Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-

circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with
proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this later date being the most commonly held.
In the 12th century it developed into the Gothic style, marked by pointed arches. Examples of
Romanesque architecture can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European
architectural style since Imperial Roman architecture. The Romanesque style in England is
traditionally referred to as Norman architecture.

Combining features of ancient Roman and Byzantine buildings and other local traditions,
Romanesque architecture is known by its massive quality, thick walls, round arches, sturdy pillars,
barrel vaults, large towers and decorative arcading. Each building has clearly defined forms,
frequently of very regular, symmetrical plan; the overall appearance is one of simplicity when
compared with the Gothic buildings that were to follow. The style can be identified right across
Europe, despite regional characteristics and different materials.

Many castles were built during this period, but they are greatly outnumbered by churches. The
most significant are the great abbey churches, many of which are still standing, more or less
complete and frequently in use.[1] The enormous quantity of churches built in the Romanesque
period was succeeded by the still busier period of Gothic architecture, which partly or entirely
rebuilt most Romanesque churches in prosperous areas like England and Portugal. The largest
groups of Romanesque survivors are in areas that were less prosperous in subsequent periods,
including parts of southern France, rural Spain and rural Italy. Survivals of unfortified
Romanesque secular houses and palaces, and the domestic quarters of monasteries are far rarer,
but these used and adapted the features found in church buildings, on a domestic scale.

Definition
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "Romanesque" means "descended from
Roman" and was first used in English to designate what are now called Romance languages (first
cited 1715). The French term "romane" was first used in the architectural sense by archaeologist
Charles de Gerville in a letter of 18 December 1818 to Auguste Le Prévost to describe what
Gerville sees as a debased Roman architecture.[Notes 2][3] In 1824 Gerville's friend Arcisse de
Caumont adopted the label "roman" to describe the "degraded" European architecture from the 5th
to the 13th centuries, in his Essai sur l'architecture religieuse du moyen-âge, particulièrement en
Normandie,[4] at a time when the actual dates of many of the buildings so described had not been
ascertained:
The name Roman (esque) we give to this architecture, which should be universal as it is the same
everywhere with slight local differences, also has the merit of indicating its origin and is not new
since it is used already to describe the language of the same period. Romance language is
degenerated Latin language. Romanesque architecture is debased Roman architecture.

The first use in a published work is in William Gunn's An Inquiry into the Origin and Influence of
Gothic Architecture (London 1819).[9][10] The word was used by Gunn to describe the style that
was identifiably Medieval and prefigured the Gothic, yet maintained the rounded Roman arch and
thus appeared to be a continuation of the Roman tradition of building.
The term is now used for the more restricted period from the late 10th to 12th centuries. The term
"Pre-romanesque" is sometimes applied to architecture in Germany of the Carolingian and
Ottonian periods and Visigothic, Mozarab and Asturian constructions between the 8th and the 10th
centuries in the Iberian Peninsula while "First Romanesque" is applied to buildings in north of
Italy and Spain and parts of France that have Romanesque features but pre-date the influence of
the Abbey of Cluny.

Scope
Buildings of every type were constructed in the Romanesque style, with evidence remaining of
simple domestic buildings, elegant town houses, grand palaces, commercial premises, civic
buildings, castles, city walls, bridges, village churches, abbey churches, abbey complexes and
large cathedrals.[11] Of these types of buildings, domestic and commercial buildings are the most
rare, with only a handful of survivors in the United Kingdom, several clusters in France, isolated
buildings across Europe and by far the largest number, often unidentified and altered over the
centuries, in Italy. Many castles exist, the foundations of which date from the Romanesque period.
Most have been substantially altered, and many are in ruins.

By far the greatest number of surviving Romanesque buildings are churches. These range from
tiny chapels to large cathedrals. Although many have been extended and altered in different styles,
a large number remain either substantially intact or sympathetically restored, demonstrating the
form, character and decoration of Romanesque church architecture.

