Editing Romanesque architecture

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{{Short description|Architectural style of Medieval Europe}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox art movement
| name = Romanesque architecture
|image = {{photomontage
|photo1a= LessayAbbaye3.JPG
|photo2a= Collegiate Church in Tum.jpg
|photo3a= Maria Lach 02.jpg
|size = 250
|color_border = #AAAAAA
|color = #F9F9F9
}}
| caption = '''Top:''' [[Lessay Abbey]] in [[Normandy]] (France); '''Middle:''' [[Tum Collegiate Church|Collegiate Church]] in [[Tum, Poland|Tum]] (Poland); '''Bottom:''' [[Maria Laach Abbey]] (Germany)   
| yearsactive = 10th to 13th century 
|country=[[Catholic Church|Catholic]] Europe}}

'''Romanesque architecture'''{{#tag:ref|The style in contemporary [[Latin]] from various times goes by many names, such as e.g. '''Opus Romanum/Romanorum''', '''Architectura Romana/Romanica''', and '''Genere/Ordine Romanico''' (see terms and references on the [[:la:Opus Romanum (medium aevum)|Opus Romanum]] page on [[Latin Wikipedia]]).}} is an [[architectural style]] of [[Middle Ages|medieval Europe]] that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries.{{sfn|Oxford University Press|2004}} The style eventually developed into the [[Gothic architecture|Gothic style]] with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Romanesque is characterized by [[semicircular arch]]es, while the Gothic is marked by the [[pointed arch]]es. The Romanesque emerged nearly simultaneously in multiple countries of Western Europe;{{sfn|Oxford University Press|2004}} its examples can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since [[Roman architecture|Imperial Roman architecture]]. Similarly to Gothic, the name of the style was transferred onto the contemporary [[Romanesque art]].{{sfn|Oxford University Press|2004}}

Combining features of [[Ancient Roman architecture|ancient Roman]] and [[Byzantine architecture|Byzantine]] buildings and other local traditions, Romanesque architecture is known by its massive quality, thick walls, round arches, sturdy [[Pier (architecture)|pillars]], [[barrel vault]]s, large towers and decorative [[Arcade (architecture)|arcading]]. Each building has clearly defined forms, frequently of very regular, [[symmetrical]] plan. The overall appearance is one of simplicity when compared with the [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] buildings that were to follow. The style can be identified right across Europe, despite regional characteristics and different materials.

Many [[castle]]s were built during this period, but they are greatly outnumbered by churches. The most significant are the great [[abbey]] churches, many of which are still standing, more or less complete and frequently in use.<ref name=BF>Bannister Fletcher, ''A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method''.</ref> 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 prosperous 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]], rural Spain, rural Portugal and rural Italy. Survivals of unfortified [[Romanesque secular and domestic architecture|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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==Definition==
The French term "{{lang|fr|romane}}" or the English ''Romanesque'', meaning "in the manner of Romans",{{sfn|Hicks|2001}} has been used to describe the architectural style of the Mediaeval era, preceding the more easily recognizable Gothic architecture, since early in the 19th century.{{sfn|Fernie|2019|p=407}}  It describes the architectural style which flourished across Europe from the 11th to the 13th century, and is distinguished from the Gothic style that followed by [[semi-circular arch]]es and more massive forms. The development of vaults from barrel and groin vaults to ribbed vaults was the main structural innovation of this period.{{sfn|Fernie|2019|pp=408–410, loc=Definitions}} 
<gallery mode="packed" caption="Typical Romanesque architectural forms" heights="220px" style="clear: both;">
File:Viu_de_Llevata,_Alta_Ribagorça._Església_de_Sta._Maria_(A-SiT_D9236).jpg|Portal, Church of Santa Maria, Viu de Llevata, [[Catalonia]], Spain
File:Voûte_en_berceau_Conques.JPG|The vault at the [[Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy]], [[Conques]], France
File:Rooma 2006 047.jpg|Cloister of the [[Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano]], Rome
File:Ang cath c1.JPG|Bell tower of [[Angoulême Cathedral]], Charente, SW France
Tomè14.JPG|Window and Lombard band of the Rotunda of San Tomè, [[Almenno San Bartolomeo]]
</gallery>
{{clear}}

==Use of the term ''Romanesque''==
[[File:Los Desposorios de la Virgen, por Robert Campin.jpg|thumb|Marriage of the Virgin ([[Robert Campin]], {{circa}} 1420–1430)]]
The distinction between the style of architecture now known as Romanesque and the succeeding style of [[Gothic architecture]] was recognised as early as the 15th century, as demonstrated by some artworks of that period. [[Robert Campin]] clearly presented the division in his ''[[Marriage of the Virgin (Campin)|Marriage of the Virgin]]''; on the left side, representing the [[Old Testament]], the building is in the Romanesque style, while that on the right, representing the [[New Testament]], is Gothic. Until the 19th century, however, the style preceding Gothic was not recognized as a whole, and was instead, just like Gothic at the time, treated as a multitude of styles: [[Giorgio Vasari]] and [[Christopher Wren]] were writing about "Tuscan", "Saxon", or "Norman" architectures.{{sfn|Fernie|1991|p=36}}<ref>These historic labels mostly do not match the modern terminology.</ref>

The word ''Romanesque'' ("in the manner of Romans"{{sfn|Hicks|2001}}) appeared in English by 1666, and was used to designate what are now called [[Romance languages]].{{sfn | Oxford University Press | 2023 | loc=1 }} Definition of ''Romanesque architecture'' changed over time;{{sfn|Fernie|2019|p=407}} the development of the modern English meaning of the word involved primarily two steps: 
* in 1813 [[William Gunn (writer)|William Gunn]] used the term to broadly describe the pre-Gothic architecture of the [[Western Europe]], all the way from the 4th century to the 12th.{{sfn|Fernie|2019|p=407}} Gunn's work, ''An Inquiry into the Origin and Influence of Gothic Architecture'' (London 1819), was published later,{{sfn|Rudolph|2019|p=22}} in 1819.<ref name="Gunn1819">{{cite book|last=Gunn|first=William |author-link=William Gunn (writer)|title=An inquiry into the origin and influence of Gothic architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MLcaAAAAYAAJ|access-date=2012-07-06|year=1819|publisher=R. and A. Taylor|page=6}}</ref><ref>Andreas Hartmann-Virnich: ''Was ist Romanik'', Darmstadt 2004, pp. 28–30</ref> The word was used by Gunn to describe the style that was identifiably medieval and prefigured the Gothic, yet maintained the rounded Roman arch and thus appeared to be a continuation of the Roman tradition of building;
* over the course of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century{{sfn|Clarke|Clarke|2010}} the definition narrowed to a shorter period, typically from 11th (or late 10th{{sfn|Fernie|1991|p=36}}) to 12th century.{{sfn|Fernie|2019|p=407}} In the process, scholars (with notable contributions by [[Robert de Lasteyrie]] and [[Henri Focillon]]) changed the original definition of Romanesque as a sub-Roman or Roman-like architecture to a stylistic label describing the arrangements of mass and space that found acceptance at the turn of the 11th century. The new definition also marks the watershed between the tribal/dynastic treatment of architectural styles (Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Merovingian, Carolingian, etc.) and a feature-based one (Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist, Baroque).{{sfn|Fernie|1991|p=36}}

The French term "{{lang|fr|romane}}" was first used in the architectural sense by archaeologist [[Charles-Alexis-Adrien Duhérissier de Gerville|Charles de Gerville]] in a letter of 18 December 1818 to [[Auguste Le Prévost]] to describe what Gerville sees as a ''debased Roman architecture''.{{#tag:ref|Gerville (1818): {{langx|fr|Je vous ai quelquefois parlé d'architecture romane. C’est un mot de ma façon qui me paraît heureusement inventé pour remplacer les mots insignifiants de saxone et de normande. Tout le monde convient que cette architecture, lourde et grossière, est l'opus romanum dénaturé ou successivement dégradé par nos rudes ancêtres. Alors aussi, de la langue latine, également estropiée, se faisait cette langue romane dont l'origine et la dégradation ont tant d'analogie avec l'origine et les progrès de l'architecture. Dites-moi donc, je vous prie, que mon nom romane est heureusement trouvé.}} (I have sometimes spoken to you about Romanesque architecture. It is a word of my own which I invented (I think successfully) to replace the insignificant words of [[Anglo-Saxon language|Saxon]] and [[Norman language|Norman]]. Everyone agrees that this architecture, heavy and rough, is the ''opus romanum'' successively denatured or degraded by our rude ancestors. So too, out of the crippled Latin language, was made this Romance language whose origin and degradation have so much analogy with the origin and progress of architecture. Tell me, please, that my name Roman (esque) was invented with success.)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5732066w|title=Bulletin de la Société des antiquaires de Normandie|first=Société des antiquaires de Normandie Auteur du|last=texte|date=July 27, 1934|website=Gallica}}</ref>|group=Notes}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gidon|first= Ferdinand|title=L'invention de l'expression architecture romane par Gerville (1818) d'après quelques lettres de Gerville à Le Prévost|journal=Bulletin de la Société des antiquaires de Normandie|year= 1934|volume=42|pages= 268–88|language=fr|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5732066w/f284}}</ref> In an 1823 public lecture (published in 1824){{sfn|Rudolph|2019|p=22}} Gerville's friend [[Arcisse de Caumont]] adopted the label "{{lang|fr|roman}}" to describe the "degraded" European architecture from the 5th to the 13th centuries, in his ''Essai sur l'architecture religieuse du moyen-âge, particulièrement en Normandie'',<ref>{{cite journal|last=de Caumont|first=Arcisse|title=Essai sur l'architecture religieuse du moyen-âge, particulièrement en Normandie|journal=Mémoires de la Société des antiquaires de Normandie|date=8 May 1824|pages=535–677|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZAFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA535|access-date=2012-06-24|author-link=Arcisse de Caumont|publisher=Mancel|language=fr}}</ref> at a time when the actual dates of many of the buildings so described had not been ascertained:<ref>{{cite journal|last=Williams|first=Elizabeth|title=The Perception of Romanesque Art in the Romantic Period: Archaeological Attitudes in France in the 1820s and 1830s|journal=Forum for Modern Language Studies|date=1 January 1985|volume=XXI|issue=4|pages=303–21|doi=10.1093/fmls/XXI.4.303}}</ref><ref name=JeanH>Jean Hubert, ''Romanesque Art''.</ref><ref>Date from Hartmann-Virnich, as below</ref>
{{blockquote|"The name Roman (esque) we give to this architecture, which should be universal as it is the same everywhere with slight local differences, also has the merit of indicating its origin and is not new since it is used already to describe the language of the same period. Romance language is degenerated Latin language. Romanesque architecture is debased Roman architecture."{{#tag:ref|de Caumont (1824): {{langx|fr|Le nom romane que nous donnons à cette architecture, qui ne doit avoir qu'un puisqu'elle est partout la même sauf de légères differences de localité, a d'ailleurs le mérite d'en indiquer l'origine et il n'est pas nouveau puisqu'on s'en sert déjà pour désigner la langue du même temps La langue romane est la langue latine dégénérée. L'architecture romane est l'architecture romaine abâtardie.}}<ref>de Caumont 1824, p. 550</ref>|group=Notes}}}}

The term "[[Pre-Romanesque art and architecture|Pre-romanesque]]" is sometimes applied to architecture in Germany of the [[Carolingian architecture|Carolingian]] and [[Ottonian architecture|Ottonian]] periods and [[Visigothic art and architecture#Visigothic architecture|Visigothic]], [[Mozarabic art and architecture#Architecture|Mozarab]] and [[Asturian architecture|Asturian]] constructions between the 8th and the 10th centuries in the Iberian Peninsula while "[[First Romanesque]]" is applied to buildings in north of Italy and Spain and parts of France that have Romanesque features but pre-date the influence of the [[Abbey of Cluny]]. The Romanesque style in England and Sicily is still referred to as [[Norman architecture]]. A "dazzling"<ref>{{cite book | last=Watkin | first=D. | title=A History of Western Architecture | publisher=Laurence King Publishing | year=2005 | isbn=978-1-85669-459-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39T1zElEBrQC&pg=PA148 | access-date=2023-12-14 | page=148}}</ref> style developed in [[Pisa]] in the mid-11th century is called "[[Pisan Romanesque]]".{{sfn | Valdes | Pistolesi | Pauli | 1994 | p=7}}

[[Eric Fernie]] writes that by the beginning of the 21st century there is "something like agreement" on the characteristics of the Romanesque style.{{sfn|Fernie|2019|p=410}}  Some researchers argue that due to an "astonishing diversity" of the Romanesque buildings, a unanimous definition is impossible: "[n]o single model, no single rule, ever seems adequate to prevail",{{sfn|Fernie|2019|p=409}} and the Romanesque should be treated as a "collection of trends".{{sfn|Hicks|2001}} Despite disagreement, the term became a "common currency", and is universally accepted at least for convenience.{{sfn|Fernie|2019|p=409}}

==Scope==
Buildings of every type were constructed in the Romanesque style, with evidence remaining of simple domestic buildings, elegant town houses, grand palaces, commercial premises, civic buildings, castles, city walls, bridges, village churches, abbey churches, abbey complexes and large cathedrals.<ref name=Romanesque>Rolf Toman, ''Romanesque: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting''</ref> Of these types of buildings, domestic and commercial buildings are the most rare, with only a handful of survivors in the United Kingdom, several clusters in France, isolated buildings across Europe and by far the largest number, often unidentified and altered over the centuries, in Italy. Many castles exist, the foundations of which date from the Romanesque period. Most have been substantially altered, and many are in ruins.

