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Romanesque and Gothic. Art and Architecture. The Background and History. History that even the most powerful empires can crumble and fall. The Roman empire falls to invading armies around 400 A.D. Temples and palaces were torn down.
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Romanesque and Gothic Art and Architecture
The Background and History • History that even the most powerful empires can crumble and fall. • The Roman empire falls to invading armies around 400 A.D. • Temples and palaces were torn down. • Christianity becomes widely accepted and the Catholic church dominate western Europe. • Two periods of art and architecture grow from this change throughout the middle ages-Romanesque and Gothic periods.
Romanesque Period • Warfare was extremely common because landowners were fighting for more land. With land comes, wealth to protect what they had and • The landowners: there were many kings of numerous regions at this time and they fought amongst each other to gain more land.
Architecture • The Castle: the rich lived in castles to protect themselves. • These were fort like dwellings with high walls and towers. • Most castles were further protected by a moat and a drawbridge.
Early Castles • Early castles were strong, massive, dark and drafty. • Instead of windows they had narrow slits cut into the walls to help those inside detect intruders. • Does this castle still look sturdy now even 700 years after it was built? • Why do you think there were very few windows? • Did the builder worry about comfort or something else?
Living life surrounded by walls • Leaders and rulers lived in castles. • Townspeople were left to fend themselves against attack behind large walls. • The original walls were made of wood, but by the 1100s the townspeople in most areas created large stone walls. • Masons were in high demand. • Some of these walled cities were quite impressive.