History
Origin:
Romanesque architecture was the first distinctive style to spread across Europe since the Roman
Empire. With the decline of Rome, Roman building methods survived to an extent in Western
Europe, where successive Merovingian, Carolingian and Ottonian architects continued to build
large stone buildings such as monastery churches and palaces. In the more northern countries,
Roman building styles and techniques had never been adopted except for official buildings, while
in Scandinavia they were unknown. Although the round arch continued in use, the engineering
skills required to vault large spaces and build large domes were lost. There was a loss of stylistic
continuity, particularly apparent in the decline of the formal vocabulary of the Classical Orders. In
Rome several great Constantinian basilicas continued in use as an inspiration to later builders.
Some traditions of Roman architecture also survived in Byzantine architecture with the 6th-
century octagonal Byzantine Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna being the inspiration for the
greatest building of the Dark Ages in Europe, the Emperor Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel,
Aachen, Germany, built around the year AD 800.[12]

Dating shortly after the Palatine Chapel is a remarkable 9th-century Swiss manuscript known as
the Plan of Saint Gall and showing a very detailed plan of a monastic complex, with all its various
monastic buildings and their functions labelled. The largest building is the church, the plan of
which is distinctly Germanic, having an apse at both ends, an arrangement not generally seen
elsewhere. Another feature of the church is its regular proportion, the square plan of the crossing
tower providing a module for the rest of the plan. These features can both be seen at the Proto-
Romanesque St. Michael's Church, Hildesheim, 1001–1030.[12]

Architecture of a Romanesque style also developed simultaneously in the north of Italy, parts of
France and in the Iberian Peninsula in the 10th century and prior to the later influence of the
Abbey of Cluny. The style, sometimes called First Romanesque or Lombard Romanesque, is
characterised by thick walls, lack of sculpture and the presence of rhythmic ornamental arches
known as a Lombard band.

Politics:
Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope in Old St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Day in the year
800, with an aim to re-establishing the old Roman Empire. Charlemagne's political successors
continued to rule much of Europe, with a gradual emergence of the separate political states that
were eventually to become welded into nations, either by allegiance or defeat, the Kingdom of
Germany giving rise to the Holy Roman Empire. The invasion of England by William, Duke of
Normandy, in 1066, saw the building of both castles and churches that reinforced the Norman
presence. Several significant churches that were built at this time were founded by rulers as seats
of temporal and religious power, or places of coronation and burial. These include the Abbaye-
Saint-Denis, Speyer Cathedral and Westminster Abbey (where little of the Norman church now
remains).

At a time when the remaining architectural structures of the Roman Empire were falling into
decay and much of its learning and technology lost, the building of masonry domes and the
carving of decorative architectural details continued unabated, though greatly evolved in style
since the fall of Rome, in the enduring Byzantine Empire. The domed churches of Constantinople
and Eastern Europe were to greatly affect the architecture of certain towns, particularly through
trade and through the Crusades. The most notable single building that demonstrates this is St
Mark's Basilica, Venice, but there are many lesser-known examples, particularly in France, such as
the church of Saint-Front, Périgueux and Angoulême Cathedral.[13]

Much of Europe was affected by feudalism in which peasants held tenure from local rulers over
the land that they farmed in exchange for military service. The result of this was that they could be
called upon, not only for local and regional spats, but to follow their lord to travel across Europe
to the Crusades, if they were required to do so. The Crusades, 1095–1270, brought about a very
large movement of people and, with them, ideas and trade skills, particularly those involved in the
building of fortifications and the metal working needed for the provision of arms, which was also
applied to the fitting and decoration of buildings. The continual movement of people, rulers,
nobles, bishops, abbots, craftsmen and peasants, was an important factor in creating a
homogeneity in building methods and a recognizable Romanesque style, despite regional
differences.

Life became generally less secure after the Carolingian period. This resulted in the building of
castles at strategic points, many of them being constructed as strongholds of the Normans,
descendants of the Vikings who invaded northern France under Rollo in 911. Political struggles
also resulted in the fortification of many towns, or the rebuilding and strengthening of walls that
remained from the Roman period. One of the most notable surviving fortifications is that of the
city of Carcassonne. The enclosure of towns brought about a lack of living space within the walls,
and resulted in a style of town house that was tall and narrow, often surrounding communal
courtyards, as at San Gimignano in Tuscany.[14][15]