By far the greatest number of surviving Romanesque buildings are churches. These range from tiny [[chapel]]s to large [[cathedral]]s. Although many have been extended and altered in different styles, a large number remain either substantially intact or sympathetically restored, demonstrating the form, character and decoration of Romanesque church architecture.<ref name=Romanesque/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="220" caption="The scope of Romanesque architecture">
File:Cieszyn 9891 crop.JPG|Saint Nicholas Rotunda in [[Cieszyn]], Poland
File:Poreč064.jpg|alt=A small three-storey stone house with an exterior stone staircase to the first floor, and a wooden balcony around the upper floor|Romanesque house in [[Poreč]], Croatia
File:Palazzo Comunale Massa Marittima crop.JPG|alt=An imposing four-storey stone building with battlements and rows of paired windows, facing onto a town square.|The Civic Hall in [[Massa Marittima]], Italy
File:Lebeny-churche1.jpg|alt=The façade of a tall grey church with paired towers and a single ornately carved doorway|Abbey Church of St James, [[Lébény]], Hungary (1208)
File:Conisbrough Castle keep - geograph.org.uk - 922015 crop.JPG|alt=A circular castle tower with enormous jutting buttresses. There are few windows and entrance is on an upper floor, is reached by a modern staircase.|The keep of [[Conisbrough Castle]], England
</gallery>

==History==
{{See also|Pre-Romanesque art and architecture}}

===Origins===
Romanesque architecture was the first distinctive style to spread across Europe since the [[Roman Empire]]. With the decline of Rome, [[Roman architecture|Roman building methods]] survived to an extent in Western Europe, where successive [[Merovingian art and architecture|Merovingian]], [[Carolingian architecture|Carolingian]] and [[Ottonian architecture|Ottonian]] architects continued to build large stone buildings such as monastery churches and palaces. In the more northern countries, Roman building styles and techniques had never been adopted except for official buildings, while in Scandinavia they were unknown. Although the round arch continued in use, the engineering skills required to vault large spaces and build large domes were lost. There was a loss of stylistic continuity, particularly apparent in the decline of the formal vocabulary of the [[Architectural orders|Classical Orders]]. In Rome several great [[Constantine I|Constantinian]] [[basilica]]s continued in use as an inspiration to later builders. Some traditions of Roman architecture also survived in [[Byzantine architecture]] with the 6th-century octagonal Byzantine [[Basilica of San Vitale]] in [[Ravenna]] being the inspiration for the greatest building of the [[Early Middle Ages]] in Europe, the [[Emperor Charlemagne]]'s [[Palatine Chapel, Aachen]], Germany, built around the year AD 800.<ref name=HG>Helen Gardner, ''Art through the Ages''.</ref>

Dating shortly after the Palatine Chapel is a remarkable 9th-century Swiss manuscript known as the [[Plan of Saint Gall]] and showing a very detailed plan of a monastic complex, with all its various monastic buildings and their functions labelled. The largest building is the church, the plan of which is distinctly Germanic, having an [[apse]] at both ends, an arrangement not generally seen elsewhere. Another feature of the church is its regular proportion, the square plan of the crossing tower providing a module for the rest of the plan. These features can both be seen at the Proto-Romanesque [[St. Michael's Church, Hildesheim]], 1001–1030.<ref name=HG/>

Architecture of a Romanesque style also developed simultaneously in the north of Italy, parts of France and in the [[Iberian Peninsula]] in the 10th century and prior to the later influence of the [[Abbey of Cluny]]. The style, sometimes called [[First Romanesque]] or [[Lombard architecture|Lombard Romanesque]], is characterised by thick walls, lack of sculpture and the presence of rhythmic ornamental arches known as a [[Lombard band]].

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Origins" heights="240px">
File:Santa Maria del Naranco 2 crop.JPG|[[Santa María del Naranco]], [[Oviedo]], Spain, AD 848. Built as a palace for [[Ramiro I of Asturias]].
File:Santa Maria in Cosmedin-templom belso.jpg|alt=The interior of a narrow and rather dark church that has columns down each side supporting a plain wall with small high windows.|[[Santa Maria in Cosmedin]], Rome (8th&nbsp;– early 12th century) has a basilical plan and reuses ancient Roman columns.
File:Aachener1723aDom.jpg|alt=The interior of a tall octagonal church, rising in three rows of decorated arches. A large candelabra hangs above the central altar.|[[Charlemagne]]'s [[Palatine Chapel, Aachen]], Germany, 9th century, modelled on the Byzantine church of San Vitale, Ravenna
File:Hildesheim-St Michaels Church.interior.01.JPG|alt=The interior of another long narrow church with high windows. The arch leading into the chancel at the far end has alternating red and white stones.|Interior of St. Michael's, Hildesheim, Germany, (1001–1031) with alternating piers and columns and a 13th-century painted wooden ceiling
File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F078941-0014, Hildesheim, Michaeliskirche.jpg|alt=The exterior of the same church shows a short square tower with a pointed metal roof over the crossing, and a small round tower at the end of the transept.|[[St. Michael's Church, Hildesheim]] has similar characteristics to the church in the Plan of Saint Gall.
</gallery>
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===Politics===
[[Charlemagne]] was crowned by [[Pope Leo III]] in [[Old St. Peter's Basilica]] on Christmas Day of 800, with an aim to re-establishing the old [[Roman Empire]]. Charlemagne's political successors continued to rule much of Europe, with a gradual emergence of the separate political states that were eventually to become welded into nations, either by allegiance or defeat, into the [[Kingdom of Germany]] giving rise to the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The invasion of England by [[William, Duke of Normandy]], in 1066, saw the building of both castles and churches that reinforced the Norman presence. Several significant churches that were built at this time were founded by rulers as seats of temporal and religious power, or places of [[coronation]] and burial. These include the [[Basilica of St Denis|Abbaye-Saint-Denis]], [[Speyer Cathedral]] and [[Westminster Abbey]] (where little of the Pre-Conquest church now remains).

At a time when the remaining architectural structures of the [[Roman Empire]] were falling into decay and much of its learning and technology lost, the building of masonry domes and the carving of decorative architectural details continued unabated, though greatly evolved in style since the fall of Rome, in the enduring [[Byzantine Empire]]. The domed churches of [[Constantinople]] and Eastern Europe were to greatly affect the architecture of certain towns, particularly through trade and through the [[Crusades]]. The most notable single building that demonstrates this is [[St Mark's Basilica]], [[Venice]], but there are many lesser-known examples, particularly in France, such as the church of [[Périgueux Cathedral|Saint-Front]], [[Périgueux]] and [[Angoulême Cathedral]].<ref name=OME>George Holmes, ed. ''The Oxford History of Medieval Europe''.</ref>

Much of Europe was affected by [[feudalism]] in which peasants held tenure from local rulers over the land that they farmed in exchange for [[military service]]. The result of this was that they could be called upon, not only for local and regional spats, but to follow their lord to travel across Europe to the Crusades, if they were required to do so. The [[Crusades]], 1095–1270, brought about a very large movement of people and, with them, ideas and trade skills, particularly those involved in the building of fortifications and the metal working needed for the provision of arms, which was also applied to the fitting and decoration of buildings. The continual movement of people, rulers, nobles, bishops, abbots, craftsmen and peasants, was an important factor in creating a homogeneity in building methods and a recognizable ''Romanesque style'', despite regional differences.

Life became generally less secure after the Carolingian period. This resulted in the building of castles at strategic points, many of them being constructed as strongholds of the Normans, descendants of the Vikings who invaded northern France under [[Rollo]] in 911. Political struggles also resulted in the fortification of many towns, or the rebuilding and strengthening of walls that remained from the Roman period. One of the most notable surviving fortifications is that of the city of [[Carcassonne]]. The enclosure of towns brought about a lack of living space within the walls, and resulted in a style of town house that was tall and narrow, often surrounding communal courtyards, as at [[San Gimignano]] in [[Tuscany]] and [[Bologna]] and [[Pavia]] in [[Lombardy]].<ref name=Toman1>Rolf Toman, pp. 114–17</ref><ref>Copplestone, pp. 188–89</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=vivipavia.it |title=Medieval towers |url=https://www.vivipavia.it/site/en/home/places-of-interest/scheda440.html |website=Vivi Pavia |publisher=Comune di Pavia |access-date=3 August 2023}}</ref>

In Germany, the [[Holy Roman Emperor]]s built a number of residences, fortified, but essentially palaces rather than castles, at strategic points and on trade routes. The [[Imperial Palace of Goslar]] (heavily restored in the 19th century) was built in the early 11th century by Otto III and Henry III, while the ruined Palace at [[Gelnhausen]] was received by Frederick Barbarossa prior to 1170.<ref name=Toman2>Rolf Toman, pp. 70–73</ref> The movement of people and armies also brought about the building of bridges, some of which have survived, including the 12th-century bridge at [[Besalú]], [[Catalonia]], the 11th-century Puente de la Reina, [[Navarre]] and the Pont-Saint-Bénézet, [[Avignon]].<ref>Rolf Toman, pp. 18, 177, 188</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Politics" heights="170px" widths="220px">
File:London Tower (1).JPG|alt=A huge square tower of grey stone is seen beyond fortifications on the edge of a river.|The [[Tower of London]] (1078); [[William the Conqueror]] built the central [[White Tower (Tower of London)|White Tower]] as his stronghold and residence
File:Speyer---Cathedral---South-View---(Gentry).jpg|alt=An enormous cathedral, of red stone with green copper roofs, has a two tall towers framing an octagonal dome at each end of the building.|[[Speyer Cathedral]], Germany, begun by [[Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor]] in 1030, as an expression of imperial power and architectural innovation
File:Erice castle.jpg|alt=A castle with a tall narrow tower and walls topped by battlements stretches along the edge of a cliff covered in trees and palm trees|{{lang|it|Castello di Venere}}, [[Erice]] (12th–13th century), is one of many built by the [[Normans]] in [[Sicily]], Italy.
File:Panorama San Gimignano.jpg|alt=View of a small town on a hilltop surrounded by trees and vineyards. There are eight tall square towers rising from among the densely packed houses.|Many towns, such as [[San Gimignano]], were enclosed with walls, causing crowding and the building of tower houses
</gallery>

===Religion===
Across Europe, the late 11th and 12th centuries saw an unprecedented growth in the number of churches.<ref>"In the years that followed the year 1000, we witnessed the rebuilding of churches all over the universe, but especially in Italy and Gaul." Chronicle of Raoul Glaber, quoted by Jean Hubert, ''Romanesque Art''.</ref> A great number of these buildings, both large and small, remain, some almost intact and in others altered almost beyond recognition in later centuries. They include many very well known churches such as [[Santa Maria in Cosmedin]] in Rome,<ref>famous for the ancient Roman "Mouth of Truth" set into the wall of its narthex</ref> the [[Florence Baptistry|Baptistery in Florence]]<ref>famous for the 15th-century Ghiberti Doors</ref> and [[Basilica of San Zeno, Verona|San Zeno Maggiore]] in Verona.<ref>traditionally the marriage place of [[Romeo and Juliet]]</ref> In France, the famous abbeys of Aux Dames and Les Hommes at Caen and [[Mont Saint-Michel]] date from this period, as well as the abbeys of the pilgrimage route to [[Santiago de Compostela Cathedral|Santiago de Compostela]]. Many cathedrals owe their foundation to this date, with others beginning as abbey churches, and later becoming cathedrals. In England, of the cathedrals of ancient foundation, all were begun in this period with the exception of Salisbury, where the monks relocated from the Norman church at [[Old Sarum]], and several, such as [[Canterbury]], which were rebuilt on the site of Saxon churches.<ref name="JH">John Harvey, ''English Cathedrals''</ref><ref name="ACT">Alec Clifton-Taylor, ''The Cathedrals of England''</ref> In Spain, the most famous church of the period is [[Santiago de Compostela Cathedral|Santiago de Compostela]]. In Germany, the Rhine and its tributaries were the location of many Romanesque abbeys, notably [[Mainz Cathedral|Mainz]], [[Worms Cathedral|Worms]], [[Speyer Cathedral|Speyer]] and [[Bamberg Cathedral|Bamberg]]. In [[Cologne]], then the largest city north of the Alps, a very important [[Twelve Romanesque churches of Cologne|group of large city churches]] survived largely intact. As monasticism spread across Europe, Romanesque churches sprang up in Scotland, Scandinavia, Poland, Hungary, Sicily, Serbia and Tunisia. Several important Romanesque churches were built in the [[Crusader kingdom]]s.<ref name=Toman>Rolf Toman, ''Romanesque''.</ref><ref>{{cite web
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 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20070522174032/http://t1.sw4i.com/cms/item/info/en/architecture.html
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}}</ref>

====Monasticism====
The system of monasticism in which the religious become members of an order, with common ties and a common rule, living in a mutually dependent community, rather than as a group of hermits living in proximity but essentially separate, was established by the monk [[Benedict of Nursia|Benedict]] in the 6th century. The [[Benedictines|Benedictine]] monasteries spread from Italy throughout Europe, being always by far the most numerous in England. They were followed by the [[Cluniacs|Cluniac]] order, the [[Cistercians]], [[Carthusian]]s and [[Augustinian Canons]]. During the [[Crusades]], the military orders of the [[Knights Hospitaller]] and the [[Knights Templar]] were founded.

