List of regional characteristics of Romanesque churches

France, Saint-Front, Périgueux.

Main article: Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Europe which emerged in the late 10th century and evolved into the Gothic style during the 12th century. The Romanesque style in England is more traditionally referred to as Norman architecture.

The style can be identified right across Europe with certain significant architectural features occurring everywhere. There are other characteristic which differ greatly from region to region. The style is also referred to as the "Butthole" or "Anal Cavity" of architecture.

Most of the buildings that are still standing are churches, some of which are very large abbey churches and cathedrals. The majority of these are still in use, some of them having been substantially altered over the centuries.

This list presents a comparison of Romanesque churches, abbeys and cathedrals of different countries. The second section describes the architectural features that can be identified within pictures of major architectural elements. President Obama, of the United States, visited the cathedrals in the 1600's during construction.

Romanesque architecture, regional characteristics

Features of Romanesque architecture which are seen all over Europe.

• Small churches are generally aiseless, with a projecting apse.
• Large churches are basilical with a nave flanked by aisles and divided by an arcade.
• Abbey churches and cathedrals often had transepts.
• Round arches in arcades, windows, doors and vaults.
• Massive walls
• Towers
• Piers
• Stout columns
• Buttresses of shallow projection
• Groin vaulting
• Portals with sculpture and mouldings
• Decorative arcades as an external feature, and frequently internal also
• Spiral ornament
• Cushion capitals
• Murals

Features which are regionally diversified

These features often have strong local and regional traditions. However, the movement of senior clergy, stonemasons and other craftsmen meant that these traditional features are sometimes found at distant locations.

• Ground plan
• Facade
• Position and number of towers
• Shape of towers
• Presence and shape of spires
• Shape of the east end
• Shape of columns
• Shape of piers
• Building material
• Local diversity in decorative details that was dependent on local craftsmen.

Romanesque churches in Italy

Influences

• Pre-Romanesque is demonstrated in Italy by the construction of churches with thick walls of undressed stone, very small windows and massive fortresslike character.
• Early Christian and Italian Byzantine architecture formed a stylistic link with the architecture of Ancient Rome, through which the basilica plan and the Classical form of column were transmitted.
• The architecture of Northern Italy has features in common with French and German Romanesque.
• The architecture of Southern Italy and Sicily was influenced by both Norman and Islamic architecture.
• Building stone was available in mountainous regions, while brick was employed for most building in river valleys and plains. The availability of marble had a profound effect on the decoration of buildings.
• The existence and continuance of local rather than unified rule meant the construction and continued existence of many Romanesque civic buildings, and a large number of cathedrals.
• A great many religious buildings of this period remain, many of them little altered. Other buildings include fortifications, castles, civic buildings, and innumerable domestic buildings that are often much altered.

Characteristics

• Large churches often have basilical form, with a projecting apse.
• Some large churches have projecting transepts as at Pisa Cathedral.
• Towers are freestanding and may be circular as at Pisa.
• Windows are small.
• The façade takes two forms, that which coincides with the basilical section of nave and aisles, as at Pisa Cathedral and that which screens the form, such as San Michele, Pavia.
• Dwarf galleries are the prevalent form of decoration on the façade as at Pisa Cathedral.
• A number of churches have facades and interiors that are faced with polychrome marble, as at San Miniato al Monte. The rest of a brick exterior was generally left undecorated with some notable exceptions including Pisa Cathedral.
• Portals were rarely large and were square rather than round, as at San Miniato al Monte. Decorative tympanums, where they exist, are mosaic, fresco or shallow relief, as at San Zeno, Verona.
• Shallow relief carving in marble was a feature of some facades, as at San Zeno and Modena Cathedral
• Ocular and Wheel windows are commonly found in facades, as at San Zeno and Modena Cathedral.
• Portals are sometimes covered by an open porch supported on two columns standing on the backs of lions at San Zeno, Verona.
• Internally, large churches generally have arcades resting on columns of Classical form.
• There is little emphasis on vertical mouldings.
• The wall surface above the arcade was covered with decorative marble, mosaic or fresco. Galleries such as that at Pisa were uncommon, but occur in convent churches as nuns' galleries.
• Open timber roofs prevailed.
• Ribbed vaults, when used, are large, square and domical, spanning two bays as at San Michele, Pavia, and Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio.
• The crossing is often covered by a dome, as at Bari Cathedral and Pisa Cathedral (where the dome is oval and of a later date).
• The choir may be above a vaulted crypt, accessible from the nave or aisles, as at San Zeno, Verona.
• Freestanding polygonal baptisteries were common, as at Parma Cathedral and the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence.
• Cloisters often have an array of elaborately twisted columns, and fanciful decoration in mosaic tiles as at the Romanesque cloister of the Ancient Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls, Rome.
• The large churches and cathedrals of Southern Italy and Sicily were influenced by Norman architecture, as at Trani Cathedral and Bari Cathedral in Apulia.
• Churches in Sicily were influenced by Islamic architecture, in the employment of the pointed arch as at Monreale Cathedral and Palermo Cathedral.