In Germany, the Holy Roman Emperors built a number of residences, fortified, but essentially
palaces rather than castles, at strategic points and on trade routes. The Imperial Palace of Goslar
(heavily restored in the 19th century) was built in the early 11th century by Otto III and Henry III,
while the ruined Palace at Gelnhausen was received by Frederick Barbarossa prior to 1170.[16]
The movement of people and armies also brought about the building of bridges, some of which
have survived, including the 12th-century bridge at Besalú, Catalonia, the 11th-century Puente de
la Reina, Navarre and the Pont-Saint-Bénézet, Avignon.[17]

Religion
Across Europe, the late 11th and 12th centuries saw an unprecedented growth in the number of
churches.[18] A great number of these buildings, both large and small, remain, some almost intact
and in others altered almost beyond recognition in later centuries. They include many very well
known churches such as Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome,[19] the Baptistery in Florence[20]
and San Zeno Maggiore in Verona.[21] In France, the famous abbeys of Aux Dames and Les
Hommes at Caen and Mont Saint-Michel date from this period, as well as the abbeys of the
pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. Many cathedrals owe their foundation to this date,
with others beginning as abbey churches, and later becoming cathedrals. In England, of the
cathedrals of ancient foundation, all were begun in this period with the exception of Salisbury,
where the monks relocated from the Norman church at Old Sarum, and several, such as
Canterbury, which were rebuilt on the site of Saxon churches.[22][23] In Spain, the most famous
church of the period is Santiago de Compostela. In Germany, the Rhine and its tributaries were the
location of many Romanesque abbeys, notably Mainz, Worms, Speyer and Bamberg. In Cologne,
then the largest city north of the Alps, a very important group of large city churches survives
largely intact. As monasticism spread across Europe, Romanesque churches sprang up in Scotland,
Scandinavia, Poland, Hungary, Sicily, Serbia and Tunisia. Several important Romanesque
churches were built in the Crusader kingdoms.[24][25]

Monasticism
Edit
The system of monasticism in which the religious become members of an order, with common ties
and a common rule, living in a mutually dependent community, rather than as a group of hermits
living in proximity but essentially separate, was established by the monk Benedict in the 6th
century. The Benedictine monasteries spread from Italy throughout Europe, being always by far
the most numerous in England. They were followed by the Cluniac order, the Cistercians,
Carthusians and Augustinian Canons. During the Crusades, the military orders of the Knights
Hospitaller and the Knights Templar were founded.

The monasteries, which sometimes also functioned as cathedrals, and the cathedrals that had
bodies of secular clergy often living in community, were a major source of power in Europe.
Bishops and the abbots of important monasteries lived and functioned like princes. The
monasteries were the major seats of learning of all sorts. Benedict had ordered that all the arts
were to be taught and practiced in the monasteries. Within the monasteries books were transcribed
by hand, and few people outside the monasteries could read or write.[1]

In France, Burgundy was the centre of monasticism. The enormous and powerful monastery at
Cluny was to have lasting effect on the layout of other monasteries and the design of their
churches. Unfortunately, very little of the abbey church at Cluny remains; the "Cluny II"
rebuilding of 963 onwards has completely vanished, but we have a good idea of the design of
"Cluny III" from 1088 to 1130, which until the Renaissance remained the largest building in
Europe. However, the church of St. Sernin at Toulouse, 1080–1120, has remained intact and
demonstrates the regularity of Romanesque design with its modular form, its massive appearance
and the repetition of the simple arched window motif.

Pilgrimage and Crusade

Edit
One of the effects of the Crusades, which were intended to wrest the Holy Places of Palestine from
Islamic control, was to excite a great deal of religious fervour, which in turn inspired great
building programs. The Nobility of Europe, upon safe return, thanked God by the building of a
new church or the enhancement of an old one. Likewise, those who did not return from the
Crusades could be suitably commemorated by their family in a work of stone and mortar.