The monasteries, which sometimes also functioned as cathedrals, and the cathedrals that had bodies of secular clergy often living in community, were a major source of power in Europe. Bishops and the abbots of important monasteries lived and functioned like princes. The monasteries were the major seats of learning of all sorts. Benedict had ordered that all the arts were to be taught and practiced in the monasteries. Within the monasteries books were transcribed by hand, and few people outside the monasteries could read or write.<ref name=BF/>

In France, Burgundy was the centre of monasticism. The enormous and powerful monastery at [[Cluny Abbey|Cluny]] was to have lasting effect on the layout of other monasteries and the design of their churches. Very little of the abbey church at Cluny remains; the "Cluny II" rebuilding of 963 onwards has completely vanished, but we have a good idea of the design of "Cluny III" from 1088 to 1130, which until the Renaissance remained the largest building in Europe. However, the church of [[Basilica of St. Sernin, Toulouse|St. Sernin]] at [[Toulouse]], 1080–1120, has remained intact and demonstrates the regularity of Romanesque design with its modular form, its massive appearance and the repetition of the simple arched window motif.<ref name=HG/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="170" widths="220" caption="Types of churches">
File:Slidredomen, Vestre Slidre.JPG|alt=A little stone church with a little steeple on a wooden belfry sits in a green graveyard overlooking a lake and mountains.|Many parish churches across Europe, such as this in [[Vestre Slidre]], Norway, are of Romanesque foundation.
File:Abbey-of-senanque-provence-gordes.jpg|alt=In a wooded valley is a large church with small windows and a square stone belfry. It is surrounded by ancient buildings arranged around courtyards, and a lavender garden.|The Romanesque [[Sénanque Abbey]] church and surrounding monastic buildings, Gordes, [[Provence]], France
File:Celles JPG00.jpg|alt=The houses of a small town, surrounded by green hillsides, are dominated by a huge church with a large square tower and a spire like a witch's hat.|Collegiate churches such as that of [[Saint Hadelin]], [[Celles, Houyet|Celles]], Belgium, were administered by lay canons.
File:Trier Dom BW 24.JPG|alt=A huge cathedral with numerous towers, both square and round, rises above a town square where people are sitting in the shade of clipped trees.|Many cathedrals such as [[Trier Cathedral]], Germany, date from this period, with many later additions.
</gallery>

====Pilgrimage and Crusade====
One of the effects of the [[Crusades]], which were intended to wrest the Holy Places of the Levant from [[Islam]]ic control, was to excite a great deal of religious fervour, which in turn inspired great building programs. The Nobility of Europe, upon safe return, thanked [[God]] by the building of a new church or the enhancement of an old one. Likewise, those who did not return from the Crusades could be suitably commemorated by their family in a work of stone and mortar.

The Crusades resulted in the transfer of, among other things, a great number of [[Relic|Holy Relics]] of [[saint]]s and [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]]. Many churches, like [[Périgueux|Saint-Front, Périgueux]], had their own home grown saint while others, most notably [[Santiago de Compostela]], claimed the remains and the patronage of a powerful saint, in this case one of the [[Twelve Apostles]]. [[Santiago de Compostela]], located in the [[Kingdom of Galicia]] (present day [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], Spain) became one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Europe. Most of the pilgrims travelled the [[Way of St. James]] on foot, many of them barefooted as a sign of penance. They moved along one of the four main routes that passed through France, congregating for the journey at [[Jumièges]], Paris, [[Vézelay]], [[Cluny]], [[Arles]] and [[St. Gall]] in Switzerland. They crossed two passes in the [[Pyrenees]] and converged into a single stream to traverse north-western Spain. Along the route they were urged on by those pilgrims returning from the journey. On each of the routes abbeys such as those at [[Moissac]], [[Toulouse]], [[Roncesvalles]], [[Conques]], [[Limoges]] and [[Burgos]] catered for the flow of people and grew wealthy from the passing trade. [[Saint-Benoît-du-Sault]], in the Berry province, is typical of the churches that were founded on the pilgrim route.<ref name=BF/><ref Name=HG/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="147" width="200" caption="Pilgrimage and crusade">
File:Jerusalem Holy Sepulchre BW 23.JPG|alt=The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, a major pilgrimage site from the 4th century onwards, its rotunda inspired the construction of many Romanesque circular churches.|The [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]], [[Jerusalem]], a major pilgrimage site from the 4th century onwards. Its rotunda inspired the construction of many Romanesque circular churches.
File:Krak des chevaliers15(js).jpg|Like many castles built by [[Crusades|crusader]] knights, the inner fortress of [[Krak des Chevaliers]], [[Syria]], was mainly constructed in this period, with the outer walls being later.
File:Abbatiale de Conques.jpg|The Abbey of Saint Foy, [[Conques]], France, was one of many such abbeys to be built along the pilgrimage [[Way of St James]] that led to [[Santiago de Compostela]].
File:Périgueux 3.JPG|alt=The plan of the Church of Saint Front, Périgueux, France, was influenced by Byzantine architecture seen by the Crusaders. The present appearance is largely due to restorer Paul Abadie, mid-19th century|The plan of the [[Périgueux Cathedral|Church of Saint Front]], Périgueux, France, was influenced by [[Byzantine architecture]] seen by the Crusaders. The present appearance is largely due to restorer [[Paul Abadie]], mid-19th century.
File:Toulouse - View on Saint Sernin.jpg|The [[basilica of Saint-Sernin]] in [[Toulouse]] is the archetype of large pilgrimage churches, where pilgrims could walk around the church via the transept and the choir chapels.
</gallery>

==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 architecture|Roman]] and later [[Gothic architecture]], in which the load-bearing structural members are, or appear to be, columns, pilasters and arches, Romanesque architecture, in common with [[Byzantine architecture]], relies upon its walls, or sections of walls called piers.<ref name=BF />

Romanesque architecture is often divided into two periods known as the "[[First Romanesque]]" style and the "Romanesque" style. The difference is chiefly a matter of the expertise with which the buildings were constructed. 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 comparatively small openings. They are often double shells, filled with rubble.

The building material differs greatly across Europe, depending upon the local stone and building traditions. In Italy, Poland, much of Germany and parts of the Netherlands, brick is generally used. Other areas saw extensive use of limestone, granite and flint. The building stone was often used in comparatively small and irregular pieces, bedded in thick mortar. Smooth [[ashlar]] masonry was not a distinguishing feature of the style (especially not in the earlier part of the period), but it did occur, chiefly where easily worked limestone was available.<ref name=RH>Rene Hyughe, ''Larousse Encyclopedia of Byzantine and Medieval Art''</ref>

===Buttresses===
Because of the massive nature of Romanesque walls, [[buttress]]es are not a highly significant feature, as they are in Gothic architecture. Romanesque buttresses are generally of flat square profile and do not project a great deal 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.

In the cases where half-barrel vaults were used, they effectively became like [[flying buttress]]es. Often aisles extended through two storeys, rather than the one usual in Gothic architecture, so as to better support the weight of a vaulted nave. In the case of Durham Cathedral, flying buttresses have been employed, but are hidden inside the triforium gallery.<ref name=ACT/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="170" widths="220" caption="Walls and buttresses">
File:Abaziasanvittorefrasassi.jpg|alt=A small church sits on a steep rise, surrounded by craggy mountains. It is basically square with three bulging projections and a castle-like tower.|The monastery of [[San Vittore alle Chiuse]], [[Genga, Italy|Genga]], Italy, of undressed stone, has a typically fortress-like appearance with small windows of early Romanesque.
File:Castle-rising-castle.JPG|alt=A large square castle keep of pinkish-grey stone, with a projecting entrance tower, has architectural details to its windows, mouldings and stonework.|[[Castle Rising Castle]], England, shows flat buttresses and reinforcing at the corners of the building typical in both castles and churches.
File:FranceNormandieCerisyLaForetAbbaye.jpg|alt= A tall church of grey stone with fine details and a crossing tower topped with a slate-covered spire rises out of rural countryside, where two mares are grazing.|[[Cerisy Abbey]], [[Normandy]], France, has a compact appearance with aisles rising through two storeys buttressing the vault.
File:StAlbansCathedral-PS01.JPG|alt=A long, low cathedral has a fine Norman brick crossing-tower rising in three stages of round-topped paired windows. The rest of the building is a conglomeration of styles in ancient brick, modern brick, ashlar and flint.|[[St Albans Cathedral]] England, demonstrates the typical alterations made to the fabric of many Romanesque buildings in different styles and materials 
</gallery>

===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]].

===Arcades===
An arcade is a row of arches, supported on piers or columns. They occur 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 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 arcade|blind arcading]]" with only a wall or a narrow passage behind it.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="240" caption="Openings and arcades">
File:Sant'Ambrogio (Milan) - Atrium.jpg|alt=The façade and forecourt of a redbrick church are composed of simple arcades. A brick tower rises up to one side.|The atrium and arcaded narthex of [[Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio|Sant'Ambrogio]], Milan, Italy, is a harmonious composition of similar arches.
File:Le Puy en Velay 03.jpg|alt=A highly ornamental church façade built in alternating courses of red and white stone.|The façade of [[Le Puy Cathedral|Notre Dame du Puy]], le Puy en Velay, France, has a more complex arrangement of diversified arches: Doors of varying widths, blind arcading, windows and open arcades.
File:Nivelles JPG00 (5) lighter sky.JPG|alt=A tall rectangular structure of grey stone and stern appearance with a jutting apse and a small octagonal belfry.|[[Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude, Nivelles]], Belgium, uses fine shafts of Belgian marble to define alternating blind openings and windows. Upper windows are similarly separated into two openings by colonettes.
File:Detall de la Catedral de Worms sky adj.JPG|alt=The apsidal end of a tall red stone church framed by circular towers.|[[Worms Cathedral]], Germany, displays a great variety of openings and arcades including wheel and rose windows, many small simple windows, galleries and Lombard courses.
File:Abadia de Saint-Pierre de Moissac - Portalada sud.JPG|alt=A very large porch of yellowish stone, with a single enormous, slightly pointed archway, juts from the side of a building.|The south portal of the [[Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Moissac]], France, has a square door divided by an ornate doorpost, surmounted by a carved tympanum and set within a vast arched porch.
</gallery>

===Piers===
In Romanesque architecture, [[Pier (architecture)|pier]]s were often employed to support arches. They were built of masonry and square or rectangular in section, generally having a horizontal moulding representing a capital at the springing of the arch. 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, with half-segments of large hollow-core columns on the inner surface supporting the arch, or a clustered group of smaller shafts leading into the mouldings of the arch.

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.<ref name=BF/><ref name=HG/>

===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>

===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>

==Ecclesiastical architecture==
{{See also|List of regional characteristics of Romanesque churches}}

===Plan===
Many parish churches, abbey churches and cathedrals are in the Romanesque style, or were originally built in the Romanesque style and have subsequently undergone changes.
The simplest Romanesque churches are aisleless halls with a projecting apse at the chancel end, or sometimes, particularly in England, a projecting rectangular chancel with a chancel arch that might be decorated with mouldings. More ambitious churches have aisles separated from the nave by arcades.

