The document provides an overview of early medieval and Romanesque architecture from the 8th to 12th centuries. It discusses the decline of Roman architecture after barbarian invasions and the rise of the Christian church. Under Charlemagne in the 9th century, masonry construction revived in buildings like his palace chapel in Aachen. In the following centuries, Romanesque architecture developed based on Roman forms with influences from other cultures. Major architectural developments included stone vaulting, pilgrimage churches along routes like St. James, and large abbeys like Cluny that influenced monastic design.

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Buildings across Time, 4th Edition
Chapter Eight: Early Medieval and
Romanesque Architecture
Introduction
Barbarian invasions into western Europe brought the gradual decline of Roman power in
the northern and western parts of the Empire, leaving the Christian church as the major
stabilizing force in society. Uncertain political and social conditions provided limited
opportunities for major building projects until the reign of the Great Carolingian leader
Charlemagne, who encouraged the revival of masonry construction. Charlemagne was
crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, by Pope Leo III in 800.
The medieval church was the important patron of architecture. In the three centuries
following Charlemagne, bishops and abbots commissioned increasingly ambitious building
projects. These Romanesque churches and monasteries are based in Roman forms, with
influences also from Islam, Byzantium, and traditions of northern Europe.

2. Carolingian Architecture
Aachen
Plan of Charlemagne’s Palace at Aachen,
792-814. The sixteen-sided building is the
Palatine Chapel, connected by a
passageway to a basilica-shaped audience
hall. Note that the Chapel was preceded by
a forecourt or atrium. From a loggia at the
second level of the Chapel, Charlemagne
could address an audience assembled there.
The Chapel contained a sixteen-sided aisle,
covered by an octagonal cloister vault (a
vaulted and colonnaded walk surrounding a
court) under the dome, a westwerk
(elaborate west-facing entrance façade with
towers), and polychrome arches in the
interior. San Vitale at Ravenna served as a
model for this building.Basilica or
Audience
Hall
Octagonal
Cloister
Vault
Westwerk
Atrium
16-sided
Aisle

3. Carolingian Architecture
Aachen

4. Carolingian Architecture
Lorsch
The Abbey Gatehouse at Lorsch,
800. Influences from Roman
architecture can be seen in the
overall form, derived from the
Roman triumphal arch, and the
arch-and-column motif used on
the ground level. Novel elements
include the red-and-white tiles on
the façade and the steeply
pitched roof, necessary to shed
rain and snow in a northern
climate.

5. Carolingian Architecture
Germigny
Oratory at Germigny-des-Prés,
806-810. This small centrally
planned building borrows
elements from Byzantium (the
central quincunx plan) and
reflects connections between
the Carolingian court and
Constantinople. In buildings
such as this, Carolingian
architects laid the basis for an
original style unique to western
Europe.
Plan of the Oratory at
Germigny-des-Pres. The
horseshoe arch is evident in the
shape of the apse and its
flanking chapels.

6. Carolingian Architecture
St. Gall
The Plan of St. Gall,
817. This drawing
was developed at a
monastic conference
to resolve differences
in the interpretation
of the Benedictine
Rule and sets forth
the major elements
of a Benedictine
monastery,
establishing a model
that would be used
for the next 400 or
more years as the
basis for monastic
design.

7. Carolingian Architecture
St. Gall
The Plan of St. Gall,
817. This drawing
was developed at a
monastic conference
to resolve differences
in the interpretation
of the Benedictine
Rule and sets forth
the major elements
of a Benedictine
monastery,
establishing a model
that would be used
for the next 400 or
more years as the
basis for monastic
design.

8. Carolingian Architecture
St. Gall
Axonometric section
through the cloister of St.
Gall. Walter Horn and
Ernest Born have studied
Carolingian building to
make an interpretation of
the architecture envisioned
by those who drew the
Plan of St. Gall. In this
drawing, the monks’ beds
in the dormitory, the tables
in the refectory, and the
barrels of stored food are
shown in the buildings
surrounding the cloister,
with the south face of the
church in the background.
The kitchens, warming
room, and latrines are also
detailed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsRR7SBZW7U

9. Anglo-Saxons and Vikings
Urnes
Exterior of the stave
church at Urnes,
Norway, 1125-40.
This is the oldest
existing stave
church. The building
volumes reflect plan
elements: the tall
nave with lower
aisles, the choir, and
apse extension
each have a
separate
expression.
NaveSide
Aisles
ChoirApse