The Crusades resulted in the transfer of, among other things, a great number of Holy Relics of
saints and apostles. Many churches, like Saint-Front, Périgueux, had their own home grown saint
while others, most notably Santiago de Compostela, claimed the remains and the patronage of a
powerful saint, in this case one of the Twelve Apostles. Santiago de Compostela, located near
Galicia (present day Spain) became one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Europe.
Most of the pilgrims travelled the Way of St. James on foot, many of them barefooted as a sign of
penance. They moved along one of the four main routes that passed through France, congregating
for the journey at Jumièges, Paris, Vézelay, Cluny, Arles and St. Gall in Switzerland. They crossed
two passes in the Pyrenees and converged into a single stream to traverse north-western Spain.
Along the route they were urged on by those pilgrims returning from the journey. On each of the
routes abbeys such as those at Moissac, Toulouse, Roncesvalles, Conques, Limoges and Burgos
catered for the flow of people and grew wealthy from the passing trade. Saint-Benoît-du-Sault, in
the Berry province, is typical of the churches that were founded on the pilgrim route.

Characteristics
The general impression given by Romanesque architecture, in both ecclesiastical and secular
buildings, is one of massive solidity and strength. In contrast with both the preceding Roman and
later Gothic architecture, in which the load-bearing structural members are, or appear to be,
columns, pilasters and arches, Romanesque architecture, in common with Byzantine architecture,
relies upon its walls, or sections of walls called piers.[1]
Romanesque architecture is often divided into two periods known as the "First Romanesque" style
and the "Romanesque" style. The difference is chiefly a matter of the expertise with which the
buildings were constructed. The First Romanesque employed rubble walls, smaller windows and
unvaulted roofs. A greater refinement marks the Second Romanesque, along with increased use of
the vault and dressed stone.

Walls
Edit
The walls of Romanesque buildings are often of massive thickness with few and comparatively
small openings. They are often double shells, filled with rubble.

The building material differs greatly across Europe, depending upon the local stone and building
traditions. In Italy, Poland, much of Germany and parts of the Netherlands, brick is generally used.
Other areas saw extensive use of limestone, granite and flint. The building stone was often used in
comparatively small and irregular pieces, bedded in thick mortar. Smooth ashlar masonry was not
a distinguishing feature of the style, particularly in the earlier part of the period, but occurred
chiefly where easily worked limestone was available.[26]

Buttresses
Edit
Because of the massive nature of Romanesque walls, buttresses are not a highly significant
feature, as they are in Gothic architecture. Romanesque buttresses are generally of flat square
profile and do not project a great deal beyond the wall. In the case of aisled churches, barrel
vaults, or half-barrel vaults over the aisles helped to buttress the nave, if it was vaulted.

In the cases where half-barrel vaults were used, they effectively became like flying buttresses.
Often aisles extended through two storeys, rather than the one usual in Gothic architecture, so as
to better support the weight of a vaulted nave. In the case of Durham Cathedral, flying buttresses
have been employed, but are hidden inside the triforium gallery.

Arches and openings

Edit
The arches used in Romanesque architecture are nearly always semicircular, for openings such as
doors and windows, for vaults and for arcades. Wide doorways are usually surmounted by a semi-
circular arch, except where a door with a lintel is set into a large arched recess and surmounted by
a semi-circular "lunette" with decorative carving.[12] These doors sometimes have a carved
central jamb.

Narrow doors and small windows might be surmounted by a solid stone lintel. Larger openings are
nearly always arched. A characteristic feature of Romanesque architecture, both ecclesiastic and
domestic, is the pairing of two arched windows or arcade openings, separated by a pillar or
colonette and often set within a larger arch. Ocular windows are common in Italy, particularly in
the facade gable and are also seen in Germany. Later Romanesque churches may have wheel
windows or rose windows with plate tracery.
There are a very small number of buildings in the Romanesque style, such as Autun Cathedral in
France and Monreale Cathedral in Sicily in which pointed arches have been used extensively,
apparently for stylistic reasons. It is believed that in these cases there is a direct imitation of
Islamic architecture. At other late Romanesque churches such as Durham Cathedral, and Cefalù
Cathedral, the pointed arch was introduced as a structural device in ribbed vaulting. Its increasing
application was fundamental to the development of Gothic architecture.

Arcades
Edit
An arcade is a row of arches, supported on piers or columns. They occur in the interior of large
churches, separating the nave from the aisles, and in large secular interiors spaces, such as the
great hall of a castle, supporting the timbers of a roof or upper floor. Arcades also occur in
cloisters and atriums, enclosing an open space.

