Romanesque Architecture

Romanesque Architecture Architectural History ACT 322 Doris Kemp

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

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

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

Carolingian Pre-Romanesque • 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

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

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

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

Carolingian Pre-Romanesque:Structures Photo: Sullivan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 1001 - 1033 Photo: Sullivan

Romanesque Architecture:Early Romanesque in Germany and Normandy • Imperial Cathedral of Speyer • Located in Speyer, Germany • c. 1030 – 1060 • Built by Emperor Konrad II • Impressive wall articulation • Crucial for the development of Romanesque architecture • Wall shaped into powerful multilayer configuration

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

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

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

References • Sullivan, Mary; http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/ • http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html • Trachtenburg/Hyman; Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity • Wodehouse/Moffett; A History of Western Architecture

Romanesque Architecture Architectural History ACT 322 Doris Kemp

Romanesque Architecture