Editing Romanesque architecture (section)

===Arches and openings===
The arches used in Romanesque architecture are nearly always semicircular, for openings such as doors and windows, for [[vault (architecture)|vaults]] and for arcades. Wide doorways are usually surmounted by a semi-circular arch, except where a door with a [[Lintel (architecture)|lintel]] is set into a large arched recess and surmounted by a semi-circular "lunette" with decorative carving.<ref name=HG/> 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 façade gable and are also seen in Germany. Later Romanesque [[church architecture|churches]] may have wheel windows or [[rose window]]s with [[plate tracery]].

There are a very small number of buildings in the Romanesque style, such as [[Autun Cathedral]] in France and [[Monreale Cathedral]] in Sicily in which pointed arches have been used extensively, apparently for stylistic reasons. It is believed that in these cases there is a direct imitation of [[Islamic architecture]]. At other late Romanesque churches such as [[Durham Cathedral]], and [[Cefalù Cathedral]], the pointed arch was introduced as a structural device in ribbed vaulting. Its increasing application was fundamental to the development of [[Gothic architecture]].