Arcades can occur in storeys or stages. While the arcade of a cloister is typically of a single stage,
the arcade that divides the nave and aisles in a church is typically of two stages, with a third stage
of window openings known as the clerestory rising above them. Arcading on a large scale
generally fulfils a structural purpose, but it is also used, generally on a smaller scale, as a
decorative feature, both internally and externally where it is frequently "blind arcading" with only
a wall or a narrow passage behind it.

Piers
Edit
In Romanesque architecture, piers were often employed to support arches. They were built of
masonry and square or rectangular in section, generally having a horizontal moulding representing
a capital at the springing of the arch. Sometimes piers have vertical shafts attached to them, and
may also have horizontal mouldings at the level of the base.

Although basically rectangular, piers can often be of highly complex form, with half-segments of
large hollow-core columns on the inner surface supporting the arch, or a clustered group of
smaller shafts leading into the mouldings of the arch.

Piers that occur at the intersection of two large arches, such as those under the crossing of the nave
and transept, are commonly cruciform in shape, each arch having its own supporting rectangular
pier at right angles to the other.[1][12]

Columns
Edit
Columns are an important structural feature of Romanesque architecture. Colonnettes and attached
shafts are also used structurally and for decoration. Monolithic columns cut from a single piece of
stone were frequently used in Italy, as they had been in Roman and Early Christian architecture.[1]
They were also used, particularly in Germany, when they alternated between more massive piers.
[24] Arcades of columns cut from single pieces are also common in structures that do not bear
massive weights of masonry, such as cloisters, where they are sometimes paired.[1]

Salvaged columns
Edit
In Italy, during this period, a great number of antique Roman columns were salvaged and reused in
the interiors and on the porticos of churches. The most durable of these columns are of marble and
have the stone horizontally bedded. The majority are vertically bedded and are sometimes of a
variety of colours. They may have retained their original Roman capitals, generally of the
Corinthian or Roman Composite style.[24] Some buildings, like Santa Maria in Cosmedin
(illustrated above) and the atrium at San Clemente in Rome, may have an odd assortment of
columns in which large capitals are placed on short columns and small capitals are placed on taller
columns to even the height. Architectural compromises of this type are seen where materials have
been salvaged from a number of buildings. Salvaged columns were also used to a lesser extent in
France.

Drum columns
Edit
In most parts of Europe, Romanesque columns were massive, as they supported thick upper walls
with small windows, and sometimes heavy vaults. The most common method of construction was
to build them out of stone cylinders called drums, as in the crypt at Speyer Cathedral.[24][27]

Hollow core columns

Edit
Where really massive columns were called for, such as those at Durham Cathedral, they were
constructed of ashlar masonry and the hollow core was filled with rubble. These huge untapered
columns are sometimes ornamented with incised decorations.[23]

Alternation
Edit
A common characteristic of Romanesque buildings, occurring both in churches and in the arcades
that separate large interior spaces of castles, is the alternation of piers and columns.

The most simple form that this takes is to have a column between each adjoining pier. Sometimes
the columns are in multiples of two or three. At St. Michael's, Hildesheim, an A B B A alternation
occurs in the nave while an A B A alternation can be seen in the transepts.

At Jumièges there are tall drum columns between piers each of which has a half-column
supporting the arch. There are many variations on this theme, most notably at Durham Cathedral
where the mouldings and shafts of the piers are of exceptional richness and the huge masonry
columns are deeply incised with geometric patterns.[24]

Often the arrangement was made more complex by the complexity of the piers themselves, so that
it was not piers and columns that alternated, but rather, piers of entirely different form from each
other, such as those of Sant' Ambrogio, Milan, where the nature of the vault dictated that the
alternate piers bore a great deal more weight than the intermediate ones and are thus very much
larger.

