Romanesque 3: What is Romanesque Style?

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Benedictine abbey of San Vicente de Cardona (Catalonia), consecrated 1040

The First RomanesqueIII. Design on and off the pilgrimage route: Spain

Carolingian Empire in 843divided among Charlemagne’s heirs

Region of the so-called “First Romanesque” style

Definitions of Romanesque Geographic and stylistic divisions

Lotharingia

Catalan group of “first Romanesque” churches

North Italian group of “first Romanesque” churches

German (Rhine River valley) group of “first Romanesque” churches

Lombardy, Italy

Northern Italy (Lombardy)-Southern France-Catalonia – Catalonia-Southern France-Northern Italy (Lombardy)“First Romanesque” linkages

Speyer, Germany

Rome, Italy

Lombardy, Italy

“First Romanesque” linkages

Holy Roman Empire-Northern Italy (Lombardy)-Rome – Rome-Northern Italy (Lombardy)-Holy Roman Empire

Speyer, Germany

Rome, Italy

Lombardy, Italy

Holy Roman Empire-Northern Italy (Lombardy)-Rome – Rome-Northern Italy (Lombardy)-Holy Roman Empire

Developments after “First Romanesque”

Rhine Valley Germany

NorthernItaly

Speyer Cathedral, Germany, 1030-1106 Modena Cathedral, Italy, 1099-1184

II. Language of architecture: Mature Romanesque Germany (Rhine Valley) vs. Northern Italy

blind arcades and dwarf galleries

Perhaps Romanesque architecture reveals the order of the universe?

“Beauty is a concordance and fittingness of . . . all the individual parts to themselves and to each other and to the whole, and that of the whole to all things” (Robert Grosseteste, 13th cen., a view based on Vitruvius).

Romanesque cathedral at Modena, Italy

II. Language of architecture: Theory

Speyer Cathedral, Germany, 1030-1106 Modena Cathedral, Italy, 1099-1184

II. Language of architecture: Theory Germany (Rhine Valley) vs. Northern Italy

Modena Cathedral, Italy, 1099-1184

sculptural frieze next to portal

II. Language of architecture: Visual appeal

Pisa Cathedral, Pisa, Italy 11th – 13th cen. (1063-1118 cathedral)

cathedral

baptistery

bell tower

II. Language of architecture: Theory + Visual appeal Central Italy: Tuscany

E.C. St. Peter’s

Romanesque Pisa CathedralEarly Christian St. Peter’s

Central Italy: Tuscany

II. Language of architecture: Theory + Visual appeal

Pisa Cathedral

II. Language of architecture: symbolism Central Italy: Tuscany

The Morgan Beatus, 940, Spanish

Frontal of the shrine of Santo Domingo from the Abbey of Silos Spain (Burgos), 1140-50

Possible symbolism of arcades

II. Language of architecture: symbolism

Anglo-Norman Durham Cathedral, England, nave 1133clerestory passage (interior dwarf gallery)

II. Language of architecture: Function + Visual appeal Norman Architecture in England

Pisa Cathedral – details of exterior marble facing

Central Italy: TuscanyII. Language of architecture: Theory + Visual appeal

Pisa Cathedral, Pisa, ItalySt.-Sernin at Toulouse, France

French pilgrimage church v. Central ItalyII. Language of architecture: Mature Romanesque

Pisa Cathedral5.

Central Italy: TuscanyII. Language of architecture: Mature Romanesque

St.-Philibert at Tournus, France (Burgundy), nave 1060

II. Language of architecture: Mature Romanesque piers

St.-Savin-sur-Gartempe, western France, nave 1100

Anglo-Norman Durham Cathedral, England, nave 1133

cylindrical piers + compound piers

Anglo-Norman nave of Gloucester Cathedral, England, nave b. 1089

cylindrical piers

Byzantine-Romanesque domed churches

Venice, ItalyPérigueux, France

Constantinople

II. Language of architecture: Mature Romanesque

St.-Front, Périgueux, France, 1120 St. Mark’s, Venice, Italy, b. 1063

The “pilgrimage church” transcends localism of Romanesque architecture

Strength of local schools: Example of Burgundy and its thin wall construction

III. Romanesque regional schools: Burgundy (France)

Abbey church Cluny III – 97' tall

Pilgrimage St.-Sernin Toulouse - 68' tall

Pilgrimage Ste. Foi, Conques68' tall

1077 1030

1088III. Romanesque regional schools: Burgundy

Abbey church of Cluny III, at Cluny, France, 11th- 12th century (1088-1130)

model of the abbey 1090-1130 destroyed (mostly) 1789-1823

fragment of one transept remains

III. Romanesque Burgundy the Cluniac model

Cluny II, ca. 1000 Cluny III, begun 1088, under Abbot Hugh of Cluny

Cluny III to rival the greatest churches in Christendom

Where the great nave of Cluny III once stood

thin wall construction

Cluny III model

clerestorey

tall nave arcade

triforium(no gallery)

Cluny III – reconstructive rendering of altar and ambulatory

flying buttresses added after vault collapsed in 1125

thin wall – clerestory and triforium, no gallery

III. Romanesque Burgundy: the Cluniac model

Kenneth Conant in 1931

Cluny III nave Cluny III surviving south transept arm

reconstruction

thin wall construction III. Romanesque Burgundy: the Cluniac model

Cluny III

interior of transeptthis bay like nave elevation

What was the goal of the Cluniac designers? III. Romanesque Burgundy: the Cluniac model

more light? more height? greater verticality?

Cluny III – 1088-1130 Cluniac priory at Paray-le-Moniale, France, 1100-06

(photomontage)

III. Romanesque Burgundy: the Cluniac model What was the goal of the designers?

Cluniac priory at Paray-le-Moniale

nave crossing

III. Romanesque Burgundy: the Cluniac model What was the goal of the Cluniac designers?

Cluny III – 1088-1130 Paray-le-Moniale, 1100-06So-called pilgrimage churches

Compare plans

Did the Cluniacs want to attract pilgrims? III. Romanesque Burgundy: the Cluniac model

Cluny III - chevetSt.-Sernin at Toulouse - chevet

Did the Cluniacs want to attract pilgrims? III. Romanesque Burgundy: the Cluniac model

The intellect and the senses

Cluny III choir

scale model

historiated capital depicting the 3rd tone of plain chant

III. Romanesque Burgundy: the Cluniac model

Romanesque 3: What is Romanesque Style?

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