10. Anglo-Saxons and Vikings
Urnes
Section and plan of the stave
church at Urnes. The basis of this
building is a rectangular chassis
laid on foundation stones resting
on the ground. On this frame rests
the ends of upright poles or staves
that form the structure of the
church.
Nave
Aisle
Aisle
Choir Apse

11. Anglo-Saxons and Vikings
Urnes
The carved portal from an
earlier church is installed on the
lower side (north) wall. The
intertwined snakes and dragons
represent the end of the world
according to the Norse legend
of Ragnarok. Christian
missionaries substituted this
local imagery for the Last
Judgment as a way of making
Christian teaching more
accessible.

12. Anglo-Saxons and Vikings
Urnes
Interior of the stave church at Urnes.

13. Anglo-Saxons and Vikings
Borgund
The stave church at
Borgund, Norway, 1150.
While this church looks
considerably more
elaborate than Urnes, it is
fundamentally the same in
structure, having additional
roof turrets and an external
gallery at the base.
As with Urnes, the stave
church at Borgund relies on
small openings or wind
eyes high in the wall to
admit light and air and
relieve wind pressure
against the sides of the
structure.

14. Anglo-Saxons and Vikings
Borgund
Wind
eyes
The stave church at
Borgund, Norway, 1150.
While this church looks
considerably more
elaborate than Urnes, it is
fundamentally the same in
structure, having additional
roof turrets and an external
gallery at the base.
As with Urnes, the stave
church at Borgund relies on
small openings or wind
eyes high in the wall to
admit light and air and
relieve wind pressure
against the sides of the
structure.

15. Anglo-Saxons and Vikings
Stave Church
Diagram explaining the
construction of a stave church.
The church illustrated here
comes from Gol, one of a
number of stave churches that
were restored in the twentieth
century according to features
seen in the church at Borgund.
The internal structure, including
diagonal bracing of the staves
and configuration of the roof
trusses, can be seen clearly
here.

16. Early Romanesque
Canigou, southwestern France
The monastery of St.
Martin at Canigou,
1001-1026. Founded as
a pious act by the Count
of Cerdagne, this
monastery has a
mountainous site that is
difficult to access even
today. The presence of
a freely-running spring
made habituation
possible here, and a
small monastic
community continues to
occupy the buildings.

17. Early Romanesque
Canigou, southwestern France
St. Martin at Canigou is one of
the earliest completely vaulted
Romanesque churches.
Romanesque buildings have a
certain affinity with Roman
architecture, primarily because
they tend to employ the
semicircular or Roman arch.
The Romanesque style
flourished from around 1000 to
1250. Romanesque buildings
tend to be massive and heavy.
Romanesque builders used
windows very sparingly to avoid
weakening the supporting
exterior wall. St. Martin at
Canigou employs masonry
vaulting, including the arch, the
barrel vault, and the groin vault
(two barrel vaults at right angles
to each other).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGXzhZrtoN0

18. Early Romanesque
Cathedral Plans
Plans of the Cathedral at
Speyer, St. Philibert at
Tournus, and St. Michael at
Hildesheim.
Philibert is notable for its
radiating chapels off an
ambulatory and transverse
barrel vaults in the nave.
St. Michael is an interesting
example of a double-ended
basilica with wooden roofing,
and the Cathedral at
Speyer was one of the most
ambitious Romanesque
buildings of its time, built at a
large scale comparable with
major Roman bath buildings.
St. Philibert,
Tournus
Cathedral at Speyer
St. Michael,
Hildesheim

19. Early Romanesque
Cathedral at Speyer
Interior of the Cathedral at Speyer. The nave
received groin vaults set over paired bays and
separated by transverse arch bands, between
1082 and 1137. At 107 feet above the floor,
these groin vaults rank as the highest built in
the Romanesque period.
Transverse Arch Band
Groin Vault

20. Early Romanesque
Cathedral at Speyer
On the Cathedral at
Speyer’s exterior, the
combination of corbel tables
and pilaster strips is known
as Lombard bands.
The cathedral’s westwerk is
the monumental, west-facing
entrance section of a
Carolingian or Ottonian
Romanesque church. The
exterior consists of multiple
stories between two towers.
Ottonian architecture is the
German version of
Romanesque.
Lombard
Bands

