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Canterbury Cathedral, England.
West Front, Nave and Central Tower.
This Cathedral retains its fine Romanesque Crypt (see, below).
Photo: September 2005.
Source: Picture taken and post-processed by Hans Musil.
Author: Hans Musil.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Romanesque Crypt
of Canterbury Cathedral.
Photo: 29 October 2003.
Source: Flickr.
Author: Saxon Moseley from UK.
Reviewer: Andre Engels.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Crypts are often present as an underlying structure to a substantial Church, and are generally a completely discrete space, but, occasionally, as in some Italian Churches, may be a sunken space under a raised Chancel and open, via steps, to the body of the Nave. Romanesque Crypts have survived in many instances, such as Canterbury Cathedral, when the Church itself has been rebuilt.
The usual construction of a Romanesque Crypt is with many short, stout Columns, carrying Groin Vaults, as at Worcester Cathedral.
English: Parma Cathedral, Italy.
Italiano: Parma - Abside del Duomo.
Photo: August 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Geobia.
(Wikimedia Commons)
English: The Baptistry, Parma Cathedral.
Italiano: Baptisterium in Parma auf der
Piazza Battistero. Il Battistero di Parma.
Photo: 21 May 2005.
Source: Own work. Self-photographed
(Original text: “selbst fotografiert (www.schaefer-bonk.de)”).
Author: Philip Schäfer.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Chapter Houses often occur adjacent to Monastic or Cathedral Churches. Few have survived intact from the Romanesque period. Early-Romanesque Chapter Houses were rectangular in shape, with the larger ones sometimes having Groin, or Ribbed, Vaults, supported on Columns. Later-Romanesque Chapter Houses sometimes had an Apsidal Eastern End. The Chapter House at Durham Cathedral is a wide space with a Ribbed Vault, restored, as originally constructed, in 1130. The circular Chapter House at Worcester Cathedral, built by Bishop Wulfstan (1062–95), was the first circular Chapter House in Europe and was much imitated in England.
English: The Baptistery of San Giovanni,
Florence Cathedral, Italy.
Deutsch: Beschreibung: Baptisterium (Florenz).
Photo: 9 September 2004.
Source: Own work.
Author: Christopher Kaetz
(Wikimedia Commons)
Cloisters are generally part of any Monastic complex and also occur at Cathedral and Collegiate Churches. They were essential to the communal way of life, a place for both working, during daylight hours, and relaxing, during inclement weather. They usually abut the Church building and are enclosed with windowless walls on the outside and an open Arcade on the inside, looking over a Courtyard or "Cloister Garth". They may be Vaulted or have timber roofs. The Arcades are often richly decorated and are home to some of the most fanciful carved Capitals of the Romanesque period, with those of Santo Domingo de Silos, in Spain, and the Abbey of Saint Pierre Moissac, being examples. Many Romanesque Cloisters have survived in Spain, France, Italy and Germany, along with some of their associated buildings.
Baptisteries often occur in Italy as a free-standing structure, associated with a Cathedral. They are generally octagonal, or circular, and Domed. The Interior may be Arcaded on several levels, as at Pisa Cathedral. Other notable Romanesque Baptisteries are that at Parma Cathedral, remarkable for its galleried exterior, and the polychrome Baptistery of San Giovanni, of Florence Cathedral, with Vault Mosaics of the 13th-Century, including Christ in Majesty, possibly the work of the almost legendary Coppo di Marcovaldo.
The Crypt,
Worcester Cathedral, England.
Note the Groin Vaults.
Photo: 23 February 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: TheElfFromAbove.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Arcading is the single most significant decorative feature of Romanesque architecture. It occurs in a variety of forms, from the Lombard band, that is a row of small Arches that appear to support a roofline or course, to shallow Blind Arcading, that is often a feature of English architecture, and is seen in great variety at Ely Cathedral, to the open Dwarf Gallery, first used at Speyer Cathedral, and widely adopted in Italy, as seen on both Pisa Cathedral and its famous Leaning Tower. Arcades could be used to great effect, both externally and internally, as exemplified by the Church of Santa Maria della Pieve, in Arezzo, Italy.
English: Lombard band in the Basilica di Santa Giulia, Northern Italy.
Italiano: Basilica di Santa Giulia, abside superstite, nel comune di Bonate Sotto.