Abbey and cathedral churches generally follow the [[Latin Cross]] plan. In England, the extension eastward may be long, while in Italy it is often short or non-existent, the church being of T plan, sometimes with apses on the transept ends as well as to the east. In France the church of St Front, Périgueux, appears to have been modelled on [[St. Mark's Basilica, Venice]], or the Byzantine [[Church of the Holy Apostles]] and is of a [[Greek cross]] plan with five domes.<ref>Kimball, F., & Edgell, G. H. (1918). A History of Architecture. New York. Harper & Brothers. 621 pages (p. 252).</ref> In the same region, [[Angoulême Cathedral]] is an aisleless church of the Latin cross plan, more usual in France, but is also roofed with domes.<ref name=BF/><ref name=Toman/>
In Germany, Romanesque churches are often of distinctive form, having apses at both east and west ends, the main entrance being central to one side. It is probable that this form came about to accommodate a baptistery at the west end.<ref name=RH/>

NOTE: The plans below do not show the buildings in their current states.<ref>With the exception of the [[Plan of St. Gall]], which is from an ancient manuscript (and probably does not reflect an actual construction), they are all hypothetical reconstructions of groundplans as they existed in the 12th or 13th centuries. The Abbey Church of St. Gall has been replaced by a Baroque Church. Speyer has had its west front rebuilt twice, Ely Cathedral has lost the eastern arm, being replaced in the Gothic style, the central tower being replaced with the unique octagon and the northwest tower, never rebuilt. It has also gained a west porch. Santiago has had some substantial changes including a Baroque west front.</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="250px" widths="170px">
File:Dehio I 42 St Gallen.jpg|The [[Plan of St. Gall|plan of the Abbey of St Gall]], Switzerland
File:Dehio 48 Speyer.jpg|Germany, [[Speyer Cathedral]]
File:Plan.cathedrale.Autun.png|France, [[Autun Cathedral]]
File:Plan.cathedrale.Angouleme.png|France, [[Angoulême Cathedral]]
</gallery>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="250px" widths="170px">
File:ElyPlanDehio vertical.jpg|England, [[Ely Cathedral]]
File:Santiago de Compostela plan vertical.jpg|Spain, [[Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela]]
File:Plan-st-Sernin-Toulouse.png|France, [[Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse]]
File:San Isidoro Plan Vertical.JPG|Spain, [[San Isidoro de León]]
File:Modena cathedral vertical.JPG|Italy, [[Modena Cathedral]]
</gallery>

The [[Abbey of St. Gall|Abbey Church of St. Gall]], Switzerland, shows the plan that was to become common throughout Germanic Europe. It is a [[Latin Cross]] with a comparatively long nave and short transepts and eastern end, which is apsidal. The nave is aisled, but the chancel and transepts are not. It has an apsidal west end, which was to become a feature of Churches of Germany, such as [[Worms Cathedral]]. [[Speyer Cathedral]], Germany, also has aisleless transept and chancel. It has a markedly modular look. A typical Germanic characteristic is the presence of towers framing the chancel and the west end. There is marked emphasis on the western entrance, called ''Westwerk'', which is seen in several other churches. Each vault compartment covers two narrow bays of the nave.

At [[Autun Cathedral]], France, the pattern of the nave bays and aisles extends beyond the crossing and into the chancel, each aisle terminating in an apse. Each nave bay is separated at the vault by a transverse rib. Each transept projects to the width of two nave bays. The entrance has a narthex which screens the main portal. This type of entrance was to be elaborated in the Gothic period on the transepts at Chartres. [[Angoulême Cathedral]], France, is one of several instances in which the Byzantine churches of Constantinople seem to have been influential in the design in which the main spaces are roofed by domes. This structure has necessitated the use of very thick walls, and massive piers from which the domes spring. There are radiating chapels around the apse, which is a typically French feature and was to evolve into the [[chevet]].

As was typically the case in England, [[Ely Cathedral]] was a Benedictine monastery, serving both monastic and secular function. To facilitate this, the chancel or "presbytery" is longer than usually found in Europe, as are the aisled transepts which contained chapels. In England, emphasis was placed on the orientation of the chapels to the east. The very large piers at the crossing signify that there was once a tower. The western end having two round towers flanking a tall central tower was unique in Britain. Ely Cathedral was never vaulted and retains a wooden ceiling over the nave.

[[Santiago de Compostela Cathedral|The cathedral of Santiago de Compostela]] shares many features with Ely, but is typically Spanish in its expansive appearance. Santiago held the body of St. James and was the most significant pilgrimage site in Europe. The narthex, the aisles, the large aisled transepts and numerous projecting chapels reflect this. The chancel is short, compared to that of Ely, and the altar set so as to provide clear view to a vast congregation simultaneously.

[[Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse|The basilica Saint-Sernin of Toulouse]] is a typical example of a pilgrimage church. It is very large and its interior plan made it possible to direct traffic. With double side aisles and with an aisled transept and an ambulatory surrounding the apse, pilgrims could make the circuit around the church and were able to stop for meditation and prayer at the apsidal chapels of the transept and the radiating chapels of the choir.

[[Modena Cathedral]] shows a typically Italian Romanesque plan, often architecturally termed a "[[basilica]]", because of its similarity in plan to a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] basilicas.

===Section===
In section, the typical aisled church or cathedral has a nave with a single aisle on either side. The nave and aisles are separated by an arcade carried on piers or on columns. The roof of the aisle and the outer walls help to buttress the upper walls and vault of the nave, if present. Above the aisle roof are a row of windows known as the clerestory, which give light to the nave. During the Romanesque period there was a development from this two-stage elevation to a three-stage elevation in which there is a gallery, known as a ''[[triforium]]'', between the arcade and the clerestory. This varies from a simple blind arcade decorating the walls, to a narrow arcaded passage, to a fully developed second story with a row of windows lighting the gallery.<ref name=Toman/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="250" widths="250">
File:Dehio I 56 Konstanz Section.jpg|This drawing is a reconstruction by Dehio of the appearance of the Romanesque [[Konstanz Cathedral]] before its alterations in the Gothic style. It has a typical elevation of nave and aisles with wooden panelled ceilings and an apsidal east end.
File:Kloster arnsburg zisterzienser klosterkirche aufriss langhaus dehio 1888.jpg|alt=This nave elevation of Arnsburg Abbey, Germany, shows the typical arrangement of the nave arcade, aisle, clerestory windows and ribbed vault|This nave elevation of [[Arnsburg Abbey]], Germany, shows the typical arrangement of the nave arcade, aisle, clerestory windows and ribbed vault.
File:PeterElevDetailDehio.jpg|Exterior elevation, [[Peterborough Cathedral]]
</gallery>

===Church and cathedral east ends===
The eastern end of a Romanesque church is almost always semi-circular, with either a high chancel surrounded by an ambulatory as in France, or a square end from which an apse projects as in Germany and Italy. Where square ends exist in English churches, they are probably influenced by [[Anglo-Saxon architecture|Anglo-Saxon]] churches. Peterborough and Norwich Cathedrals have retained round east ends in the French style. However, in France, simple churches without apses and with no decorative features were built by the [[Cistercians]] who also founded many houses in England, frequently in remote areas.<ref name=FHC>{{cite book |first=Frederick H. |last=Crossley |year=1962 |title=The English Abbey }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150" widths="220" caption="East ends">
File:PM 33251 P Lourosa.jpg|alt=Rural church of São Pedro de Lourosa, Portugal, built in the 10th century it has the simplest type of square-shape apsidal east end.|Rural church of São Pedro de Lourosa, Portugal, built in the 10th century. It has the simplest type of square-shape apsidal east end.
File:Xhignesse JPG02.jpg|The small church of Saint-Pierre Xhignesse, Belgium, already has a semi-circular termination at the same height as the choir and nave.
File:Romanesque church of Saint-Andreas Szprotawa, Poland.jpg|The small church of Saint-Andreas [[Szprotawa]], Poland, built in the 13th century has an apsidal east end projecting from a chancel.
File:Seu urgell.jpg|The [[Cathedral of Santa Maria d'Urgell]], Spain, has an apsidal east end projecting at a lower level to the choir and decorated with an arcade below the roofline. This form is usual in Italy and Germany.
File:Abbazia di Sant'Antimo J.JPG|alt=The Abbey of Sant'Antimo has a high apsidal end surrounded by an ambulatory and with small projecting apses|The [[Abbey of Sant'Antimo]] has a high apsidal end surrounded by an ambulatory and with small projecting apses.
File:F06.Nevers St.-Etienne.1066.JPG|alt=Saint-Étienne, Nevers, displays a round chancel with ambulatory, apsidal chapels and strongly projecting transepts|Saint-Étienne, Nevers, displays a round chancel with ambulatory, apsidal chapels and strongly projecting transepts.
</gallery>

===Church and cathedral façades and external decoration===
Romanesque church façades, generally to the west end of the building, are usually symmetrical, have a large central portal made significant by its mouldings or porch, and an arrangement of arched-topped windows. In Italy there is often a single central ocular or wheel window.<ref name=BF309/> The common decorative feature is arcading.<ref name=BF/>

Smaller churches often have a single tower that is usually placed to the western end in France or England, either centrally or to one side, while larger churches and cathedrals often have two.

In France, [[Abbaye-aux-Hommes|Saint-Étienne, Caen]], presents the model of a large French Romanesque façade. It is a symmetrical arrangement of nave flanked by two tall towers each with two buttresses of low flat profile that divide the façade into three vertical units. The lowest stage is marked by large doors, each set within an arch in each of the three vertical sections. The wider central section has two tiers of three identical windows, while in the outer sections there are two tiers of single windows, giving emphasis to the mass of the towers. The towers rise above the façade through three further tiers, the lowest of tall blind arcading, the next of arcading pierced by two narrow windows and the third of two large windows, divided into two lights by a colonnette.<ref name=NP/>

This façade can be seen as the foundation for many other buildings, including both French and English Gothic churches. While the form is typical of northern France, its various components were common to many Romanesque churches of the period across Europe. Similar façades are found in Portugal. In England, [[Southwell Cathedral]] has maintained this form, despite the insertion of a huge Gothic window between the towers. [[Lincoln Cathedral|Lincoln]] and [[Durham Cathedral|Durham]] must once have looked like this. In Germany, [[Limburg Cathedral]] has a rich variety of openings and arcades in horizontal storeys of varying heights.

The churches of [[San Zeno Maggiore, Verona]], and [[San Michele, Pavia]], present two types of façade that are typical of Italian Romanesque, that which reveals the architectural form of the building, and that which screens it. At San Zeno, the components of nave and aisles are made clear by the vertical shafts that rise to the level of the central gable and by the varying roof levels. At [[San Miniato al Monte]] the definition of the architectural parts is made even clearer by the [[polychrome]] marble, a feature of many Italian medieval façades, particularly in Tuscany.
At San Michele the vertical definition is present as at San Zeno, but the rooflines are screened behind a single large gable decorated with stepped arcading. At [[Santa Maria della Pieve]], [[Arezzo]], this screening is carried even further, as the roofline is horizontal and the arcading rises in many different levels while the colonettes that support them have a great diversity of decoration.<ref name=HG/><ref name=RH/>

In the [[Rhineland]] and Netherlands the Carolingian form of west end known as the [[westwerk]] prevailed. Towers and apse of the western end are often incorporated into a multi-storey structure that bears little structural or visual relationship to the building behind it. These westwerks take a great variety of forms as may be seen at [[Maria Laach Abbey]], [[Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude, Nivelles|St Gertrude, Nivelles]], and [[Basilica of Saint Servatius|St Serviatius]], Maastricht.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="210" caption="Façades">
File:Coimbra BW 2018-10-06 14-33-51 stitch.jpg|The [[Old Cathedral of Coimbra]], Portugal, is fortress-like and battlemented. The two central openings are deeply recessed.
File:Arles kirche st trophime fassade sky.JPG|[[Church of St. Trophime]], [[Arles]], France. The ornamentation is focused on the porch and the carved Christ in Majesty on the tympanum, typical of French cathedrals.
File:Verona Zeno-cropped.JPG|alt=Church of San Zeno, Verona, Italy, The façade is neatly divided vertically and horizontally. The central wheel window and small porch with columns resting on crouching lions is typical of Italy.|Church of [[San Zeno, Verona]], Italy. The façade is neatly divided vertically and horizontally. The central [[rose window|wheel window]] and small porch with columns resting on crouching lions is typical of Italy.
File:Duomo di Pisa Front Facade 2009.jpg|[[Pisa Cathedral]], Italy. The entire building is faced with marble striped in white and grey. On the façade this pattern is overlaid with architectonic decoration of blind arcading below tiers of dwarf galleries. The three portals became increasingly common.
File:San Michele Maggiore, Pavia, veduta laterale della facciata.jpg|[[San Michele Maggiore, Pavia|San Michele Maggiore]], [[Pavia]], The façade has the form of a screen, higher than the central nave, with a blind arcade below its roofline. It is divided into three bays by [[compound pier]]s, has a variety of window openings, and horizontal bands of sculptural decoration. 
File:Empoli, collegiata, facciata del 1093 (parte bassa) e del 1736 (parte alta) 02.jpg|The [[Collegiate Church]], [[Empoli]], Italy, represents a screen façade. The polychrome marble decoration divides the façade into zones while giving little indication of the architectural form behind it.
File:Angouleme cathedral StPierre ac.JPG|[[Angoulême Cathedral]], France. The façade here, richly decorated with architectonic and sculptural forms, has much in common with that at Empoli in that it screens the form of the building behind it.
</gallery>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Façades with towers" heights="210">
File:Mairie de caen 030 crop.JPG|Saint-Étienne, [[Abbaye aux Hommes]], Caen, France, 11th century, with its tall towers, three portals and neat definition of architectural forms became a model for the façades of many later cathedrals across Europe. <small>14th-century spires</small>
File:St. Mary's Minster , West End - geograph.org.uk - 948257.jpg|[[Southwell Cathedral]], England, 1120, follows the Norman model with pyramidal spires as were probably at Saint-Étienne. <small>The Perpendicular window and battlement are late Gothic.</small>
File:Se de Lisboa Frente adj sky.JPG|[[Lisbon Cathedral]], Portugal, 1147, has a similar form to the Old Cathedral of Coimbra <small>above</small> with the addition of two sturdy bell towers in the Norman manner and a wheel window.
File:Limburg Cathedral, West facade 20140917 1.jpg|[[Limburg Cathedral]], Germany. The façade, {{Circa|1200}}, with polychrome plaster, follows the paired-tower model found at several [[Rhineland]] churches. The rose window has [[plate tracery]] and the spires are Rhenish helms.
File:Maria Laach 02.jpg|The [[westwork]] of the [[Maria Laach Abbey]], Germany, 12th century, (porch 1225) is typical of Germany, a form that dates to [[Carolingian architecture]] with grouped towers of different plans and both "candle-snuffer" and Rhenish helm spires.
File:Parma Dom Fassade4 adjusted.JPG|[[Parma Cathedral]], Italy, 1178, has a screen façade ornamented with galleries. At the centre is an open porch surmounted by a ceremonial balcony. The tower, (Gothic 1284) is a separate structure as usual in Italy.
</gallery>

===Church towers===
Towers were an important feature of Romanesque churches and a great number of them are still standing. They take a variety of forms: square, circular and octagonal, and are positioned differently in relation to the church building in different countries. In northern France, two large towers, such as those at Caen, were to become an integral part of the façade of any large abbey or cathedral. In central and southern France this is more variable and large churches may have one tower or a central tower. Large churches of [[Romanesque architecture in Spain|Spain]] and [[Portuguese Romanesque architecture|Portugal]] usually have two towers.

