Romanesque vs. Gothic Architecture
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Romanesque vs. Gothic architecture
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Abstract
The early Middle Ages witnessed the emergence of Romanesque architecture. This is the term which is used to describe the building styles which were used between approximately 800 and 1100 AD.
On the other hand, the later Middle Ages saw the emergence of the Gothic style architecture, which was developed from Romanesque. This term is used to depict building styles which were used between 1200 and 1500 AD.
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Table of Contents
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………... 3
Romanesque architecture ……………………………………………………………….. 4
Characteristics of Romanesque architecture ………………………………………….. 5
From Romanesque to Gothic architecture ……………………………………………... 8
Gothic architecture ……………………………………………………………………….. 9
Characteristics of Gothic architecture …………………………………………………. 10
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………... 14
References ……………………………………………………………………………...... 15
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INTRODUCTION
In this assignment, I shall be focusing about two types of styles in architecture that were quite prominent throughout the medieval ages.
These are namely: Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture, which essentially preceded each other in history, in this same order. I will aim to outline the main differences in both styles of architecture, and comparing their respective characteristics.
These two architectural styles have followed on from previous construction techniques that were available at the time, however, some features that emerged during these times brought about solutions to previous building problems that were not available before. These architectural styles brought about some major engineer accomplishments which, to this day, are still important findings.
Through some construction feats during the Gothic era, some Romanesque issues could be dealt with and solved thanks to new building technical advances at the time.
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Romanesque Architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style which is immediately associated with, and characterised by semi-circular arches. There are a number of diverse speculations as to when the Romanesque architectural era began exactly, ranging from the 6th up to even the 10th century. In the 12th century it then developed into the Gothic style, characterised by pointed arches.
Examples of Romanesque architecture can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman Architecture. The Romanesque style in England is traditionally referred to as Norman architecture.
Combining features of Roman and Byzantine architecture and other local traditions, Romanesque architecture is known by its massive quality, thick walls, round arches, sturdy piers, groin vaults, large towers and decorative arcading. Each building has clearly defined forms and they are frequently of a very regular, symmetrical plan so that the overall appearance is one of simplicity when compared with the Gothic buildings that were to follow. The style can be identified right across Europe, despite regional characteristics and different materials.
Many castles were built during this period, but they are greatly outnumbered by churches. The most significant are the great abbey churches, scattered all over different lands, many of which are still standing, and are more or less complete and frequently in use.
The enormous quantity of churches built in the Romanesque period was succeeded by the still busier period of Gothic architecture, which partly or entirely rebuilt most Romanesque churches in blossoming areas like England and Portugal. The largest groups of Romanesque survivors are in areas that were less prosperous in subsequent periods, including parts of Southern France, Northern Spain and rural Italy. Survivals of unfortified Romanesque secular houses and palaces, and the domestic quarters of monasteries are far rarer, but these used and adapted the features found in church buildings, on a domestic scale.
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Characteristics
The general impression given by Romanesque architecture, in both ecclesiastical and secular buildings, is one of massive solidity and strength. In contrast with both the preceding Roman and later Gothic architecture, Romanesque architecture, relies upon its walls, or sections of walls called piers.
Romanesque architecture is often divided into two periods known as the "First Romanesque" style and the "Romanesque" style. The difference is specifically in the way the First Romanesque employed rubble walls, smaller windows and unvaulted roofs. A greater refinement marks the Second Romanesque, along with increased use of the vault and dressed stone.
Walls
The walls of Romanesque buildings are often of massive thickness with few and relatively small openings. They are often double shells, filled with rubble.
Buttresses
Due to the massive nature of Romanesque walls, buttresses are not as highly significant features as they are in Gothic architecture. Romanesque buttresses are generally of a flat square profile and do not project much beyond the wall. In the case of aisled churches, barrel vaults, or half-barrel vaults over the aisles helped to buttress the nave, if it was vaulted.
Arches and Openings
The arches used in Romanesque architecture are nearly always semicircular. These range for openings such as doors and windows, to vaults and arcades. Wide doorways are usually surmounted by a ...
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Buttresses
Due to the massive nature of Romanesque walls, buttresses are not as highly significant features as they are in Gothic architecture. Romanesque buttresses are generally of a flat square profile and do not project much beyond the wall. In the case of aisled churches, barrel vaults, or half-barrel vaults over the aisles helped to buttress the nave, if it was vaulted.