Photo: 2 April 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Giorces.
(Wikimedia Commons)
A Lombard band is a decorative Blind Arcade, usually exterior, often used during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of architecture. Lombard bands are believed to have been first used during the First Romanesque period of the Early-11th-Century. At that time, they were the most common architectural decorative motif for facades in Lombardy, Aragon and Catalonia. Arches of Early-Christian buildings of Ravenna, such as the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, have been
suggested as the origin of Lombard bands.
The Romanesque period produced a profusion of sculptural ornamentation. This most frequently took a purely geometric form and was particularly applied to Mouldings, both straight courses and the Curved Mouldings of Arches. In La Madeleine, Vezelay, France, for example, the polychrome Ribs of the Vault are all edged with narrow filets of pierced stone. Similar decoration occurs around the Arches of the Nave and along the horizontal course separating Arcade and Clerestory. Combined with the pierced carving of the Capitals, this gives a delicacy and refinement to the Interior.
In England, such decoration could be discrete, as at Hereford and Peterborough Cathedrals, or have a sense of massive energy, as at Durham, where the Diagonal Ribs of the Vaults are all outlined with Chevrons, the Mouldings of the Nave Arcade are carved with several layers of the same and the huge Columns are deeply incised with a variety of geometric patterns, creating an impression of directional movement. These features combine to create one of the richest and most dynamic Interiors of the Romanesque period.
Polychrome Blind Arcading of the Apse
of Monreale Cathedral, Sicily, Italy (1174-82).
The decoration indicates Islamic influence in both the motifs
and the fact that all the Arches, including those
of the windows, are pointed.
Photo: August 2004.
Source: Own work.
Author: Bernhard J. Scheuvens aka Bjs/.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Stylised foliage often appears, sometimes deeply carved and curling outward, after the manner of the acanthus leaves on Corinthian Capitals, but also carved in shallow relief and spiral patterns, imitating the intricacies of manuscript illuminations. In general, the style of ornament was more classical in Italy, such as that seen around the door of San Giusto in Lucca, and more "barbaric" in England, Germany and Scandinavia, such as that seen at Lincoln and Speyer Cathedrals. France produced a great range of ornament, with particularly fine interwoven and spiralling vines in the "manuscript" style occurring at Saint-Sernin, Toulouse.
de la chapelle Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe (XIe siècle).
Porch of the Saint-Michel-D'aiguilhe Chapel (11th-Century).
Photo: 22 June 2003.
Source: Own work.
Author: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Photo: 22 June 2003.
Source: Own work.
Author: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT.
(Wikimedia Commons)
on a volcanic formation 85 metres (279 ft) high. The Chapel is reached by 268 steps
carved into the rock. It was built to celebrate the return from the
In 1429, the mother of Joan of Arc, Isabelle Romée, was said to have come to the site to pray.
During the 11th- and 12th-Centuries, figurative sculpture flourished in a distinctly Romanesque style that can be recognised across Europe, although the most spectacular sculptural projects are concentrated in South-Western France, Northern Spain and Italy.
English: The Portal of Saint-Pierre, Moissac, France.
Français: Portal da Abadia Saint-Pierre de Moissac.
Author: Original file by Josep Renalias.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Portal of Saint-Pierre, Moissac, France, has unusual features, including the Frieze of Roundels on the Lintel, the scalloped Jambs and figures of Prophets on the Central Jamb.
This style of doorway occurs in many places and continued into the Gothic period. A rare survival in England is that of the "Prior's Door" at Ely Cathedral. In France, many have survived, with impressive examples at the Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Moissac, the Abbey of Sainte-Marie, Souillac, and Abbey of la Madaleine, Vézelay – all Daughter Houses of Cluny, with extensive other sculpture remaining in Cloisters and other buildings.
Nearby, Autun Cathedral has a Last Judgement of great rarity, in that it has uniquely been signed by its creator, Gislebertus (who was perhaps the patron, rather than the sculptor). The same artist is thought to have worked at la Madaleine Vezelay, which uniquely has two elaborately-carved Tympanum, the early inner one representing the Last Judgement, and that on the outer Portal of the Narthex, representing Jesus sending forth the Apostles to preach to the nations.
PART ELEVEN FOLLOWS.
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