ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
 
⦿ Romanesque architecture in France
dates from the eight to the twelfth
century
The character differs in the North and
south
 A. SOUTHERN FRANCE

⦿ Churches were usually cruciform in plan and

frequently had naves covered with barrel
vaults
⦿ Buttresses are internal and form the division
between chapels which flank the nave
⦿ Cloisters are treated with utmost decoration/
elaboration and form a special feature in the
plan of many churches
⦿ Circular churches are rare, but the
development of the semi circular east end as
an ambulatory with radiating chapels is very
common
⦿ Remarkable for richly decorated church
façade and graceful cloisters
⦿ Adaptation of old Roman architectural
features is remarkable
⦿ Aisleless naves covered with domes on
pendentives are common in Acquitaine and
Anjou
⦿ Nave wall arcades of aisleless church are
semi circular with mouldings in recesses and
orders
⦿ Cloister arcades are elaborated with coupled
columns
⦿ Doorways have recessed jambs
⦿ Narrow windows with semi circular heads
and wide splays inwards suffice to admit
light
⦿ Roofs needed to be low in pitch
⦿ Piers were derived from the Roman square
pier with attached columns
 
 B. NORTHERN FRANCE

⦿ Plans are basilican with nave and aisles

⦿ Square compartments to produce high
nave vault is a common practice
⦿ Roman influence is lesser in significance
due to few surviving Roman remains
⦿ Western façade of churches, especially in
Normandy are distinguished by the
introduction of two flanking towers
⦿ Plain massive side walls with flat buttresses
emphasizes the richness of the façade
⦿ Naves are covered with ribbed vault which
are often sexpartite and in square
compartments
⦿ Nave arcades are spanned by semi circular
arches which are repeated in deep triforia
⦿ Imposing western doorways with sculptured
tympana are great trademarks
⦿ Windows with semi circular heads are
sometimes group together and enclosed in
a larger arch
Malmesbury Abbey, showing the location of the triforium. It lies between the
lower (aisle) windows and the upper (clerestory) windows, as arrowed
Tympanum (architecture)
⦿ The most important development in stone
vaulting technique took place with the
introduction of the ribbed and panel
vaulting
⦿ Vaults were usually covered with wooden
roof, finished with slates and steep pitch to
throw of snow and water
⦿ Massive walls of rubble faced with square
stones
⦿ Sculptured and moulded ornament is
concentrated on wall arcades
⦿ Buttresses were wide strips of slight
projection or half round shafts
⦿ Towers were generally square with
pyramidal or conical roof
⦿ Mouldings executed in stone are courser
than those marble in Italy
 
 
 EXAMPLES
 
1. CAHORS CATHEDRAL

⦿ In Aquitaine is an aisleless church

crowned by two domes on pendentives
⦿ Somewhat resembles S. Irene,
Constantinople
The Romanesque saint Stephen's
cathedral at Cahors, France.
Plan of the cathedral complex.
2. S. FRONT, PERIGUEX

⦿ In Aquitaine is Greek cross in plan

⦿ Closely resembles S. Mark, Venice
⦿ Is covered with five spheroidal domes,
elongated towards the top, indicating an
Eastern influence due to the trade with
Byzantium
⦿ The only existing Greek cross church plan
with cupolas in France
⦿ Was the prototype of other churches with
cupola
 
 3. CHURCH OF S. GILLES-du- GARD

⦿ Near Arles has probably the most

elaborate sculptured façade in
Provence
⦿ With three porches connected by
colonnades perhaps suggesting the
façade of S. Mark, Venice
 
closeup of work titled
"Saint Giles and the Hind",
oil on oak, National Gallery
caption of the picture as a
whole stated "The picture
probably shows the King of
France kneeling with a
bishop to ask forgiveness
of Saint Giles. A member
of the Royal Hunt had shot
at Saint Giles' companion
hind (deer), but injured the
saint, who was protecting
her. The tower in the
background is probably
that of Pontoise."
Painting of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
Three church portal with the representation on the Tympanum
 4. ABBEY CHURCH, CLUNY
 
⦿ Formed part of the most famous monastic
establishment in Burgundy
⦿ It is the longest Romanesque church in
France
⦿ 136.00 meters with nave and choir, each
with double aisles, double transept and a
chevet of five apsidal termination
⦿ Its pointed arches are the one of the earliest
in Europe
 5. S. MADELEINE, VEZELAY
 
⦿ In Burgundy, has a most remarkable
narthex with nave and aisles crowned
⦿ It is believed to have the earliest pointed
cross vault in Europe
This is a retouched picture,
which means that it has been
digitally altered from its
original version. Modifications:
Perspektivkorrektur.
Floorplan of Vézelay shows the adjustment in vaulting between the choir
and the new nave.
Mary Magdalene's relics The nave
The central portal
Detail of right side
Detail of centre
 6. ABBEY OF BERNAY
 
⦿ Was probably the first important Norman
church
⦿ It has a nave of seven bays of which five
are still intact, divided into arcade,
triforium and clearstory
 
