Editing Romanesque architecture (section)

===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.<ref name=BF/> They were also used, particularly in Germany, when they alternated between more massive piers.<ref name=Toman/> Arcades of columns cut from single pieces are also common in structures that do not bear massive weights of masonry, such as cloisters, where they are sometimes paired.<ref name=BF/>

====Salvaged columns====
In Italy, during this period, a great number of antique Roman columns were salvaged and reused in the interiors and on the porticos of churches. The most durable of these columns are of marble and have the stone horizontally bedded. The majority are vertically bedded and are sometimes of a variety of colours. They may have retained their original Roman capitals, generally of the [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] or [[Composite order|Roman Composite]] style.<ref name=Toman/>
Some buildings, like [[Santa Maria in Cosmedin]] <small>(illustrated above)</small> and the atrium at [[Basilica di San Clemente|San Clemente]] in Rome, may have an odd assortment of columns in which large capitals are placed on short columns and small capitals are placed on taller columns to even the height. Architectural compromises of this type are seen where materials have been salvaged from a number of buildings. Salvaged columns were also used to a lesser extent in France.

====Drum columns====
In most parts of Europe, Romanesque columns were massive, as they supported thick upper walls with small windows, and sometimes heavy vaults. The most common method of construction was to build them out of stone cylinders called drums, as in the crypt at [[Speyer Cathedral]].<ref name=Toman/><ref>This technique was also used in the Classical world, notably at the [[Parthenon]].</ref>

====Hollow core columns====
Where really massive columns were called for, such as those at [[Durham Cathedral]], they were constructed of ashlar masonry and the hollow core was filled with rubble. These huge untapered columns are sometimes ornamented with incised decorations.<ref name=ACT/>

====Alternating supports====
{{main|Alternation of supports}}
A common characteristic of Romanesque buildings, occurring both in churches and in the arcades that separate large interior spaces of castles, is the alternation of piers and columns.

The most simple form that this takes is to have a column between each adjoining pier. Sometimes the columns are in multiples of two or three. At [[St. Michael's, Hildesheim]], an A B B A alternation occurs in the nave while an A B A alternation can be seen in the transepts.

At [[Jumièges]] there are tall drum columns between piers each of which has a half-column supporting the arch. There are many variations on this theme, most notably at [[Durham Cathedral]] where the mouldings and shafts of the piers are of exceptional richness and the huge masonry columns are deeply incised with geometric patterns.<ref name=Toman/>

Often the arrangement was made more complex by the complexity of the piers themselves, so that it was not piers and columns that alternated, but rather, piers of entirely different form from each other, such as those of [[Sant' Ambrogio, Milan]], where the nature of the vault dictated that the alternate piers bore a great deal more weight than the intermediate ones and are thus very much larger.<ref name=HG/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="240" caption="Piers and columns">
File:Hildesheim St Michael alternation of arcade.jpg|St Michael's, [[Hildesheim]], shows two columns set between the piers.
File:Mainzer Dom Wandaufriss.jpg|alt=Mainz Cathedral, Germany, has rectangular piers and possibly the earliest example of an internal elevation of 3 stages. (Gothic vault)|[[Mainz Cathedral]], Germany, has rectangular piers and possibly the earliest example of an internal elevation of three stages. <small>(Gothic vault)</small>
File:MalmesburyAbbey.JPG|[[Malmesbury Abbey]], England, has hollow core columns, probably filled with rubble. <small>(Gothic vault)</small>
File:SantCompostela21.jpg|The [[cathedral of Santiago de Compostela]], Spain, has large drum columns with attached shafts supporting a barrel vault. 
File:Durham - Cathedral - panoramio crop piers and columns.jpg|[[Durham Cathedral]], England, has decorated masonry columns alternating with piers of clustered shafts.
</gallery>

====Capitals====
The foliate [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] style provided the inspiration for many Romanesque capitals, and the accuracy with which they were carved depended very much on the availability of original models, those in Italian churches such as [[Pisa Cathedral]] or church of [[Sant'Alessandro, Lucca|Sant'Alessandro in Lucca]] and southern France being much closer to the Classical than those in England.<ref name=BF/><ref name=Toman/>

The Corinthian capital is essentially round at the bottom where it sits on a circular column and square at the top, where it supports the wall or arch. This form of capital was maintained in the general proportions and outline of the Romanesque capital. This was achieved most simply by cutting a rectangular block and taking the four lower corners off at an angle so that the block was square at the top, but octagonal at the bottom, as can be seen at St. Michael's Hildesheim.<ref name=Toman/>
This shape lent itself to a wide variety of superficial treatments, sometimes foliate in imitation of the source, but often figurative. In Northern Europe the foliate capitals generally bear far more resemblance to the intricacies of [[manuscript illumination]] than to Classical sources. In parts of France and Italy, there are strong links to the pierced capitals of [[Byzantine architecture]]. It is in the figurative capitals that the greatest originality is shown. While some are dependent on manuscripts illustrations of Biblical scenes and depictions of beasts and monsters, others are lively scenes of the legends of local saints.<ref name=OME/>

The capitals, while retaining the form of a square top and a round bottom, were often compressed into little more than a bulging cushion-shape. This is particularly the case on large masonry columns, or on large columns that alternate with piers as at Durham.<small>(See illustrated above)</small>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="185">
File:PM 33323 P Lourosa.jpg|Simple capital of a Doric form supporting a Mozarabic arch, São Pedro de Lourosa Church, Portugal
File:Capitel en la Torre de Pisa.JPG|Capital of Corinthian form with anthropomorphised details, [[Leaning Tower of Pisa|Pisa Campanile]], Italy
File:Fromista - Iglesia San Martin 20.jpg|Capital of Corinthian form with Byzantine decoration and carved dosseret, [[San Martín de Tours]], [[Frómista]], Palencia, Spain
File:San Martín de Castañeda capital1116.JPG|alt=Capital of simplified concave Corinthian form with billeted abacus, simple dosseret and pronounced annulet. Church of Santa Maria, San Martín de Castañeda, Spain|Capital of simplified concave Corinthian form with billeted abacus, simple dosseret and pronounced annulet. Church of Santa Maria, San Martín de Castañeda, Spain.
File:Herina capital crop.jpg|Capital of convex cubic form with its abacus, concave dosseret and cable decoration defined by polychrome. [[Herina]]. Capitals of this shape are often decorated with "Barbaric" carvings of foliage, and mythical creatures.
File:Abbaye de la Sauve Majeure - Interlaced Asps.JPG|Capital retaining Corinthian form decorated with intertwined beasts derived from [[Insular art|Irish manuscripts]]. [[Grande-Sauve Abbey]], France
File:Capitel románico.jpg|alt=Capital of amorphous form surmounting a cluster of shafts. The figurative carving shows a winged devil directing Herod to slaughter the Innocents. Monastery of San Juan de Duero, Soria, Spain|Capital of amorphous form surmounting a cluster of shafts. The figurative carving shows a winged devil directing Herod to slaughter the Innocents. [[Monastery of San Juan de Duero]], Soria, Spain.
</gallery>