Capitals
Edit
The foliate Corinthian style provided the inspiration for many Romanesque capitals, and the
accuracy with which they were carved depended very much on the availability of original models,
those in Italian churches such as Pisa Cathedral or church of Sant'Alessandro in Lucca and
southern France being much closer to the Classical than those in England.[1][24]

The Corinthian capital is essentially round at the bottom where it sits on a circular column and
square at the top, where it supports the wall or arch. This form of capital was maintained in the
general proportions and outline of the Romanesque capital. This was achieved most simply by
cutting a rectangular block and taking the four lower corners off at an angle so that the block was
square at the top, but octagonal at the bottom, as can be seen at St. Michael's Hildesheim.[24] This
shape lent itself to a wide variety of superficial treatments, sometimes foliate in imitation of the
source, but often figurative. In Northern Europe the foliate capitals generally bear far more
resemblance to the intricacies of manuscript illumination than to Classical sources. In parts of
France and Italy there are strong links to the pierced capitals of Byzantine architecture. It is in the
figurative capitals that the greatest originality is shown. While some are dependent on manuscripts
illustrations of Biblical scenes and depictions of beasts and monsters, others are lively scenes of
the legends of local saints.[13]

The capitals, while retaining the form of a square top and a round bottom, were often compressed
into little more than a bulging cushion-shape. This is particularly the case on large masonry
columns, or on large columns that alternate with piers as at Durham.

Vaults and roofs

Edit
The majority of buildings have wooden roofs, generally of a simple truss, tie beam or king post
form. In the case of trussed rafter roofs, they are sometimes lined with wooden ceilings in three
sections like those that survive at Ely and Peterborough cathedrals in England. In churches,
typically the aisles are vaulted, but the nave is roofed with timber, as is the case at both
Peterborough and Ely.[23] In Italy where open wooden roofs are common, and tie beams
frequently occur in conjunction with vaults, the timbers have often been decorated as at San
Miniato al Monte, Florence.[1]

Vaults of stone or brick took on several different forms and showed marked development during
the period, evolving into the pointed ribbed arch characteristic of Gothic architecture.

Barrel vault
Edit
The simplest type of vaulted roof is the barrel vault in which a single arched surface extends from
wall to wall, the length of the space to be vaulted, for example, the nave of a church. An important
example, which retains Medieval paintings, is the vault of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, France, of
the early 12th century. However, the barrel vault generally required the support of solid walls, or
walls in which the windows were very small.[24]

Groin vault
Edit
Groin vaults occur in early Romanesque buildings, notably at Speyer Cathedral where the high
vault of about 1060 is the first employment in Romanesque architecture of this type of vault for a
wide nave.[24] In later buildings employing ribbed vaultings, groin vaults are most frequently
used for the less visible and smaller vaults, particularly in crypts and aisles. A groin vault is almost
always square in plan and is constructed of two barrel vaults intersecting at right angles. Unlike a
ribbed vault, the entire arch is a structural member. Groin vaults are frequently separated by
transverse arched ribs of low profile as at Speyer and Santiago de Compostela. At Sainte Marie
Madeleine, Vézelay, the ribs are square in section, strongly projecting and polychrome.[28]

Ribbed vault
Edit
Ribbed vaults came into general use in the 12th century. In ribbed vaults, not only are there ribs
spanning the vaulted area transversely, but each vaulted bay has diagonal ribs, following the same
course as the groins in a groin vault. However, whereas in a groin vault, the vault itself is the
structural member, in a ribbed vault, it is the ribs that are the structural members, and the spaces
between them can be filled with lighter, non-structural material.[29]

Because Romanesque arches are nearly always semi-circular, the structural and design problem
inherent in the ribbed vault is that the diagonal span is larger and therefore higher than the
transverse span.[29] The Romanesque builders used a number of solutions to this problem. One
was to have the centre point where the diagonal ribs met as the highest point, with the infill of all
the surfaces sloping upwards towards it, in a domical manner. This solution was employed in Italy
at San Michele, Pavia, and Sant' Ambrogio, Milan.[24]

The solution employed in England was to stilt the transverse ribs, maintaining a horizontal central
line to the roof like that of a barrel vault.[29] The diagonal ribs could also be depressed, a solution
used on the sexpartite vaults at both the Saint-Étienne, (Abbaye-aux-Hommes) and Sainte-Trinité,
(Abbaye-les-Dames) at Caen, France, in the late 11th and early 12th centuries.[29]