Nave of the abbey church
The abbey in 1687.
The abbey in 1785
 7. ABBAYE – aux – HOMMES, CAEN

⦿ Known as S. Etienne
⦿ Also known as the Men’s abbey
⦿ One of the many fine churches in Normandy
of this period which were the product of the
prosperity and power of the Norman dukes
⦿ It was commenced by William the
Conqueror
Tomb of William the Conqueror
⦿ It is a vaulted basilican type which was
developed into the complete Gothic in
the thirteenth century
⦿ It may have been modeled on the
Romanesque cathedral of Speyer
⦿ Its original eastern apse is superseded in
1166 by the characteristic chevet
⦿ It has nine spires, a remarkable instance
of the use of spires as architectural
features
 
 8. ABBAYE –aux – DAMES ( ‘LA TRINITE’),
CAEN

⦿ Also known as the women’s abbey

⦿ Founded by Matilda, wife of William the
Conqueror
⦿ Has fine western façade with two towers
in arcaded stages
The convent
 9. ABBEY OF S. DENIS
 
⦿ Was built by Abbe’ Suger
⦿ Is one of the few buildings of this style in
Ile de France
⦿ It is the burial place of the French kings
⦿ It is the first building to adapt Gothic
features
 
 
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE
IN CENTRAL EUROPE
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Dates back from the eighth to the
thirteenth century
⦿ The style owing to historical influence bears
striking similarity to that of Lombardy
⦿ It is a combination of Carolingian tradition
and Lombard influence
⦿ Church plans are peculiar for having
both western and eastern apses
▪ Eastern apses may have been used for
the abbot and the monks
▪ Western apse for the bishop and the
laity
▪ Western apse may be the survival of
the detached baptistery which had
been usual in earlier churches
⦿ The general character is picturesque by
reason of numerous circular and
octagonal turrets, polygonal domes, and
arcaded galleries under the eaves
⦿ Cloisters often have small columns
supporting arches in groups of three
⦿ Doorways are frequently in the side aisles
instead of the west front or transept
⦿ Windows are often single but
occasionally grouped and sometimes
have mid wall shafts
⦿ Shafts and capitals in doorways were
frequently elaborately carved with
figures of men birds and animals
⦿ General absence of mouldings in the
nave arcade
⦿ Carvings in bands are employed
⦿ Lines of colored bricks were use
externally in North Germany
⦿ Choir at western end, often
accommodated in western apse
⦿ Three apse plan in trefoil in 11th and 12th
century
 1. AIX-la-CHAPELLE CATHEDRAL
 
⦿ Built by the Emperor Charlemagne as his
royal tomb house
⦿ Resembles S. Vitale, Ravenna
⦿ The entrance is flanked by staircase turrets,
leads into a polygon of sixteen sides, 32.00
meters in diameter
⦿ The building is of great interest as the
prototype of other similar churches in
Germany
⦿ Coronation place of the Holy Roman
Emperors
 2. MONASTERY OF S. GALLEN
 
⦿ In modern Switzerland
⦿ A typical Benedictine monastery of the
period
⦿ Design by “Eginhart” – Charlemagne’s
royal architect
⦿ A double apse church with cloisters,
abbot lodging, school, refectory,
dormitory, guest house, dispensary,
infirmaries, granaries, bake house,
orchard and cemetery
EXTERIOR OF THE ABBEY LIBRARY OF THE MONASTERY
 3. CHURCH OF THE APOSTLES, COLOGNE
 
⦿ One of the series of trefoil churches in
Cologne
⦿ Plan forms a broad nave, aisles half its width,
western transepts, and a triapsal choir
⦿ A low octagonal tower gives dignity to the
effective external grouping
⦿ The entrance is by a northern porch and
there is no great portal as in France
⦿ The west end being occupied by a tower,
flanked by stair turrets, crowned by a typical
Rhenish roof
 4. WORMS CATHEDRAL
 
⦿ Apsidal at both ends
⦿ With eastern and western octagons while one
vaulting bay of the nave corresponds with the
two of the aisles
⦿ Twin circular towers containing stairs flanked
the eastern and western apses
⦿ The crossing of the nave and transepts is
covered with a low octagonal tower crowned
by a pointed roof
⦿ Entrance are in the aisles, a positioned favored
in Germany and England
 
St Peter's Cathedral – South façade
The current structure compared The current structure compared with
with the Roman forum the Merovingian basilica

The current structure compared with

the Cathedral of Bishop Burchard of
Worms
5. GERNRODE ABBEY

⦿ Probably the earliest Romanesque

church with apse at both ends
6. LUBECK CATHEDRAL
⦿ An example of brick architecture in
North Germany
⦿ Gothic choir and aisles were added in
1335 thus converting it into a “hall
church”
7. Maria Laach, Abbey
 
⦿ A Benedictine church
⦿ Built chiefly of local lava and the exterior is a fine
grouping of six towers, double transepts and east and
west apse
⦿ The plan differs from other churches because on either
side of the western apse which is used as tomb house,
are entrances from the cloistered atrium
 
 
The end