Arches and Openings
The arches used in Romanesque architecture are nearly always semicircular. These range for openings such as doors and windows, to vaults and arcades. Wide doorways are usually surmounted by a semi-circular arch, except where a door with a lintel is set into a large arched recess and surmounted by a semi-circular "lunette" with decorative carving. These doors sometimes have a carved central jamb.
Narrow doors and small windows might be surmounted by a solid stone lintel. Larger openings are nearly always arched. A characteristic feature of Romanesque architecture, both ecclesiastic and domestic, is the pairing of two arched windows or arcade openings, separated by a pillar or colonette and often set within a larger arch. Ocular windows are common in Italy, particularly in the facade gable and are also seen in Germany. Later Romanesque churches may have wheel windows or rose windows with plate tracery.
Arcades
An arcade is a row of arches, supported on piers or columns. They occur mostly in the interior of large churches, separating the nave from the aisles, and in large secular interiors spaces, such as the great hall of a castle, supporting the timbers of a roof or upper floor. Arcades also occur in cloisters and atriums, enclosing an open space.
Arcades can occur in either storeys or stages. While the arcade of a cloister is typically of a single stage, the arcade that divides the nave and aisles in a church is typically of two stages, with a third stage of window openings known as the clerestory rising above them. Arcading on a large scale generally fulfils a structural purpose, but it is also used, generally on a smaller scale, as a decorative feature, both internally and externally where it is frequently "blind arcading" with only a wall or a narrow passage behind it.
Piers
In Romanesque architecture, piers were often employed to support arches. They were built of masonry, round, square or rectangular in section. Sometimes piers have vertical shafts attached to them, and may also have horizontal mouldings at the level of the base.
Although basically rectangular, piers can often be of highly complex form.
Piers that occur at the intersection of two large arches, such as those under the crossing of the nave and transept, are commonly cruciform in shape, each arch having its own supporting rectangular pier at right angles to the other.
Columns
Columns are an important structural feature of Romanesque architecture. Colonnettes and attached shafts are also used structurally and for decoration. Monolithic columns cut from a single piece of stone were frequently used in Italy, as they had been in Roman and Early Christian architecture. They were also used, particularly in Germany, when they alternated between more massive piers. Arcades of columns cut from single pieces are also common in structures that do not bare massive weights of masonry, such as cloisters, where they are sometimes paired.
Some examples of types of columns are the ‘salvaged’ columns, ‘drum’ columns and the ‘hollow core’ columns.
Vaults and roofs
The majority of buildings have wooden roofs, generally of a simple truss, tie beam or king post form. In the case of trussed rafter roofs, they are sometimes lined with wooden ceilings in three sections like those that survive at Ely and Peterborough cathedrals in England. In churches, typically the aisles are vaulted, but the nave is roofed with timber, as is the case at both Peterborough and Ely. In Italy, where open wooden roofs are common, and tie beams frequently occur in conjunction with vaults, the timbers have often been decorated as at San Miniato al Monte, Florence.
Vaults of stone or brick took on several different forms and showed marked development during the period, evolving into the pointed ribbed arch characteristic of Gothic architecture.
Some examples of types of vaults are the ‘barrel’ vault, ‘groin’ vault, ‘ribbed’ vault and the ‘pointed arched’ vault.
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From Romanesque to Gothic architecture
The different characteristic forms that were to define Gothic architecture grew out of Romanesque architecture and developed at several different geographic locations, as the result of different influences and structural requirements.
While barrel vaults and groin vaults are typical of Romanesque architecture, ribbed vaults were used in the naves of two Romanesque churches in Caen, Abbey of Saint-Étienne and Abbaye aux Dames in 1120. The ribbed vault, over the north transept at Durham Cathedral in England, is probably still earlier. At Durham the pointed arches of the nave vault, 1128-1133, were used for the first time in a high vault.
Other characteristics of early Gothic architecture, such as vertical shafts, clustered columns, compound piers, plate tracery and groups of narrow openings had evolved during the Romanesque period. The west front of Ely Cathedral exemplifies this development. Internally the three tiered arrangement of arcade, gallery and clerestory was established. Interiors had become lighter with the insertion of more and larger windows.