• 
  Modena Cathedral showing tri-apsidal eastern end, shallow transepts and square campanile
• 
  Pisa Cathedral showing polychrome, galleries, dome (completed later), and free-standing campanile
• 
  San Zeno, Verona, showing defined facade, porch and wheel window
• 
  San Michele, Pavia, showing screening facade and dwarf gallery
• 
  Bari Cathedral, showing shallow apse, domed crossing, Corinthianesque columns and maetreum gallery
• 
  Interior of the Baptistery of St John, Florence, showing polychrome marble veneer and gold mosaics

Notable buildings

• Pisa Cathedral and complex. Tuscany
• Baptistery of Florence, Tuscany
• Basilica of San Miniato al Monte, Tuscany
• Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan, Northern Italy
• Basilica of San Michele Maggiore, Pavia, Northern Italy
• Basilica of San Zeno, Verona, Northern Italy
• Modena Cathedral, Northern Italy
• Parma Cathedral and complex, Southern Italy
• Trani Cathedral, Southern Italy
• Bari Cathedral, Southern Italy
• Palermo Cathedral, Sicily
• Monreale Cathedral, Sicily

Romanesque churches in France

Influences

• Monastic tradition was a major influence on church architecture with the Abbey Church of Cluny, founded 910 AD, being the largest church in the world at that time.
• The foundation of the Cistercian Order in 1098 introduced a simplicity of design and austerity of ornament.
• Particularly in the south, the existence of Roman structures such as the Pont du Gard played a part in the development of storied arcades and other structural forms.
• Building stone was readily available, including high grade limestone suitable for fine carving.
• For much of the period Normandy were comparatively large and powerful political unit, and developed consistent styles that affected much of northern France.
• South of the Loire Valley churches showed considerable diversity of architectural form and are often without aisles.
• The pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostela in northern Spain led to the establishment of four pilgrim routes through France, and the establishment of many religious houses along the routes.
• Crusade and pilgrimage brought contact with Islamic and Byzantine architecture that influenced the forms of a number of churches such as Saint-Front, Périgueux.
• The development of ribbed vaulting at Saint-Etienne, Caen, and the adoption of a number of new techniques within a single influential building, the Abbey of Saint-Denis, led to the early employment of the Gothic methods of construction and style from 1140 onwards.
• A great many abbey churches, some of which are now cathedrals or have been elevated to the rank of Minor Basilica, date from this period, and are among the finest architectural works of France. There are also numerous village churches, many of which have remained little changed.

Characteristics

• Large churches of northern have basilical form of nave and aisles separated by arcades.
• Large churches of southern France may be without aisles, as at Angouleme Cathedral.
• Churches generally have transepts.
• The eastern end often takes the form of an apse that is almost as high as the walls.
• The high apse was increasingly surrounded by an ambulatory and later Romanesque churches have a fully developed chevet with radiating chapels.
• In Normandy, two towers on the façade flanking the nave became standard and influenced the subsequent Romanesque and Gothic facades of Northern France, England, Sicily and other buildings across Europe.
• At the Abbey Church of Cluny, as well as paired towers on the west front, there was a variety of towers large and small. Of these the octagonal tower over the crossing and smaller transept tower remain intact. This arrangement was to influence other churches such as the Basilica of St. Sernin, Toulouse.
• Windows are increasingly of larger size and are often coupled, particularly in cloisters and towers.
• The façade takes two forms, that with two large towers, such as that at Saint-Etienne, Caen, and the screen form with two small flanking turrets, as at Angouleme Cathedral.
• Façade decoration is rich and varied, with the central portal being the major feature.
• Large sculptured portals are a distinguishing feature of French Romanesque. The portal is deeply recessed and the jambs set with shafts and mouldings. They typically have lintels, supporting a tympanum carved in high relief.
• Interiors generally employed piers to support the arcades, rather than columns. The form of the piers became increasing complex with shafts and mouldings leading into the mouldings of the arch, or the vault. In the 12th century, cylindrical piers with Corinthian style capitals came into use.
• A pattern of three stages: vault, arcade and clerestory was established in the 11th century.
• Masonry vaults were preferred for larger churches, and were initially barrel or groin vaults, often with arches spanning the nave between the vaults. Vaulted bays are square.
• The earliest ribbed high vault in France is at Saint-Etienne, Caen (1120). The wide adoption of this method led to the development of Gothic architecture.
• Several aiseless churches of Aquitane and Anjou are roofed with domes, as at Angouleme Cathedral.