Many abbeys of France, such as that at Cluny, had many towers of varied forms. This is also common in Germany, where the apses were sometimes framed with circular towers and the crossing surmounted by an octagonal tower as at [[Worms Cathedral]]. Large paired towers of square plan could also occur on the transept ends, such as those at [[Tournai Cathedral]] in Belgium. In Germany, where four towers frequently occur, they often have spires that may be four or eight sided, or the distinctive ''Rhenish helm'' shape seen on the cathedrals of [[Limburger Dom|Limburg]]<ref name=Toman/> or [[Speyer Cathedral|Speyer]].

In England, for large abbeys and cathedral buildings, three towers were favoured, with the central tower being the tallest. This was often not achieved, through the slow process of the building stages, and in many cases the upper parts of the tower were not completed until centuries later as at Durham and Lincoln. Large Norman towers exist at the cathedrals of Durham, [[Exeter Cathedral|Exeter]], [[Southwell Minster|Southwell]], [[Norwich Cathedral|Norwich]] and [[Tewkesbury Abbey]].<ref name=ACT/><ref name=FHC/> Such towers were often topped during the late medieval period with a [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] spire of wooden construction covered with lead, copper or [[roof shingle|shingles]]. In the case of Norwich Cathedral, the huge, ornate, 12th-century crossing-tower received a 15th-century masonry spire rising to a height of 320 feet and remaining to this day.

In Italy towers are almost always free standing and the position is often dictated by the landform of the site, rather than aesthetics. This is the case in nearly all Italian churches both large and small, except in Sicily where a number of churches were founded by the Norman rulers and are more French in appearance.<ref name=BF/>

As a general rule, large Romanesque towers are square with corner buttresses of low profile, rising without diminishing through the various stages. Towers are usually marked into clearly defined stages by horizontal courses. As the towers rise, the number and size of openings increases as can be seen on the right tower of the transept of [[Tournai Cathedral]] where two narrow slits in the fourth level from the top becomes a single window, then two windows, then three windows at the uppermost level. This sort of arrangement is particularly noticeable on the towers of Italian churches, which are usually built of brick and may have no other ornament. Two fine examples occur at [[Lucca]], at the church of [[Basilica di San Frediano|San Frediano]] and at the ''[[Lucca Cathedral|Duomo]]''. It is also seen in [[Romanesque architecture in Spain|Spain]].<ref name=BF/>

In Italy there are a number of large free-standing towers that are circular, the most famous of these being the [[Leaning Tower of Pisa]]. In other countries where circular towers occur, such as Germany, they are usually paired and often flank an apse. Circular towers are uncommon in England, but occur throughout the early medieval period in Ireland.

Polygonal towers were often used on crossings and occur in France, Germany, Italy and Spain such as that of the [[Old Cathedral, Salamanca]], which is covered by a dome supported on a ribbed vault.<ref name=Toman/>

Smaller churches sometimes had [[bell-gable]]s instead of towers, a feature which, according to some authors, is characteristic of the simplicity of much architecture in the Romanesque style.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elripolles.com/que-vols-fer/turisme-cultural/romanic/romanic-de-la-vall-de-camprodon/7.html |title=Romànic de la Vall de Camprodon |publisher=Elripolles.com |date=9 March 2010 |access-date=2011-06-11}}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" caption="Towers" heights="240px">
File:San Frediano, Lucca, Italy - tower.JPG|The tower of the [[Basilica of San Frediano]], [[Lucca]], has openings that graduate in number, typical of Italian and Spanish Romanesque campanile. <small>(See pic. San Esteban, Segovia, below)</small>
File:Les tours de l'église abbatiale à Plankstetten en automne.JPG|Paired towers such as those of [[Plankstetten Abbey]], are a typical feature of [[Bavaria]]n and Central European church architecture. <small>(See image of Abbey Church of St James, Lébény, above)</small>
File:Abbaye de Cluny, 2010 crop.jpg|The [[octagon]]al crossing tower of the [[Cluny Abbey|Abbey church at Cluny]] influenced the building of other polygonal crossing towers in France, Spain and Germany. <small>(See pic. Maria Laach Abbey, above)</small>
File:Sunlit tower, Tewkesbury Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 1037432.jpg|The most massive Romanesque crossing tower is that at [[Tewkesbury Abbey]], in England, where large crossing towers are characteristic. <small>(See pic. St Alban's Cathedral, above)</small>
File:Pisa - Campo Santo - Campanile 1 - 2005-08-08 10-15 4638.JPG|The [[Leaning Tower of Pisa]] with its encircling arcades is the best known (and most richly decorated) of the many circular towers found in Italy.
</gallery>

===Portals===
Romanesque churches generally have a single portal centrally placed on the west front, the focus of decoration for the façade of the building. Some churches such as [[Abbaye aux Hommes|Saint-Étienne]], Caen, (11th century) and [[Pisa Cathedral]] (late 12th century) had three western portals, in the manner of [[Early Christian architecture|Early Christian]] basilicas. Many churches, both large and small, had lateral entrances that were commonly used by worshippers.

Romanesque doorways have a character form, with the jambs having a series of receding planes, into each of which is set a circular shaft, all surmounted by a continuous abacus. The semi-circular arch which rises from the abacus has the same series planes and circular mouldings as the jambs.<ref name=BF309>Banister Fletcher p. 309</ref> There are typically four planes containing three shafts, but there may be as many as twelve shafts, symbolic of the apostles.

The opening of the portal may be arched, or may be set with a lintel supporting a tympanum, generally carved, but in Italy sometimes decorated with mosaic or fresco. A carved tympanum generally constitutes the major sculptural work of a Romanesque church. The subject of the carving on a major portal may be Christ in Majesty or the Last Judgement. Lateral doors may include other subjects such as the [[Nativity in art|Birth of Christ]]. The portal may be protected by a porch, with simple open porches being typical of Italy, and more elaborate structures typical of France and Spain.
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160" widths="210" caption="Portals">
File:Verona Italy San Zeno DSC08235.JPG|alt=San Zeno, Verona, has a porch typical of Italy. The square-topped doorway is surmounted by a mosaic. To either side are marble reliefs showing the Fall of Man and the Life of Christ|San Zeno, Verona, has a porch typical of Italy. The square-topped doorway is surmounted by a mosaic. To either side are marble reliefs showing the [[Fall of Man]] and the [[Life of Christ in art|Life of Christ]].
File:Lincoln cathedral Gallery of Kings.jpg|The mouldings of the arched central west door of [[Lincoln Cathedral]] are decorated by chevrons and other formal and figurative ornament typical of English Norman. <small>The "Gallery of Kings" above the portal is Gothic</small>
File:Arles,ancienne cathédrale St Trophime,portail roman1190.jpg|The Basilica of Saint-Trophime, Arles, France, has an elaborate sculptural scheme which includes Christ in Majesty, a frieze extending over the lintel and a gallery of sculptured figures.
File:SantiagoCompostela-PortaPlaterias-bis.jpg|The Porta de Praterías, [[Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela]], by Master Esteban, has two wide openings with tympanums supported on brackets. The sculptured frieze above is protected by an eave on corbels.
File:Portal moissac.jpg|alt=The portal of Saint-Pierre, Moissac, has unusual features including the frieze of roundels on the lintel, the scalloped jambs and figures of prophets on the central jamb|The portal of Saint-Pierre, Moissac, has unusual features including the frieze of roundels on the lintel, the scalloped jambs and figures of prophets on the central jamb.
</gallery>

===Interiors===
The structure of large churches differed regionally and developed across the centuries. The use of piers of rectangular plan to support arcades was common, as at Mainz Cathedral and St Gertrude Nivelle, and remained usual in smaller churches across Europe, with the arcades often taking the form of openings through the surface of a wall. In Italy, where there was a strong tradition of using marble columns, complete with capital, base and abacus, this remained prevalent, often reusing existent ancient columns, as at San Miniato al Monte. A number of 11th-century churches have naves distinguished by huge circular columns with no clerestory, or a very small one as at St Philibert, Tournus. In England stout columns of large diameter supported decorated arches, gallery and clerestory, as at the nave of Malmesbury Abbey (see "Piers and columns", above). By the early 12th century composite piers had evolved, in which the attached shafts swept upward to a ribbed vault or were continued into the mouldings of the arcade, as at Vézelay Abbey, Saint-Étienne, Caen, and Peterborough Cathedral.

The nature of the internal roofing varied greatly, from open timber roofs, and wooden ceilings of different types, which remained common in smaller churches, to simple barrel vaults and groin vaults and increasingly to the use of ribbed vaults in the late 11th and 12th centuries, which were to become a common feature of larger abbey churches and cathedrals. A number of Romanesque churches are roofed with a series of Domes. At [[Fontevrault Abbey]] the nave is covered by four domes, while at the Church of Saint Front, [[Périgueux]], the church is of [[Greek cross]] plan, with a central dome surrounded by four smaller domes over the nave, chancel and transepts.

Internal decoration varied across Europe. Where wide expanses of wall existed, they were often plastered and painted. Wooden ceilings and timber beams were decorated. In Italy walls were sometimes faced with polychrome marble. Where buildings were constructed of stone that was suitable for carving, many decorative details occur, including ornate capitals and mouldings.

The apsidal east end was often a focus of decoration, with both architectonic forms such as arcading and pictorial features such as carved figures, murals and occasionally mosaics. Stained glass came into increasing use from the 11th century. In many churches the eastern end has been rebuilt in a later style. Of England's Norman cathedrals, no eastern end remains unchanged. In France the eastern terminals of the important abbeys of Caen, Vézelay and, most significantly, the [[Basilica of St Denis]] were completely rebuilt in the Gothic style. In Germany, major reconstructions of the 19th century sought to return many Romanesque buildings to their original form. Examples of simple Romanesque apses can be seen in the images of St Gertrude, Nivelles; St Philibert, Tournus, and San Miniato al Monte.

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Interiors (see also sections illustrating columns and roofs)" heights="260px">
File:Nivelles JPG00 (13).jpg|St Gertrude, [[Nivelles]], Belgium, (consecrated 1046) has a nave and aisles divided by piers supporting a clerestorey. The nave is divided by transverse arches. The interior would have been plastered and painted.
File:San Miniato al Monte Florence Italy.jpg|[[San Miniato al Monte]], [[Florence]] (1013–1090) has basilical form, open timber roof and decoration of polychrome marble and mosaic. The decoration continued harmoniously until the apsidal mosaic of 1260.
File:Tournus 43 .jpg|The Church of [[St Philibert, Tournus]], (990–1019) has tall circular piers supporting the arcade and is roofed with a series of barrel vaults supported on arches. Small clerestory windows light the vault.
File:Vezelay-Basilique-Nef.JPG|[[Vézelay Abbey|Abbey of St Mary Magdalene]], Vézelay, (consecrated 1104) has clusters of vertical shafts rising to support transverse arches and a groin vault. The dressed polychrome stonework has exquisitely detailed mouldings. <small>East end is Gothic.</small>
File:Peterborough interior 01 adjusted.jpg|The nave of [[Peterborough Cathedral]] (1118–1193) in three stages of arcade, gallery & clerestory, typical of Norman abbey churches. The rare wooden ceiling retains its original decoration ({{Circa|1230}}). <small>Gothic arches beneath tower ({{Circa|1350}}).</small>
</gallery>

===Other structures===
Among the structures associated with church buildings are crypts, porches, chapter houses, cloisters and baptisteries.

'''[[Crypt]]s''' are often present as an underlying structure to a substantial church, and are generally a completely discrete space, but occasionally, as in some Italian churches, may be a sunken space under a raised chancel and open, via steps, to the body of the nave. Romanesque crypts have survived in many instances, such as [[Canterbury Cathedral]], when the church itself has been rebuilt.
The usual construction of a Romanesque crypt is with many short stout columns carrying groin vaults, as at [[Worcester Cathedral]].

'''[[Porch]]es''' sometimes occur as part of the original design of a façade. This is very much the case in Italy, where they are usually only one bay deep and are supported on two columns, often resting on couchant lions, as at St Zeno, Verona.<small>See above.</small> Elsewhere, porches of various dates have been added to the façade or side entrance of existent churches and may be quite a substantial structure, with several bays of vaulting supported on an open or partially open arcade, and forming a sort of narthex as at the Church of St Maria, Laach.<small>See above</small> In Spain, Romanesque churches often have large lateral porches, like loggias.

