2F7654

4. What is the boxed area called? • What is the lower portion called? • What is the upper portion called?

5. What is the boxed area called? • What is the purpose?

6. What is the boxed area called? • What is the purpose?

7. What are the architectural elements in the boxed area called? • Do you see any rib vaults?

8. What do you see in the boxed area? • Why?

9. This is an image of a side aisle. What is in the boxed area?

10. naveLa Madeleine at Vezelay France 1096-1132

11. blind arcade • clerestory • gallery • nave • string courses

12. arcade • blind arcade • clerestory • gallery • nave • ribs • string courses • vaulting • engaged columnettes

13. Gothic versus Romanesque Architecture Romanesque • The earliest churches were based on Greek temples and Roman basilicas (secular government buildings); essentially there was a substitution of a church plan for a temple plan: colonnades were shifted from the interior to the exterior; an arch was placed directly on a pier instead of placing a lintel directly on a pier (column) • The classic temple is a system of sturdy walls and colonnades all helping to sustain a solid roof. A Romanesque church follows essentially the same principles, except that an arch is placed over the colonnades. • All the parts of a Romanesque building contribute their share to the stability of the whole. • The structure stands through virtue of inertia. Gothic • In a Gothic church the highly organized framework of piers, arches, and buttresses are organized so that the spaces of the wall and roof between them serve merely as an enclosure. • A Gothic church is a skillfully balanced system of thrusts and counterthrusts that are concentrated on special points of support. • All the different levels of the church interior are brought into homogenous composition: great vaulting shafts that articulate the massive piers rise from the floor; at the clerestory level these shafts become more decorative than supportive and spring from corbels in order to trace the vaulting that articulates each bay. • Flying buttresses allowed the walls to be dissolved.

14. Flying buttresses allowed the walls to be dissolved.

15. Roman barrel vault The force lines converge at the point where the barrel vault springs from the wall. In order to support a heavy roof—one that is very wide--the walls of the nave would have to be very, very thick. Flying Buttress The lines of force created by the weight of the roof and the arches is redirected (or distributed) by the flying buttresses past the walls of the church to external piers (outside the child walls).As a result, windows can larger and the nave can be taller.

16. Abbey Church of Saint-DenisSaint-Denis, France 1140-44

17. floor planAbbey Church of Sainte-FoyConques, France 1125-1135

18. Abbey Church of Saint-DenisSaint-Denis, France 1140-44 Standing in the choir, looking northeast at about 1:30.

19. Abbey Church of Saint-DenisSaint-Denis, France 1140-44 Looking into one of the radial chapels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMlwnYObUKc 15:34

20. floor planAbbey Church of Sainte-FoyConques, France 1125-1135 floor planAmiens CathedralAmiens, France1220-1288

21. Abbey Church of Sainte-FoyConques, France 1125-1135

22. Abbey Church of Sainte-FoyConques, France 1125-1135

23. transept looking into the crossingAmiens CathedralAmiens, France1220-1288

24. looking down the nave toward the apseAmiens CathedralAmiens, France1220-1288 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24N94rZ7XtU 17:46

25. Question: What made it possible to dissolve the walls so that windows could be enlarged? Answer: The flying buttress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKASY4H6QHo

26. The lines of force created by the weight of the roof and the arches is redirected (or distributed) by the flying buttresses past the walls of the church to external piers (outside the child walls).As a result, windows can larger and the nave can be taller. The Flying Buttress

27. Abbey Church of Sainte-FoyConques, France 1125-1135 Amiens CathedralAmiens, France1220-1288

28. Church of Saint-Etienne, CaenNormandy, France begun 1064—façade late 11th century

29. Reims Cathedral west façade c. 1211-1428

30. Chartres Cathedralca. 1194-1260 west façade

32. flying buttresses

33. Question: What made it possible to dissolve the walls so that windows could be enlarged? Answer: The flying buttress.

34. The lines of force created by the weight of the roof and the arches is redirected (or distributed) by the flying buttresses past the walls of the church to external piers (outside the child walls).As a result, windows can larger and the nave can be taller. The Flying Buttress What do the red-orange arrows represent?

35. Amiens Cathedral: do you notice that the flying buttresses are lighter?

36. Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris France

37. Gargoyles at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris France. I think these gargoyles are decorative.

38. Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, Samuel or Aaron, David 1200-1210 north transept

39. south transept entrance: Saint Theodore, Saint Stephen, martyr, martyr

40. The Beautiful Virgin

42. The nave ceiling—looking directly up at the vaulting. Can you find a rib? Can you find a key stone? Can you find the main vault? Can you find where the engaged columnette joins the vaulting?

45. Who is this?

46. Who is this? Is this Gothic?