Romanesque (Part Two).

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Deutsch: Abtei Maria Laach.

English: Maria Laach Abbey.

Polski: Opactwo Maria Laach - wodok na kościół.

Photo: 16 September 2007.

Source: Transferred from de.wikipedia.(Original text : selbst fotografiert).

Author: Goldi64 at de.wikipedia.

Permission: Licensed under the GFDL by the author.

(Wikimedia Commons)

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.

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, and 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.

English: Lessay Abbey, Normandy, France.

Note: A traceried Gothic window, left, contrasts with the 

simple round-headed Arches of the Romanesque building.

Français: Abbaye de Lessay (département de la Manche).

Photo: 19 April 2008.

Source: Ji-Elle.

(Wikimedia Commons)

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 the 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 to be utilised, 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, Italy, 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 800 A.D.

View from the North. Aachen Cathedral, also referred to as the Kaiserdom (Imperial Cathedral) of Aachen, is a building of great historical, architectural and religious importance. Built by Charlemagne in 805 A.D., its unique design was highly influential on German Church architecture and it was a site of Imperial Coronations and pilgrimage for many centuries.

Photo: 6 June 2010.

Source: originally posted to Flickr as Aachen Cathedral And Palatine Chapel - Germany.

Author: Jim.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Catholic Parish Church of Saint Nicholas is located in 

Buren, Paderborn, (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Germany. 

It is a Three-Nave Romanesque Basilica. 

The Church is the oldest building in the City of Buren.

Photo: 26 April 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Romanesque Portal of the 

Catholic Parish Church of Saint Nicholas, 

Buren, Paderborn, (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Germany.

Photo: 26 April 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons)

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 Saint Michael's Church, Hildesheim, 1001–1030.

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.

English: Saint Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany.

Deutsch: Ottonische Kirche St. Michael in Hildesheim – Weltkulturerbe UNESCO.

Photo: 29 December 2009.

Source: Own work / eigenes Bild.

Author: Heinz-Josef Lücking.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Interior of Saint Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany.

Photo: Autumn 2005.

Source: de:Image:St.MichaelInnen.jpg.

Author: Dronkitmaster.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope in Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome, on Christmas Day in 800 A.D., with the aim of 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 Saint 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.

PART THREE FOLLOWS.