Editing Romanesque architecture (section)

===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 Cathedral|Ely]] and [[Peterborough Cathedral|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.<ref name=ACT/> 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.<ref name=BF/>

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]].

====Barrel vault====
The simplest type of vaulted roof is the [[barrel vault]] in which a single arched surface extends from wall to wall, the length of the space to be vaulted, for example, the nave of a church. An important example, which retains medieval paintings, is the vault of [[Abbey Church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe|Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe]], France, of the early 12th century. However, the barrel vault generally required the support of solid walls, or walls in which the windows were very small.<ref name=Toman/>

====Groin vault====
[[Groin vault]]s occur in early Romanesque buildings, notably at [[Speyer Cathedral]] where the high vault of about 1060 is the first employment in Romanesque architecture of this type of vault for a wide nave.<ref name=Toman/> In later buildings employing ribbed vaultings, groin vaults are most frequently used for the less visible and smaller vaults, particularly in crypts and aisles. A groin vault is almost always square in plan and is constructed of two barrel vaults intersecting at right angles. Unlike a ribbed vault, the entire arch is a structural member. Groin vaults are frequently separated by [[transverse arch]]ed ribs of low profile as at Speyer and [[Santiago de Compostela]]. At [[Vézelay Abbey|Sainte Marie Madeleine, Vézelay]], the ribs are square in section, strongly projecting and polychrome.<ref name=NP>Nikolaus Pevsner, ''An Outline of European Architecture''</ref>

====Ribbed vault====
[[Ribbed vault]]s came into general use in the 12th century. In ribbed vaults, not only are there ribs spanning the vaulted area transversely, but each vaulted bay has diagonal ribs, following the same course as the groins in a groin vault. However, whereas in a groin vault, the vault itself is the structural member, in a ribbed vault, it is the ribs that are the structural members, and the spaces between them can be filled with lighter, non-structural material.<ref name =BF307>Banister Fletcher, p. 307</ref>

Because Romanesque arches are nearly always semi-circular, the structural and design problem inherent in the ribbed vault is that the diagonal span is larger and therefore higher than the transverse span.<ref name=BF307/> The Romanesque builders used a number of solutions to this problem. One was to have the centre point where the diagonal ribs met as the highest point, with the infill of all the surfaces sloping upwards towards it, in a domical manner. This solution was employed in Italy at [[San Michele, Pavia]], and [[Sant' Ambrogio, Milan]].<ref name=Toman/>

The solution employed in England was to stilt the transverse ribs, maintaining a horizontal central line to the roof like that of a barrel vault.<ref name=BF307/> The diagonal ribs could also be depressed, a solution used on the sexpartite vaults at both the Saint-Étienne, ([[Abbaye-aux-Hommes]]) and Sainte-Trinité, ([[Église de la Ste.-Trinité, Caen|Abbaye-aux-Dames]]) at Caen, France, in the late 11th and early 12th centuries.<ref name=BF307/>

====Pointed arched vault====
The problems encountered in the structure and appearance of vaults was solved late in the Romanesque period with the introduction of pointed arched ribs which allowed the height of both diagonal and transverse ribs to be varied in proportion to each other.<ref name=BF307/> Pointed ribs made their first appearance in the transverse ribs of the vaults at [[Durham Cathedral]] in northern England, dating from 1128. Durham is a cathedral of massive Romanesque proportions and appearance, yet its builders introduced several structural features that were new to architectural design and were later to be hallmark features of the Gothic style. Another Gothic structural feature employed at Durham is the [[flying buttress]]. However, these are hidden beneath the roofs of the aisles.
The earliest pointed vault in France is that of the narthex of [[Vézelay Abbey|La Madeleine, Vézelay]], dating from 1130.<ref name=RH/> They were subsequently employed with the development of the Gothic style at the east end of the [[Basilica of St Denis]] in Paris in 1140.<ref name=BF/> An early ribbed vault in the Romanesque architecture of Sicily is that of the chancel at the [[Cathedral of Cefalù]].

====Domes====
{{see also|History of medieval Arabic and Western European domes#Holy Roman Empire}}
Domes in Romanesque architecture are generally found within [[Crossing (architecture)|crossing tower]]s at the intersection of a church's [[nave]] and [[transept]], which conceal the domes externally.{{sfn|Stephenson|Hammond|Davi|2005|p=172}} Called a ''tiburio'', this tower-like structure often has a blind arcade near the roof.{{sfn|Jones|Murray|Murray|2013|p=512}} Romanesque domes are typically octagonal in plan and use corner [[squinch]]es to translate a square bay into a suitable octagonal base.<ref name=BF/> Octagonal cloister vaults appear "in connection with basilicas almost throughout Europe" between 1050 and 1100.{{sfn|Porter|1928|p=48}} The precise form differs from region to region.{{sfn|Stephenson|Hammond|Davi|2005|p=172}}

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Vaults" heights="210px">
File:Saint-Savin nef.jpg|alt=A tall narrow church interior with rounds columns in delicate pastel colours that rise without interruption from floor to vault.|The painted barrel vault at the [[Abbey Church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe]] is supported on tall marbled columns.
File:Lisboa IMG 6823 (20933435239).jpg|The nave of [[Lisbon Cathedral]] is covered by a series of barrel vaults separated by transverse arches and has an upper, arched gallery (triforium).
File:TournusTonnengewölbe.jpg|alt= A church interior of yellow stone with arches of alternating red and cream crossing the nave to support an unusual vaulting system.|The Church of [[St Philibert, Tournus]], has a series of transverse barrel vaults supported on [[diaphragm arch]]es.
File:F08.Mozac.0191.JPG|alt=A narrow space with grey columns with ornate capitals supporting a plastered cross vault without ribs.|The aisle of the [[Mozac Abbey|Abbey Church at Mozac]] has groin vaults supported on transverse arches.
File:Peterborough south choir aisle.JPG|alt=A side aisle with masonry of massive proportions is ribbed with arches of a bold profile.|The aisles at [[Peterborough Cathedral]] have quadripartite ribbed vaults. (The nave has an ancient painted wooden ceiling.)
File:Abbaye aux hommes intérieur 03.jpeg|alt=A tall wide church of grey stone, elegantly vaulted with fine ribs.|The ribbed vaults at [[Abbaye aux Hommes|Saint-Étienne, Caen]], are sexpartite and span two bays of the nave.
File:Speyer (DerHexer) 2010-12-19 014 vertical.jpg|The crossing of [[Speyer Cathedral]], Germany, has a dome on [[squinch]]es.
</gallery>