'''[[Chapter house]]s''' often occur adjacent to monastic or cathedral churches. Few have survived intact from the Romanesque period. Early chapter houses were rectangular in shape, with the larger ones sometimes having groin or ribbed vaults supported on columns. Later Romanesque chapter houses sometimes had an apsidal eastern end. The chapter house at Durham Cathedral is a wide space with a ribbed vault, restored as originally constructed in 1130. The circular chapter house at Worcester Cathedral, built by Bishop Wulfstan (1062–95), was the first circular chapter house in Europe and was much imitated in England.

'''[[Cloister]]s''' are generally part of any [[Romanesque secular and domestic architecture#Monastic buildings|monastic complex]] and also occur at cathedral and collegiate churches. They were essential to the communal way of life, a place for both working during daylight hours and relaxing during inclement weather. They usually abut the church building and are enclosed with windowless walls on the outside and an open arcade on the inside, looking over a courtyard or "cloister garth". They may be vaulted or have timber roofs. The arcades are often richly decorated and are home to some of the most fanciful carved capitals of the Romanesque period with those of [[Santo Domingo de Silos]] in Spain and the [[Moissac Abbey|Abbey of St Pierre]] Moissac, being examples. Many Romanesque cloisters have survived in Spain, France, Italy and Germany, along with some of their associated buildings.

'''[[Baptistery|Baptisteries]]''' often occur in Italy as a free standing structure, associated with a cathedral. They are generally octagonal or circular and domed. The interior may be arcaded on several levels as at [[Pisa Cathedral]]. Other notable Romanesque baptisteries are that at [[Parma Cathedral]] remarkable for its galleried exterior, and the polychrome [[Florence Baptistery|Baptistery of San Giovanni]] of Florence Cathedral, with vault mosaics of the 13th century including Christ in Majesty, possibly the work of the almost legendary [[Coppo di Marcovaldo]].

<gallery mode="packed" heights="240px">
File:Worcester cathedral 031 crop.JPG|The groin-vaulted crypt of [[Worcester Cathedral]]
File:Monasterio de la Oliva - Sala Capitular 01.jpg|The chapter house of [[Santa María de la Oliva]], [[Carcastillo]], Spain
File:SegoviaSEstebán2 22.4.2003.jpg|The lateral porch of the [[Tower of San Esteban|Church of San Esteban]], [[Segovia]]
File:Abbaye de Lavaudieu - Cloître - JPG1.jpg|The cloister of [[Lavaudieu|Lavaudieu Abbey]]
File:Battistero.jpg|The Baptistery of [[Parma Cathedral]]
</gallery>

===Decoration===

====Architectural embellishment====
Arcading is the single most significant decorative feature of Romanesque architecture. It occurs in a variety of forms, from the [[Lombard band]], which is a row of small arches that appear to support a roofline or course, to shallow blind arcading that is often a feature of English architecture and is seen in great variety at [[Ely Cathedral]], to the open dwarf gallery, first used at [[Speyer Cathedral]] and widely adopted in Italy as seen on both [[Pisa Cathedral]] and its famous [[Leaning Tower]]. Arcades could be used to great effect, both externally and internally, as exemplified by the church of Santa Maria della Pieve, in Arezzo.<ref name=RH/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="130">
File:Iglesia de São Bento de Castro de Avelãs (5819068854).jpg|alt=Blind arcading in brick in the Mozarabic style of Asturia and Leon on the apse of Castro de Avelãs Monastery, a unique example in Portugal.|Blind arcading in brick in the [[Mozarabic architecture|Mozarabic style]] of [[Asturia]] and [[León (historical region)|Leon]] on the apse of [[Portuguese Romanesque architecture|Castro de Avelãs Monastery]], a unique example in Portugal
File:St Lawrence's church in Castle Rising - Norman west facade - geograph.org.uk - 1878796.jpg|Overlapping arches form a blind arcade at St Lawrence's church [[Castle Rising]], England. (1150) The semi-circular arches form pointed arches where they overlap, a motif which may have influenced Gothic.
File:San Juan de Rabanera-Soria - P7234547.jpg|alt=Flat striated pillars (one of which forms the axis of symmetry, separating two windows with semi-circular arches) and richly decorated blind windows in the apse of San Juan de Rabanera Church in Soria, Spain.|Flat striated pillars (one of which forms the axis of symmetry, separating two windows with semi-circular arches) and richly decorated blind windows in the apse of [[San Juan de Rabanera|San Juan de Rabanera Church]] in [[Soria]], Spain
File:2010.08.14.164600 Dom Speyer lighter.JPG|Dwarf galleries are a major decorative feature on the exterior of [[Speyer Cathedral]], Germany (1090–1106), surrounding the walls and encircling the towers. This was to become a feature of Rhenish Romanesque.
File:Duomo di parma, abside sx 01.JPG|alt=The eastern apse of Parma Cathedral, Italy (early 12th century) combines a diversity of decorative features: blind arcading, galleries, courses and sculptured motifs.|The eastern apse of [[Parma Cathedral]], Italy, early 12th century, combines a diversity of decorative features: blind arcading, galleries, courses and sculptured motifs.
File:Toscana Lucca5 tango7174 lighter.JPG|alt=The arcading on the façade of Lucca Cathedral, Tuscany (1204) has many variations in its decorative details, both sculptural and in the inlaid polychrome marble.|The arcading on the façade of [[Lucca Cathedral]], Tuscany (1204), has many variations in its decorative details, both sculptural and in the inlaid polychrome marble.
File:Monreale-bjs-17.jpg|alt=Polychrome blind arcading of the apse of Monreale Cathedral, Sicily (1174–82) The decoration indicates Islamic influence in both the motifs and the fact that all the arches, including those of the windows, are pointed.|Polychrome blind arcading of the apse of [[Monreale Cathedral]], Sicily (1174–82). The decoration indicates Islamic influence in both the motifs and the fact that all the arches, including those of the windows, are pointed.
</gallery>

====Architectural sculpture====
The Romanesque period produced a profusion of sculptural ornamentation. This most frequently took a purely geometric form and was particularly applied to mouldings, both straight courses and the curved moldings of arches. In La Madeleine, Vezelay, for example, the polychrome ribs of the vault are all edged with narrow filets of pierced stone. Similar decoration occurs around the arches of the nave and along the horizontal course separating arcade and clerestory. Combined with the pierced carving of the capitals, this gives a delicacy and refinement to the interior.<ref name=RH/>

In England, such decoration could be discrete, as at [[Hereford Cathedral|Hereford]] and Peterborough cathedrals, or have a sense of massive energy as at Durham where the diagonal ribs of the vaults are all outlined with [[Chevron (insignia)|chevron]]s, the mouldings of the nave arcade are carved with several layers of the same and the huge columns are deeply incised with a variety of geometric patterns creating an impression of directional movement. These features combine to create one of the richest and most dynamic interiors of the Romanesque period.<ref>Alec Clifton-Taylor says "With the Cathedral of Durham we reach the incomparable masterpiece of Romanesque architecture not only in England but anywhere."</ref>

Although much sculptural ornament was sometimes applied to the interiors of churches, the focus of such decoration was generally the west front, and in particular, the portals. Chevrons and other geometric ornaments, referred to by 19th-century writers as "barbaric ornament", are most frequently found on the mouldings of the central door. Stylized foliage often appears, sometimes deeply carved and curling outward after the manner of the acanthus leaves on [[Corinthian order|Corinthian capitals]], but also carved in shallow relief and spiral patterns, imitating the intricacies of manuscript illuminations. In general, the style of ornament was more classical in Italy, such as that seen around the door of [[San Giusto, Lucca|San Giusto]] in [[Lucca]], and more "barbaric" in England, Germany and Scandinavia, such as that seen at [[Lincoln Cathedral|Lincoln]] and [[Speyer Cathedral]]s. France produced a great range of ornament, with particularly fine interwoven and spiralling vines in the "manuscript" style occurring at [[Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse|Saint-Sernin]], Toulouse.<ref name=OME/><ref name=Toman/><ref name=RH/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="130" widths="130">
File:Modillonsarthous2.JPG|alt=Detail of an apse of Abbey d'Arthous, Landes, France showing corbels representing aspects of sin such as lust, drunkenness and ignorance.|Detail of an apse of Abbey d'Arthous, Landes, France, showing corbels representing aspects of sin such as lust, drunkenness and ignorance
File:Avila - Ermita de San Segundo 3.jpg|The portal of the [[Ávila, Spain#Ermita de San Segundo|Hermitage of St Segundo, Avila]], has paired creatures. and decorative bands of floral and interlacing. The pairing of creatures could draw on Byzantine and Celtic models.
File:Aiguilhe - Chapelle St-Michel - JPG3.jpg|alt=The carving of the polychrome porch of the Saint-Michel-D'aiguilhe chapel, the Aiguilhe, Haute-Loire, France, (11th century), has paired mermaids, and the Lamb of God|The carving of the polychrome porch of the Saint-Michel-D'aiguilhe chapel, the [[Aiguilhe]], Haute-Loire, France, 11th century, has paired mermaids, and the [[Lamb of God]].
File:Lincoln cathedral 03 West portal.jpg|On these mouldings around the portal of [[Lincoln Cathedral]] are formal chevron ornament, tongue-poking monsters, vines and figures, and symmetrical motifs.
File:Eglise StMartin Gensac detail portail.JPG|St Martin's Church, [[Gensac-la-Pallue]] has capitals with elaborate interlacing.
</gallery>

====Figurative sculpture====
{{main|Romanesque art}}
The name of the architectural style was transferred onto the art of the period. [[Romanesque art]] provided fine examples of painting and sculpture, but, while the Romanesque churches were flush with colours, most large paintings were lost. The period brought a major revival of sculpture.{{sfn|Oxford University Press|2004}}

With the fall of the Roman Empire, the tradition of carving large works in stone and sculpting figures in bronze died out. The best-known surviving large sculptural work of Proto-Romanesque Europe is the life-size wooden Crucifix commissioned by [[Gero (Archbishop of Cologne)|Archbishop Gero of Cologne]] in about 960–65.<ref>See details at [[Cologne Cathedral]].</ref> During the 11th and 12th centuries, figurative sculpture flourished in a distinctly Romanesque style that can be recognised across Europe, although the most spectacular sculptural projects are concentrated in South-Western France, Northern Spain and Italy.

Major figurative decoration occurs particularly around the portals of cathedrals and churches, ornamenting the [[Tympanum (architecture)|tympanum]], lintels, jambs and central posts. The tympanum is typically decorated with the imagery of [[Christ in Majesty]] with the symbols of the [[Four Evangelists]], drawn directly from the gilt covers of medieval [[Gospel Book]]s. This style of doorway occurs in many places and continued into the Gothic period. A rare survival in England is that of the "Prior's Door" at [[Ely Cathedral]]. In France, many have survived, with impressive examples at the [[Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Moissac]], the [[Abbey of Sainte-Marie, Souillac]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Howe |first=Jeffery |title=Romanesque Architecture (slides) |work=A digital archive of architecture |publisher=[[Boston College]] |url= http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/souillac.html |access-date=2007-09-28}}</ref> and [[Abbey of la Madaleine, Vézelay]]&nbsp;– all daughter houses of Cluny, with extensive other sculpture remaining in cloisters and other buildings. Nearby, [[Autun Cathedral]] has a [[Last Judgement]] of great rarity in that it has uniquely been signed by its creator Giselbertus (who was perhaps the patron rather than the sculptor).<ref name=HG/><ref name=RH/> The same artist is thought to have worked at la Madeleine Vezelay which uniquely has two elaborately carved tympanum, the early inner one representing the Last Judgement and that on the outer portal of the narthex representing Jesus [[Great Commission|sending forth the Apostles]] to preach to the nations.