Pointed arched vault

Edit
The problems encountered in the structure and appearance of vaults was solved late in the
Romanesque period with the introduction of pointed arched ribs which allowed the height of both
diagonal and transverse ribs to be varied in proportion to each other.[29] Pointed ribs made their
first appearance in the transverse ribs of the vaults at Durham Cathedral in northern England,
dating from 1128. Durham is a cathedral of massive Romanesque proportions and appearance, yet
its builders introduced several structural features that were new to architectural design and were
later to be hallmark features of the Gothic. Another Gothic structural feature employed at Durham
is the flying buttress. However, these are hidden beneath the roofs of the aisles. The earliest
pointed vault in France is that of the narthex of La Madeleine, Vézelay, dating from 1130.[26]
They were subsequently employed with the development of the Gothic style at the east end of the
Basilica of St Denis in Paris in 1140.[1] An early ribbed vault in the Romanesque architecture of
Sicily is that of the chancel at the Cathedral of Cefalù.

Domes
Edit
See also: History of Medieval Arabic and Western European domes § Holy Roman Empire
Domes in Romanesque architecture are generally found within crossing towers at the intersection
of a church's nave and transept, which conceal the domes externally.[30] Called a tiburio, this
tower-like structure often has a blind arcade near the roof.[31] Romanesque domes are typically
octagonal in plan and use corner squinches to translate a square bay into a suitable octagonal base.
[1] Octagonal cloister vaults appear "in connection with basilicas almost throughout Europe"
between 1050 and 1100.[32] The precise form differs from region to region.

Romanesque castles, houses and other buildings

The Romanesque period was a time of great development in the design and construction of
defensive architecture. After churches and the monastic buildings with which they are often
associated, castles are the most numerous type of building of the period. While most are in ruins
through the action of war and politics, others, like William the Conqueror's White Tower within
the Tower of London have remained almost intact.

In some regions, particularly Germany, large palaces were built for rulers and bishops. Local lords
built great halls in the countryside, while rich merchants built grand town houses. In Italy, city
councils constructed town halls, while wealthy cities of Northern Europe protected their trading
interests with warehouses and commercial premises. All over Europe, dwellers of the town and
country built houses to live in, some of which, sturdily constructed in stone, have remained to this
day with sufficient of their form and details intact to give a picture of the style of domestic
architecture that was in fashion at the time.

Examples of all these types of buildings can be found scattered across Europe, sometimes as
isolated survivals like the two merchants' houses on opposite sides of Steep Hill in Lincoln,
England, and sometimes giving form to a whole medieval city like San Gimignano in Tuscany,
Italy. These buildings are the subject of a separate article.

Romanesque Revival
During the 19th century, when Gothic Revival architecture was fashionable, buildings were
occasionally designed in the Romanesque style. There are a number of Romanesque Revival
churches, dating from as early as the 1830s and continuing into the 20th century where the
massive and "brutal" quality of the Romanesque style was appreciated and designed in brick.

The Natural History Museum, London, designed by Alfred Waterhouse, 1879, on the other hand,
is a Romanesque revival building that makes full use of the decorative potential of Romanesque
arcading and architectural sculpture. The Romanesque appearance has been achieved while freely
adapting an overall style to suit the function of the building. The columns of the foyer, for
example, give an impression of incised geometric design similar to those of Durham Cathedral.
However, the sources of the incised patterns are the trunks of palms, cycads and tropical tree ferns.
The animal motifs, of which there are many, include rare and exotic species.

The type of modern buildings for which the Romanesque style was most frequently adapted was
the warehouse, where a lack of large windows and an appearance of great strength and stability
were desirable features. These buildings, generally of brick, frequently have flattened buttresses
rising to wide arches at the upper levels after the manner of some Italian Romanesque facades.
This style was adapted to suit commercial buildings by opening the spaces between the arches into
large windows, the brick walls becoming a shell to a building that was essentially of modern steel-
frame construction, the architect Henry Hobson Richardson giving his name to the style,
Richardsonian Romanesque. Good examples of the style are Marshall Field's Wholesale Store,
Chicago, by H.H. Richardson, 1885, and the Chadwick Lead Works in Boston, USA, by William
Preston, 1887. The style also lent itself to the building of cloth mills, steelworks and
powerstations.