The Abbey of Saint-Denis is generally cited as the first truly Gothic building, however the distinction is best reserved for the choir, of which the ambulatory remains intact. Noyon Cathedral, also in France, saw the earliest completion of a rebuilding of an entire cathedral in the new style from 1150-1231. While using all those features that came to be known as Gothic, including pointed arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaulting, the builders continued to employ many of the features and much of the character of Romanesque architecture including round-headed arch throughout the building, varying the shape to pointed where it was functionally practical to do so.
At the Abbey Saint-Denis, Noyon Cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris and at the eastern end of Canterbury Cathedral in England, simple cylindrical columns predominate over the Gothic forms of clustered columns and shafted piers. Wells Cathedral in England, commenced at the eastern end in 1175, was the first building in which the designer broke free from Romanesque forms. The architect entirely dispensed with the round arch in favour of the pointed arch and with cylindrical columns in favour of piers composed of clusters of shafts which lead into the mouldings of the arches. The transepts and nave were continued by Adam Locke in the same style and completed in about 1230. The character of the building is entirely Gothic. Wells Cathedral is thus considered the first truly Gothic cathedral.
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Gothic Architecture
Gothic architecture is an architectural style which emerged in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It began in France during the 12th century. This Gothic style grew out of Romanesque architecture, and lasted up until the 16th century, by which time, the Renaissance style of architecture had gathered its popularity.
Gothic architecture is famous for some very distinct and important features, which would make a gothic building very recognisable. These are mainly the: pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress, which I will go into further detail below.
Gothic architecture is best known as the style of many of the great cathedrals, abbeys and churches or Europe. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, universities, and also some houses.
Many church buildings from this period still remain intact. Even the smallest of Gothic churches are often very beautiful, while many of the larger churches and cathedrals are said and thought to be priceless works of art. This is amplified by the fact that many of them are listed with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as World Heritage Sites.
It is also interesting to note that during the 19th century, the Gothic style regained its popularity, particularly in the building of churches and universities. This became known as Gothic Revival architecture.
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Characteristics
While many buildings still exist from the Late Middle Ages, it is in the buildings of cathedrals and great churches that Gothic architecture exhibits its pertinent structures and characteristics to the fullest advantage. During those times, these buildings were generally considered as the landmark buildings of their own town, rising above all the domestic structures and often surmounted by one or more towers and pinnacles, and perhaps tall spires. These cathedrals were the equivalent of the skyscrapers we have today. It is in the architecture of these Gothic churches that a unique combination of existing technologies established the emergence of a new building style. Those technologies were the ogival or pointed arch, the ribbed vault, and the buttress.
When concerned with ecclesiastical buildings, the Gothic style or architecture emphasises verticality and light. This appearance was achieved by the development of certain architectural features, which together provided an engineering solution. The structural parts of the building ceased to be its solid walls, and became a stone skeleton comprising of clustered columns, pointed ribbed vaults and flying buttresses. This, ultimately, became the most distinct feature from the previous Romanesque architecture.
Plan
Most large Gothic churches and many smaller parish churches are of the Latin cross (or "cruciform") plan, with a long nave making the body of the church, a transverse arm called the transept and, beyond it, an extension which may be called the choir, chancel or presbytery. There are several regional variations on this plan.
The nave is generally flanked on either side by aisles. The nave is generally considerably taller than the aisles, having clerestory windows which light the central space. In the South of France there is often a single wide nave and no aisles, as at Sainte-Marie in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges.
In some churches with double aisles, like Notre Dame in Paris, the transept does not project beyond the aisles. In English cathedrals, transepts tend to project boldly and there may be two of them, as at Salisbury Cathedral, though this is not the case with lesser churches.
The eastern arm shows considerable diversity. In England it is generally long and may have two distinct sections, both choir and presbytery. It is often square ended or has a projecting Lady Chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In France the eastern end is often polygonal and surrounded by a walkway called an ambulatory and sometimes a ring of chapels called a "chevet".
Height
Before gothic architecture, Early Medieval architects struggled to spread the weight of heavy stone walls. This meant that most towers needed to be short, and buildings thin, otherwise the sheer weight of higher levels (or large rooms and halls) would collapse into themselves.
One of the fundamental characteristics of Gothic architecture was its height. New building techniques enabled architects of the time to spread the load of taller walls and loftier towers.
All this meant that Gothic buildings could, quite literally, scale new heights. It allowed them to reach up to the “heavens” – perfect for cathedrals and churches.