It is a feature of Romanesque art, both in manuscript illumination and sculptural decoration, that figures are contorted to fit the space that they occupy. Among the many examples that exist, one of the finest is the figure of the [[Jeremiah (prophet)|Prophet Jeremiah]] from the pillar of the portal of the [[Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Moissac]], France, from about 1130.<ref name=RH/> A significant motif of Romanesque design is the spiral, a form applied to both plant motifs and drapery in Romanesque sculpture. An outstanding example of its use in drapery is that of the central figure of Christ on the outer portal at [[Vézelay Abbey|La Madaleine, Vezelay]].<ref name=RH/>

Many of the smaller sculptural works, particularly capitals, are Biblical in subject and include scenes of [[Genesis creation myth|Creation]] and the [[Adam and Eve|Fall of Man]], episodes from the life of Christ and those [[Old Testament]] scenes that [[Typology (theology)|prefigure]] his [[Crucifixion of Jesus|Death]] and [[Resurrection]], such as [[Jonah|Jonah and the Whale]] and [[Daniel in the lions' den]]. Many [[Nativity of Jesus in art|Nativity]] scenes occur, the theme of the [[Biblical Magi|Three Kings]] being particularly popular. The cloisters of [[Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey]] in Northern Spain, and [[Moissac]] are fine examples surviving complete.
<gallery mode="packed" heights="140">
File:Tympan - Porte Miégeville - Basilique Saint-Sernin.jpg|The tympanum of the side entrance of [[Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse|Saint-Sernin of Toulouse]], ({{Circa|1115}}) shows the Ascension of Christ, surrounded by angels, in a simple composition of standing figures.
File:02 Basilique Ste-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay - Tympan.jpg|The tympanum of the inner portal of la Madeleine Vezelay has the scene of Christ in Majesty, at the Last Judgement. The figure of Christ is highly formalised in both posture and treatment. (1130s)
File:Portail sud de l' Abbatiale Saint-Pierre de Moissac (3).JPG|alt=The tympanum of the Saint-Pierre, Moissac, is a highly sophisticated, tightly packed design, like a manuscript illumination. Christ is surrounded by the symbols of the Four Evangelists|The tympanum of the [[Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Moissac|Saint-Pierre, Moissac]], is a highly sophisticated, tightly packed design, like a manuscript illumination. Christ is surrounded by the symbols of the [[Four Evangelists]].
File:Cathedrale Sainte-Marie Oloron portail avaleur.jpg|Details of the portal of [[Oloron Cathedral]] show a demon, a lion swallowing a man and kings with musical instruments.
File:Saint-Trophime 805.jpg|A relief from St Trophime, Arles, showing King Herod and the [[Biblical Magi|Three Kings]], follows the conventions in that the seated Herod is much larger than the standing figures.
File:ND-en-Vaux Chapiteau 4 adjusted.JPG|Notre-Dame-en-Vaux, [[Châlons-en-Champagne]]. This paired capital representing Christ washing the feet of the disciples is lively and naturalistic.
</gallery>

====Murals====
The large wall surfaces and plain curving vaults of the Romanesque period lent themselves to mural decoration. Many of these early wall paintings have been destroyed by damp or the walls have been replastered and painted over. In most of Northern Europe such pictures were systematically destroyed in bouts of [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] [[iconoclasm]]. In other countries they have suffered from war, neglect and changing fashion.

A classic scheme for the full painted decoration of a church, derived from earlier examples often in [[mosaic]], had, as its focal point in the [[semi-dome]] of the apse, [[Christ in Majesty]] or Christ the Redeemer enthroned within a [[mandorla]] and framed by the four winged beasts, symbols of the [[Four Evangelists]], comparing directly with examples from the gilt covers or the illuminations of [[Gospel Book]]s of the period. If the [[Virgin Mary]] was the dedicatee of the church, she might replace Christ here. On the apse walls below would be saints and apostles, perhaps including narrative scenes, for example of the saint to whom the church was dedicated. On the sanctuary arch were figures of apostles, prophets or the twenty-four "[[Elders of the Apocalypse]]", looking in towards a bust of Christ, or his symbol the Lamb, at the top of the arch. The north wall of the nave would contain narrative scenes from the Old Testament, and the south wall from the New Testament. On the rear west wall would be a [[Doom paintings|Doom painting]] or [[Last Judgement]], with an enthroned and judging Christ at the top.<ref>James Hall, ''A History of Ideas and Images in Italian Art'', p. 154, 1983, John Murray, London, {{ISBN|0-7195-3971-4}}</ref>

One of the most intact schemes to exist is that at [[Abbey Church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe|Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe]] in France. <small>(See picture above under "Vault")</small> The long barrel vault of the nave provides an excellent surface for fresco, and is decorated with scenes of the [[Old Testament]], showing the [[Genesis creation myth|Creation]], the [[Adam and Eve|Fall of Man]] and other stories including a lively depiction of [[Noah's Ark]] complete with a fearsome figurehead and numerous windows through with can be seen the Noah and his family on the upper deck, birds on the middle deck, while on the lower are the pairs of animals. Another scene shows with great vigour the swamping of Pharaoh's army by the Red Sea. The scheme extends to other parts of the church, with the martyrdom of the local saints shown in the crypt, and [[Apocalypse]] in the narthex and Christ in Majesty. The range of colours employed is limited to light blue-green, yellow ochre, reddish brown and black. Similar paintings exist in Serbia, Spain, Germany, Italy and elsewhere in France.<ref name=Toman/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="130">
File:Leon (San Isidoro, panteón).jpg|alt=The painted crypt of San Isidoro in León, Spain has a detailed scheme illustrating Biblical stories.|The painted crypt of [[Basilica of San Isidoro|San Isidoro]] in [[León, Spain]], has a detailed scheme illustrating Biblical stories.
File:Segovia - San Justo 22 adjust.JPG|Apse of the Church of St Justus, Segovia. ''Christ in Majesty'' was a common theme for the apse.
File:Absis de Sant Pere del Burgal, 11th c. fresco crop.JPG|alt=A frieze of figures occupies the zone below the semi-dome in the apse. Abbey of St Pere of Burgal, Catalonia, Spain|A frieze of figures occupies the zone below the semi-dome in the apse. [[Paintings from El Burgal|Abbey of St Pere of Burgal]], Catalonia, Spain.
File:12th-century paintings of Last Judgement (Clayton Church, Sussex).jpg|alt=In England the major pictorial theme occurs above the chancel arch in parish churches. St John the Baptist, Clayton, Sussex|In England the major pictorial theme occurs above the chancel arch in parish churches. [[Clayton, West Sussex#Parish church|St John the Baptist, Clayton, Sussex]].
File:Galenoghippokrates.jpg|alt=This fresco showing Galen and Hippocrates is part of a complex scheme decorating the crypt of Anagni Cathedral, Italy|This fresco showing [[Galen]] and [[Hippocrates]] is part of a complex scheme decorating the crypt of [[Anagni#Cathedral|Anagni Cathedral]], Italy.
</gallery>

====Stained glass====
{{further|Medieval stained glass}}
The oldest-known fragments of medieval pictorial [[stained glass]] appear to date from the 10th century. The earliest intact figures are five prophet windows at Augsburg, dating from the late 11th century. The figures, though stiff and formalised, demonstrate considerable proficiency in design, both pictorially and in the functional use of the glass, indicating that their maker was well accustomed to the medium. At Canterbury and Chartres Cathedrals, a number of panels of the 12th century have survived, including, at Canterbury, a figure of Adam digging, and another of his son Seth from a series of [[Ancestors of Christ]]. Adam represents a highly naturalistic and lively portrayal, while in the figure of Seth, the robes have been used to great decorative effect, similar to the best stone carving of the period.

Many of the magnificent [[Medieval stained glass|stained glass windows]] of France, including the famous windows of Chartres, date from the 13th century. Far fewer large windows remain intact from the 12th century. One such is the Crucifixion of Poitiers, a remarkable composition that rises through three stages, the lowest with a quatrefoil depicting the Martyrdom of St Peter, the largest central stage dominated by the crucifixion and the upper stage showing the [[Ascension of Christ]] in a mandorla. The figure of the crucified Christ is already showing the Gothic curve. The window is described by George Seddon as being of "unforgettable beauty".<ref name=GS>George Seddon in Lee, Seddon and Stephens, ''Stained Glass''</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="300" perrow="1" caption="Stained glass from Germany, England and France. Note: the scale of the first three windows is similar.">
File:King David in Augsburg Cathedral light.JPG|King David from [[Augsburg Cathedral]], late 11th century. One of a series of prophets that are the oldest stained glass windows in situ.
File:Canterbury, Canterbury cathedral-stained glass 03 Seth and Adam.JPG|alt=Two panels of lively figures, Seth and Adam from the 12th-century Ancestors of Christ, Canterbury Cathedral, now set into a Perpendicular Gothic window with panels of many different dates.|Two panels of lively figures, Seth and Adam from the 12th-century [[Ancestors of Christ]], Canterbury Cathedral, now set into a Perpendicular Gothic window with panels of many different dates
File:Bas-côté nord, baie VI Otto II Rex (dernier tiers XIIe).jpg|alt=Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor, from a series of Emperors (12th and 13th centuries) The panels are now set into Gothic windows, Strasbourg Cathedral|[[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor]], from a series of Emperors (12th and 13th centuries). The panels are now set into Gothic windows, [[Strasbourg Cathedral]].
File:David et Salomon, vitrail roman, Cathédrale de Strasbourg.jpg|alt=Detail of a small panel showing Kings David and Solomon set in an architectonic frame from a large window at Strasbourg. Late 12th century. The alternation of red and blue is a typical device of simpler window designs. It is approximately 1/3 the height, and is much less complex in execution than the Emperor series of which Otto II is a part.See left|Detail of a small panel showing Kings David and Solomon set in an architectonic frame from a large window at Strasbourg. Late 12th century. The alternation of red and blue is a typical device of simpler window designs. It is approximately 1/3 the height, and is much less complex in execution than the Emperor series of which Otto II is a part. <small>See left</small>
File:Poitiers, Cathédrale Saint-Pierre -PM 34985 lighter.JPG|alt=A rare and remarkable survival, of "unforgettable beauty", the very large Crucifixion window of Poitiers Cathedral, France.|A rare and remarkable survival, of "unforgettable beauty",<ref name= GS /> the very large Crucifixion window of [[Poitiers Cathedral]], France
</gallery>

===Transitional style and the continued use of Romanesque forms===
During the 12th century, features that were to become typical of [[Gothic architecture]] began to appear. It is not uncommon, for example, for a part of building that has been constructed over a lengthy period extending into the 12th century, to have very similar arcading of both semi-circular and pointed shape, or windows that are identical in height and width, but in which the later ones are pointed. This can be seen on the towers of [[Tournai Cathedral]] and on the western towers and façade at [[Ely Cathedral]].<ref name=ACT/><ref name=WS/> Other variations that appear to hover between Romanesque and Gothic occur, such as the façade designed by [[Abbot Suger]] at the Abbey of Saint-Denis, which retains much that is Romanesque in its appearance, and the façade of [[Laon Cathedral]], which, despite its Gothic form, has round arches.<ref name=WS>Wim Swaan, ''Gothic Cathedrals''</ref>

Abbot Suger's innovative choir of the [[Abbey of Saint-Denis]], 1140–44, led to the adoption of the Gothic style by Paris and its surrounding area, but other parts of France were slower to take it up, and provincial churches continued to be built in the heavy manner and rubble stone of the Romanesque, even when the openings were treated with the fashionable pointed arch.

In England, the Romanesque groundplan, which in that country commonly had a very long nave, continued to affect the style of building of cathedrals and those large abbey churches which were also to become cathedrals at the [[dissolution of the monasteries]] in the 16th century. Despite the fact that English cathedrals were built or rebuilt in many stages, substantial areas of Norman building can be seen in many of them, particularly in the nave arcades. In the case of [[Winchester Cathedral]], the Gothic arches were literally carved out of the existent Norman piers.<ref name=ACT/> Other cathedrals have sections of their building which are clearly an intermediate stage between Norman and Gothic, such as the western towers of Ely Cathedral and part of the nave at [[Worcester Cathedral]]. The first truly Gothic building in England is the long eastern end of [[Canterbury Cathedral]] commenced in 1175.<ref name=ACT/>

In Italy, although many churches such as [[Florence Cathedral]] and [[Santa Maria Novella]] were built in the Gothic style, or utilising the pointed arch and window tracery, Romanesque features derived from the Roman architectural heritage, such as sturdy columns with capitals of a modified Corinthian form, continued to be used. The pointed vault was utilised where convenient, but it is commonly interspersed with semicircular arches and vaults wherever they conveniently fit. The façades of Gothic churches in Italy are not always easily distinguishable from the Romanesque.

Germany was not quick to adopt the Gothic style, and when it did so in the 1230s, the buildings were often modelled very directly upon French cathedrals, as [[Cologne Cathedral]] was modelled on Amiens. The smaller churches and abbeys continued to be constructed in a more provincial Romanesque manner, the date only being registered by the pointed window openings.<ref name=RH/>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="Churches showing the transition between Romanesque and Gothic" heights="220px">
File:2-Cathédrale de Laon.JPG|The façade of [[Laon Cathedral]], 1225, a Gothic cathedral, maintains rounded arches and arcading in the Romanesque manner.
File:Ely Cathedral 3.jpg|[[Ely Cathedral]], England, the central western tower and framing smaller towers all had transitional features, 1180s. The tower to the left fell. <small>Gothic porch, 1250s; lantern, 1390s.</small>
File:Cattedrale di San Lorenzo Genoa.jpg|The façade of the [[Cathedral of Genoa]] has both round and pointed arches, and paired windows, a continuing Romanesque feature of Italian Gothic architecture.
</gallery>

==Romanesque castles, houses and other buildings==
{{Main|Romanesque secular and domestic architecture}}
The Romanesque period was a time of great development in the design and construction of defensive architecture. After churches and the monastic buildings with which they are often associated, castles are the most numerous type of building of the period. While most are in ruins through the action of war and politics, others, like William the Conqueror's White Tower within the [[Tower of London]] have remained almost intact.