21. Mature Romanesque
Cathedral Plans
Plans of S. Ambrogio
in Milan and S.
Miniato al Monte in
Florence.
S. Ambrogio includes
an atrium and two
separate belfries, while
S. Miniato preserves
the plan of simple
Early Christian
basilicas.
S. Ambrogio
S. Miniato

22. Mature Romanesque
S. Miniato al Monte
The west façade of S.
Miniato al Monte
would not have
seemed strange to the
ancient Romans, for it
continues the use of
marble veneers in
geometric patterns
combined with arch
and column motifs
familiar from the
classical past.
Motif: a repeated
artistic theme.

23. Mature Romanesque
Cathedral at Pisa
The Cathedral at Pisa has
a cruciform plan, with
transepts that are treated
as smaller basilicas. Pisa’s
oval crossing dome
provided the inspiration for
Florence to attempt an
even more ambitious dome
on its cathedral.
Transepts
Crossing

24. Mature Romanesque
Cathedral at Pisa
The cylindrical
campanile, or
freestanding bell
tower, of the
Cathedral at
Pisa is better
known as the
Leaning Tower of
Pisa, a building
that has never
been vertical
because of
difficult
foundation
conditions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trZgC8icFVU

25. Pilgrimage Roads Churches
Church Plans
Plans of St. Sernin at
Toulouse, St. Foy at Conques,
and St. James at Compostela.
All three of these churches are
located along the pilgrimage
routes to Santiago de
Compostela, and they share
common traits, including aisles
linking to an ambulatory and so
providing a continuous path for
pilgrims to access relics in the
chapels.
These chapels could be visited
by pilgrims without interrupting
monastic services being sung in
the choir.
St. Sernin
Toulouse
St. Foy, Conques
St. James,
Compostela
Ambulatory
Chapels
Aisle
Choir

26. Pilgrimage Roads Churches
St. Sernin at Toulouse
Worm’s eye axonometric
view explaining the
structure of St. Sernin at
Toulouse, 1077-1119.
The paired aisle vaults
work together with the
gallery vaults over the
innermost aisle as
bracing, to resist the
outward-directed thrust
from the high barrel
vaults with transverse
arches in the nave and
choir.
Tranverse arch Barrel vault
Gallery vault
Aisle
vaults
Nave

27. Pilgrimage Roads Churches
St. Foy at Conques
St. Foy at Conques, 1050-1130. Set in a remote mountain valley, this is the
smallest of the great pilgrimage roads churches. Site restrictions limited the
length of the building.

28. Pilgrimage Roads Churches
St. Foy at Conques
Interior of St. Foy, showing the gallery over
the aisle and the squinches supporting the
octagonal lantern (a windowed structure
crowning a roof or dome) at the crossing.
Compare this to St. Sernin to see how
similar the design features are in these
churches.
Lantern
Squinch
Gallery
Aisle

29. Pilgrimage Roads Churches
St. Foy at Conques
West front of St. Foy at Conques, showing the large
tympanum depicting the Last Judgment set over the
doors.
In church architecture, the tympanum is the space
between the lintel of a doorway and the arch above it. It is
often used as space for religious artwork, as Church
authorities used sculptures such as this one to
communicate Christian teachings to a largely illiterate
public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=nIR4CItxQ7o

30. Monastery at Cluny
Cluny, France
Reconstruction view
of the monastery of
Cluny III (11th
century), seen from
the east. This was the
largest church in
western Christendom
at the time of its
construction, a
suitable monument to
the influential order
that was
headquartered here.
In the foreground, to
the left, stand the
infirmary and the
abbot’s palace.

31. Monastery at Cluny
Cluny, France
Plan of the monastery of Cluny
III. Remains of the atrium and
east end of the church of Cluny
II survive to the right of the new
church.
Based on the basilican plan, the
church was enriched by a
double set of transepts and
further augmented by a series
of radiating chapels around the
apse and eastern walls of the
transepts. The nave, 100 feet
high and 496 feet long, was
large enough to accommodate
impressive processions.
Most of this monastery was
destroyed after the French
Revolution.
Transepts
Chapels
Apse

32. Monastery at Cluny
Cluny, France
Section through the church of Cluny III,
showing how the paired aisles worked to
brace the nave vaults.
The architects of Cluny III found that
vaults constructed on the profile of a
pointed arch exert less outward thrust
than the Roman arch and they exploited
this discovery in the vaulting of the nave
and aisles.