Flying Buttresses
The flying buttress is the defining external characteristic of gothic architecture. These buttresses effectively spread the weight of the new designs, taking the weight off the walls and transferring force directly to the ground.
However, what’s particularly notable about the flying buttress is that it is also decorative.
Rather than just being a simple support, a buttress can be elaborately designed and decorated to quite an extent. They appeared to dart and sweep around each building, giving a sense of movement and of grandeur missing from previous architectural designs.
Pointed Arch
The innovation of the pointed arch was considered as the defining internal characteristic of Gothic architecture. Its significance was again, both practical and decorative.
The pointed arch effectively distributed the force of heavier ceilings and bulkier designs, and could therefore support much more weight than the previous simple pillars.
The stronger arches also allowed for a much larger vertical height. The Gothic arch was not just serving a structural purpose; it had an aesthetic value and beauty which influenced many other features of gothic design – most notably the vaulted ceiling.
Vaulted Ceiling
The vaulted ceiling was an innovation which led on from the achievements of the pointed arch.
Irregular, vaulted ceilings utilised the technology of the pointed arch to spread force and weight from upper floors. The arch also provided the impression of height and magnificence, giving the vaulted ceiling a feeling of grandeur and elegance.
The distribution of force within the vaulted ceiling also enabled vaults to be built in different shapes and sizes. Previously, vaults could have only been circular or rectangular.
The Light and Airy Interior
Before gothic architecture, Romanesque castles and early medieval buildings were very dull places to live in or worship in. Castles, in particular, were places of damp and mould, as most weren't built strong enough to support slate or stone roofing. Although these fortresses could more or less prop up wooden roofs, these let in the rain.
If that wasn't depressing enough, these old environments tended to be dark and dingy. The windows were generally tiny, as the force of the walls would collapse into themselves if they included any larger glassworks.
Gothic architecture strove to flourish from this older medieval style of building. It emphasised light, bright windows and airy interiors, transforming castles and churches into more pleasant and majestic environments.
Gargoyles
One of the most notable characteristics of gothic architecture is the gargoyle. Gargoyles are decorative, monstrous little creatures, perched at along the roofs and battlements of gothic buildings and castles.
Gargoyles have a practical purpose: they're spouts, enabling rainwater to drain off the roof and gush through their mouths, before plummeting to the ground below.
However, gargoyles had another intended purpose: to strike fear into the hearts of ill-educated medieval peasants, scaring them into the church or cathedral. Many gargoyles include elements of the grotesque: exaggerated, evil features or threatening poses, which would have “leered down from above”.
In a world marked with fear and superstition, these creepy creatures would undoubtedly have encouraged many to seek solace and safety inside of a church or cathedral, to be protected from the demons and ghouls which roamed outside. The gargoyle is one of the defining characteristics of gothic architecture, and sticks in the mind even to today.
Emphasis on the Decorative Style and the Ornate
Gothic architecture marked the first time that beauty and aesthetic values had been incorporated into building design. This revolutionised the way that medieval architects began to think of buildings. Architecture was no longer just functional - it began to have merit and meaning in its own right.
Increasingly ambitious and ornate designs of church, cathedral and castle came to be built. Rivalry and competition drew different groups of builders to conceive and construct grander and more decorative designs, for the glory of the Christian reign.
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Conclusion
To conclude, here is a short list that has been compiled to compare the main difference between the Romanesque and Gothic architectural styles:
Romanesque
Gothic
Radiating chapels and apse
Separate compartments
Unified, unbroken space
Vault
Mostly barrel-vaults, some groin-vaults
Groin-vaulted cathedrals
Arch type
Rounded arches
Pointed arches
Main vault support
Thick walls, buttresses
Exterior flying buttresses
Clerestory
Small windows
Large stained-glass windows
Elevation
Horizontal, modest height
Vertical, soaring
Exterior
Plain, little decoration, solid
Ornate, delicate, lots of sculptures
Sculptural decoration
Thin, elongated, abstract figures
More realistic proportions and individualised features
Mood
Dark, gloomy
Tall, light-filled, airy
These two styles of architecture have revolutionised a number of engineer discoveries as well as pioneered several building techniques. What’s more important about these styles is that, whatever was achieved during their time is still very relevant today, and without such feats, the architecture of today would be very different.
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