In some regions, particularly Germany, large [[palace]]s were built for rulers and bishops. Local lords built [[great hall]]s in the countryside, while rich merchants built grand [[town house]]s. In Italy, city councils constructed [[town hall]]s (called [[Broletto]] or [[Arengario]]), while wealthy cities of Northern Europe protected their trading interests with [[warehouse]]s and commercial premises. All over Europe, dwellers of the town and country built houses to live in, some of which, sturdily constructed in stone, have remained to this day with sufficient of their form and details intact to give a picture of the style of domestic architecture that was in fashion at the time.

Examples of all these types of buildings can be found scattered across Europe, sometimes as isolated survivals like the two merchants' houses on opposite sides of Steep Hill in [[Lincoln, England]], and sometimes giving form to a whole medieval city like [[San Gimignano]] in Tuscany, Italy. These buildings are the subject of a separate article.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="170" widths="220" caption="Secular and domestic architecture">
File:London Tower (1).JPG|alt=A huge square tower of grey stone is seen beyond fortifications on the edge of a river.|[[Tower of London]] (1078); [[William the Conqueror]] built the central White Tower as his stronghold and residence.
File:Great Hall, Oakham Castle - geograph.org.uk - 92787.jpg|alt=A tidy building like a large barn, of red brick with long sloping roofs, dormer windows and a low arched doorway.|The Great Hall of [[Oakham Castle]], England, once part of the fortified manor of a Norman [[baron]]
File:Krak des chevaliers15(js).jpg|alt=An enormous castle with encircling walls, on a rise in barren country with distant mountains.|[[Crusades|Crusader]] castle, [[Krak des Chevaliers]], [[Syria]], was mainly constructed in this period, with the outer walls being later.
File:PvBroletto.jpg|alt=A massive brick courtyard with porch and loggia, also used for public assemblies.|The courtyard of the [[Broletto, Pavia|Broletto]] in [[Pavia]].
</gallery>

==Romanesque Revival==
{{Main|Romanesque Revival architecture}} ''See also'' [[Romanesque Revival architecture in the United Kingdom]]
During the 19th century, when [[Gothic Revival architecture]] was fashionable, buildings were occasionally designed in the Romanesque style. There are a number of Romanesque Revival churches, dating from as early as the 1830s and continuing into the 20th century where the massive and "brutal" quality of the Romanesque style was appreciated and designed in brick.

The [[Natural History Museum, London]], designed by [[Alfred Waterhouse]], 1879, on the other hand, is a Romanesque revival building that makes full use of the decorative potential of Romanesque arcading and architectural sculpture. The Romanesque appearance has been achieved while freely adapting an overall style to suit the function of the building. The columns of the foyer, for example, give an impression of incised geometric design similar to those of Durham Cathedral. However, the sources of the incised patterns are the trunks of palms, cycads and tropical tree ferns. The animal motifs, of which there are many, include rare and exotic species.

The type of modern buildings for which the Romanesque style was most frequently adapted was the warehouse, where a lack of large windows and an appearance of great strength and stability were desirable features. These buildings, generally of brick, frequently have flattened buttresses rising to wide arches at the upper levels after the manner of some Italian Romanesque façades. This style was adapted to suit commercial buildings by opening the spaces between the arches into large windows, the brick walls becoming a shell to a building that was essentially of modern steel-frame construction, the architect [[Henry Hobson Richardson]] giving his name to the style, [[Richardsonian Romanesque]]. Good examples of the style are [[Marshall Field's Wholesale Store]], Chicago, by H.H. Richardson, 1885, and the Chadwick Lead Works in [[Boston]], United States, by [[William G. Preston|William Preston]], 1887. The style also lent itself to the building of cloth mills, steelworks and powerstations.<ref name=BF/><ref name=NP/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="170" widths="220" caption="Romanesque Revival architecture">
File:Natural History Museum London Jan 2006.jpg|[[Natural History Museum, London]], [[Alfred Waterhouse]], 1879
File:Absolute Eglise St Pierre Le jeune 01.JPG|The façade of Catholic church of [[Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune Catholic Church|Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune, Strasbourg]] (built 1888–1893), is of a type adopted for many churches in the early 20th century.<!-- there are two "Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune" churches in Strasbourg-->
File:Speyer---Cathedral---West-View---(Gentry).jpg|The 19th-century reconstruction of the westwerk of the Romanesque [[Speyer Cathedral]]. <small>see above</small>
File:Royce Hall straight.JPG|Royce Hall, at [[UCLA]], inspired by The [[Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio]] in [[Milan]], Italy. <small> see above</small>
File:Old Museum Building, Brisbane in 2019.jpg|[[Old Museum Building, Brisbane|Old Museum Building]], [[Brisbane]], [[George Henry Male Addison]] 1891
File:02216jfManila Cathedral Intramuros Manila Palacio del Gobernador Landmarksfvf 11.jpg|alt=A cathedral in the Romanesque style with a large central portal, a wheel window, and a single, domed bell tower.|[[Manila Cathedral]], [[Intramuros]], [[Manila]], Philippines
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=Notes}}

==See also==
{{commons category|Romanesque architecture}} 
*Regional Styles
**[[French Romanesque architecture|France]]
**[[Norman architecture|Normandy]]
**[[First Romanesque|Lombardy]]
**[[Pisan Romanesque style|Pisa]]
**[[Romanesque architecture in Poland|Poland]]
**[[Portuguese Romanesque architecture|Portugal]]
**[[Romanesque architecture in Sardinia|Sardinia]]
**[[Romanesque architecture in Spain|Spain]]
* List
**[[List of Romanesque buildings|Buildings]]
**[[List of Brick Romanesque buildings|Brick buildings]]
*[[Mendicant monasteries in Mexico]]

==References==
{{Reflist|35em}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book | last1=Clarke | first1=Michael | last2=Clarke | first2=Deborah | title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=2010-01-01 | isbn=978-0-19-956992-2 | doi=10.1093/acref/9780199569922.001.0001 | chapter = Romanesque }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Fernie |first1=Eric |title=The History of Medieval Architecture from Carolingian to Romanesque: Criteria and Definitions from 1925 to the Present Day |journal=[[Muqarnas (journal)|Muqarnas]] |date=1991 |volume=8 |issue=K. A. C. Creswell and His Legacy |pages=36–39 |jstor=1523150 |publisher=Brill|doi=10.2307/1523150 }}
* {{cite book | first = Carola | last = Hicks | title=The Oxford Companion to Western Art | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=2001-01-01 | isbn=978-0-19-866203-7 | doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662037.001.0001 | chapter = Romanesque }}
* {{cite book
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Te2dAAAAQBAJ
  | title = The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Art and Architecture
  | publisher = Oxford University Press
  | year = 2013
  | isbn = 978-0-199-68027-6
  | edition = illustrated
  | editor1-last = Jones
  | editor1-first = Tom Devonshire
  | editor2-last = Murray
  | editor2-first = Linda
  | editor3-last = Murray
  | editor3-first = Peter
  }}
* {{cite book
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OuNOAAAAYAAJ&q=romanesque+domical+vaults
  | title = Spanish Romanesque Sculpture, Volume 1
  | last = Porter
  | first = Arthur Kingsley
  | publisher = Hacker Art Books
  | year = 1928
  | isbn = 9780878170333
 | edition = illustrated
  }}
* {{cite book | title=The Oxford Dictionary of Art | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=2004-01-01 | isbn=978-0-19-860476-1 | doi=10.1093/acref/9780198604761.001.0001 | ref={{sfnref | Oxford University Press  | 2004}} | chapter = Romanesque}}
* {{cite book | title=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] | date=2023-03-02 | doi=10.1093/oed/9822227393 | ref={{sfnref | Oxford University Press | 2023}} | chapter=Romanesque, n. & adj }}
* {{cite book | title=A Companion to Medieval Art: Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe | publisher=Wiley | date=2019-04-15 | isbn=978-1-119-07772-5 | doi=10.1002/9781119077756 | edition = 2nd | editor-first=Conrad | editor-last = Rudolph |ref=none}} 
** {{cite book | last=Rudolph | first=Conrad | title=A Companion to Medieval Art | chapter=Introduction: A Sense of Loss: An Overview of the Historiography of Romanesque and Gothic Art | publisher=Wiley | date=2019-04-15 | isbn=978-1-119-07772-5 | doi=10.1002/9781119077756.ch1 | pages = 1–43 | s2cid=240902117 }}
** {{cite book | last=Fernie | first=Eric | title=A Companion to Medieval Art | chapter=Definitions and Explanations of the Romanesque Style in Architecture from the 1960s to the Present Day | publisher=Wiley | date=2019-04-15 | isbn=978-1-119-07772-5 | doi=10.1002/9781119077756.ch17 | pages=407–416 | s2cid=191987533 }}
* {{cite book| title = Visions of Heaven: the Dome in European Architecture| last1 = Stephenson| first1 = Davis| last2 = Hammond | first2 = Victoria | last3 = Davi| first3 = Keith F.| publisher = Princeton Architectural Press| year = 2005| isbn = 978-1-56898-549-7| edition = illustrated| page = 174 }}
* {{cite book | last1=Valdes | first1=G. | last2=Pistolesi | first2=A. | last3=Pauli | first3=E. | title=Art and History of Pisa | publisher=Bonechi | series=Art and History Series | year=1994 | isbn=978-88-8029-024-7 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHGn0tDuNFkC&pg=PA7 | access-date=2023-12-02 | page=7 | chapter=Pisan Romanesque}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book|last=Conant|first=Kenneth J.|author-link=Kenneth John Conant|url=https://archive.org/details/carolingianroman00cona|url-access=registration|title=Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture: 800 to 1200|publisher = Yale University Press| year = 1993|isbn=978-0-300-05298-5|edition=4th, illustrated, reprint}}
* V.I. Atroshenko and Judith Collins, ''The Origins of the Romanesque'', Lund Humphries, London, 1985, {{ISBN|0-85331-487-X}}
* Rolf Toman, ''Romanesque: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting'', Könemann, (1997), {{ISBN|3-89508-447-6}}
* [[Banister Fletcher]], ''A History of Architecture on the Comparative method'' (2001). Elsevier Science & Technology. {{ISBN|0-7506-2267-9}}.
*[[Alfred Clapham]], ''Romanesque Architecture in England'' British Council (1950)
* [[Helen Gardner (art historian)|Helen Gardner]]; Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J. Mamiya, ''Gardner's Art through the Ages''. Thomson Wadsworth, (2004) {{ISBN|0-15-505090-7}}.
* George Holmes, editor, ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe'', Oxford University Press, (1992) {{ISBN|0-19-820073-0}}
* René Huyghe, ''Larousse Encyclopedia of Byzantine and Medieval Art'', Paul Hamlyn, (1958)
* François Ischer, ''Building the Great Cathedrals''. Harry N. Abrams, (1998). {{ISBN|0-8109-4017-5}}.
* [[Nikolaus Pevsner]], ''An Outline of European Architecture''. Pelican Books (1964)
* John Beckwith, ''Early Medieval Art'', Thames and Hudson, (1964)
* Peter Kidson, ''The Medieval World'', Paul Hamlyn, (1967)
* T. Francis Bumpus, ''The Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium'', T. Werner Laurie. (1928)
* Alec Clifton-Taylor, ''The Cathedrals of England'', Thames and Hudson (1967)
* John Harvey, ''English Cathedrals'', Batsford (1961).
* Trewin Copplestone, ''World Architecture, and Illustrated History'', Paul Hamlyn, (1963)
* Tadhg O'Keefe, ''Archeology and the Pan-European Romanesque '', Duckworth Publishers, (2007), {{ISBN|0715634348}}
* Mary Curtis Webb ''Ideas and images in twelfth century sculpture '', https://lib.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/001/879/684/RUG01-001879684_2012_0001_AC.pdf, privately published (2012)
* {{cite book | last=Kubach | first=Hans Erich | title=Romanesque Architecture | publisher=Harry N. Abrams | series=History of world architecture | year=1975 | isbn=0-8109-1024-1 | url=https://archive.org/details/romanesquearchit00kuba  | access-date=2023-12-14}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|Romanesque}}
{{external links|date=February 2016}}
*[http://www.crsbi.ac.uk Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland]
*[http://www.romanes.com French Romanesque art through 300 places] {{in lang|it|fr|es|en}}
*[http://www.americansinfrance.net/Attractions/Southern-Burgundy-Romanesque-Churches.cfm Romanesque Churches in Southern Burgundy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060214234443/http://www.americansinfrance.net/Attractions/Southern-Burgundy-Romanesque-Churches.cfm |date=2006-02-14 }}
*[http://www.circulo-romanico.com Círculo Románico – Visigothic, Mozarabic and Romanesque art in Europe]
*[http://www.beyond-the-pale.org.uk/satan1.htm Satan in the Groin – exhibitionist carvings on medieval churches]
* [http://archive.cyark.org/sainttrophime-info Saint-Trophime Digital Media Archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101016002408/http://archive.cyark.org/sainttrophime-info |date=2010-10-16 }} (creative commons-licensed HD documentation) on the Romanesque [[Church of St. Trophime]], using data from a [[World Monuments Fund]]/[[CyArk]] research partnership
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Romanesque Architecture}}
[[Category:Romanesque architecture| ]]
[[Category:Architectural styles]]
[[Category:European architecture]]
[[Category:Romanesque art|*Architecture]]
[[Category:Catholic architecture]]

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