33. Monastery at Cluny
Cluny, France
A capital from the choir
of Cluny III, depicting
one of the tones of the
musical scale shown as
a figure playing an
instrument similar to a
lute. The monks of
Cluny were great
patrons of the arts, as
they believed beautiful
surroundings, including
lovely music, helped the
mind to contemplate
spiritual values.
The surviving south transept of Cluny III, all
that remains of the once grand monastic
church.

34. Cluinac Church at St. Lazare
Autun, France
One of the outstanding capitals
formerly in the choir at St. Lazare
(1120-1132), this work shows the
Flight into Egypt, with Mary and
Jesus riding a donkey led by
Joseph. Note the nimbus or halo
behind the heads of Mary and Jesus.
Romanesque sculpture often
exaggerate the sizes of heads and
hands, as these are the most
expressive parts of the body.
The art of stonecutting is known as
stereotomy.

35. Aquitaine and Provence
St. Front, Perigueux
St. Front, Perigueux, 1120:
In the south of France, it is
unexpected to find a centrally
planned church having domes
resting on pendentives, which
is a characteristically Eastern
architectural device. This
reflects a Byzantine influence
on design.
St. Front is loosely modeled on
the plan of St. Mark’s in Venice
but lacks the mosaics that clad
the interior of St. Mark’s, giving
it a rather austere look.

36. Cistercian Monasteries
Fontenay
Plan of the abbey of Fontenay,
1139-1147. This Cistercian plan
recalls the Plan of St. Gall, with
church, dormitory, and refectory
(dining hall) defining three sides
of the cloister, a covered walk
surrounding a court, that links
the church to other buildings in a
monastery. The original refectory
is missing.
On the south side is the forge, a
utilitarian building equipped with
water-powered machinery that
could full cloth, forge iron, or
accomplish other heavy tasks.
The monastery’s vegetable
garden was located immediately
to the east.
Cloister
Church
Refectory
Dormitory
On second floor
Forge

37. Cistercian Monasteries
Fontenay
Structure of the
abbey church of
Fontenay, showing
how the transverse
broken barrel vaults
of the aisles help to
brace the nave
vaulting.
AisleAisle
Nave

38. Cistercian Monasteries
Fontenay
The cloister walk at Fontenay
connected major monastic buildings
and served as a covered passage
for meditation or exercise. In good
weather, monks sat on the ledges
under arches, to read. Modular
proportions and restrained
architectural detail create a sense of
repose.

39. Norman Architecture
St. Cuthbert, Durham, England
Drawing of St. Cuthbert at Durham
(1093-1133) and castle showing the
city’s site in a bend of the River
Wear. The Cathedral of St. Cuthbert
straddles the narrow peninsula,
leaving no room for the traditional
west front entrance, so the church is
entered through a door in the north
aisle.
It remains one of the best-preserved
major Norman churches in England,
interesting for its impressive
massing and early use of rib vaulting
and creation of striking geometric
patterns on its piers, arches, and ribs.

40. Norman Architecture
St. Cuthbert, Durham, England
Section through the Cathedral of St.
Cuthbert at Durham, 1093-1160.
The builders reduced the height of
the gallery over the aisle to leave
room for a clerestory window tucked
between the folds of the rib
vaulting.
Rib vaulting is a rounded ceiling
vault, in which curved structural
members (ribs) support and define
the edges of the vault.
Clerestory
Gallery
Aisle
Ribs

41. Norman Architecture
St. Cuthbert, Durham, England
Plan of St. Cuthbert, Durham. By finding ways to exploit
the advantages of rib vaults and the structural efficiency
of pointed arches, Norman builders reduced the
material (and thus, the weight and cost) required to vault
a building. Notice how the crossed ribs form a network of
pointed arches over the nave.

42. Norman Architecture
St. Cuthbert, Durham, England
Uninterrupted walls that were
so important to structural
stability in early Romanesque
vaulted buildings were
abandoned in favor of a
skeletal system with loads
concentrated at specific
points and a new aesthetic of
spaciousness and light came
into being in the style we
term Gothic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N
vtYLOWRVFI