• 
  Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Cornadore, Saint-Nectaire, Puy-de-Dôme with a polygonal crossing tower like Cluny, flat buttresses and a high eastern apse with radiating low apses forming a chevete.
• 
  The Abbey of Saint-Georges, Boscherville, is very typical of Norman architecture of the early 12th century with storeys of identical windows, blind arcading and paired turrets. The facade reveals the form of nave and aisles.
• 
  The Church of the Abbey of la Trinité, Caen shows the development of the twin-tower and triple-portal facade that defined the nave and aisles and became characteristic of the Late Medieval cathedrals of northern France.
• 
  Angouleme Cathedral shows a turreted screen facade which gives little indication of the building's form and is typical of southern France.
• 
  The Church of Saint-Etienne Nevers shows the development of three stages of the nave: arcade, gallery and clerestorey. The apse follows this form, having an ambulatory. The barrel vault has arches springing from attached shafts.
• 
  The chancel of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe shows a high apse with a clerestorey and surrounded by an ambulatory with columns of Classical form typical of southern France in this period.

Notable examples

• Abbey Church of Cluny
• The Abbey of Saint-Etienne, Caen
• The Church of the Abbey of la Trinité, Caen
• The Basilica of St. Sernin, Toulouse
• Angouleme Cathedral
• Saint-Front, Périgueux
• Notre Dame du Puy
• Abbey Church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe
• Abbey of la Madaleine, Vézelay
• Church of St Philibert, Tournus
• Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Moissac
• Abbey of Saint-Georges, Boscherville

Romanesque churches in Britain and Ireland

Influences

• The Pre-Romanesque tradition of architecture was Saxon. The thick-walled aiseless churches had archway leading into rectangular chancels. Bell towers often had an attached circular stair turret. Windows were often arched or had triangular heads.
• The Norman invasion of 1066 unified the government of England.
• Norman bishops were installed in English cathedrals and monasteries were established following Benedictine, Cluniac, Cistercian, and Augustinian rules.
• Monasteries were established in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, suppressing local Celtic monastic tradition.
• Many cathedrals were of monastic foundation serving a dual role, which affected their architecture, in particular the extended length of the choir and transepts.
• There was a great diversity of building stone including limestone, New Red Sandstone, flint and granite.
• In England, the relative political stability led to large diocese with few bishops. Cathedrals were correspondingly few in number and large in scale.
• Geographical isolation led to the development of distinct regional character.
• The climate led to the construction of long naves to facilitate processions in wet weather.
• Of the medieval cathedrals, nearly all were commenced in this period and several have remained substantially Norman structures.
• Many parish churches were commenced at this period.
• The abbey churches suffered destruction at the time of the Dissolution of the monasteries in the early 16th century and the majority were reduced to ruins, some surviving as parish churches.

Characteristics

• It is characteristic of the medieval churches of the British Isles and England in particular that they were continually expanded, altered and rebuilt. Consequently, although Norman buildings are numerous, few are intact, and at some, such as Lincoln Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral and Worcester Cathedral, Norman architecture might be represented only by the portals, the columns of the nave or the crypt.
• The Norman facades of cathedrals and large abbeys follow the two basic forms found in France, that with paired towers as at Southwell Minster and that with framing turrets as at Rochester Cathedral.
• Portals are usually arched and decorated with chevrons and other geometric ornament, barbaric faces and spirals. There are a few carved Romanesque tympanums, with a Christ in Majesty at Rochester Cathedral. The ornamentation of portals in Ireland have distinctive elements of Celtic design as at the gabled portal of Clonfert Cathedral.
• Side porches are common and are often the usually mode of entrance, the western portal only being opened for major festivals.
• Blind arcading is used as a major decorative feature, often around internal walls.
• Windows are comparatively large and may be arranged in tiers as in the transepts of Peterborough Cathedral. Paired windows occur in towers.
• Naves of cathedrals and abbey churches are of great length, and transepts are of strong projection.
• Chancels of cathedrals and abbey churches are also very long.
• The chancels of cathedrals and abbeys were round and with an ambulatory in the French manner, as indicated at Peterborough and Norwich Cathedrals but none have survived unchanged.
• Large central towers are characteristic, as at Tewkesbury Abbey and Norwich Cathedral.
• Many round towers occur in Ireland. They are also found in Saxon (Pre-Romanesque) architecture in England as stair towers attached to larger towers of square plan.
• The nave rises in three stages, arcade, gallery and clerestory.
• The arcade has two forms: arches resting on large cylindrical masonry columns as at Gloucester and Hereford Cathedrals, and arches springing from composite piers as at Peterborough and Ely Cathedrals. Durham Cathedral has alternating piers and columns.
• Crypts are groin vaulted, as at Canterbury Cathedral.
• Nearly every large Norman church has a later, Gothic high vault, except at Peterborough and Ely Cathedrals which have retained trussed wooden ceilings. The vaults at Durham are of unique importance, that of the south aisle being the oldest ribbed vault in the world, and that of the nave being the earliest pointed ribbed vault in the world. Ribbed vaults of the Norman period exist over the aisles at Peterborough Cathedral and other large churches.
• Barrel vaults are rare, examples being St John's Chapel, Tower of London and several 12th century monastic churches in Ireland including Cormac's Chapel and St Flannan's oratory.

• 
  St Declan's Cathedral, Ardmore, Ireland, shows shallow decorative arcading typical of Celtic and Saxon Pre-Romanesque. The round tower is typical of Ireland.
• 
  St Mary's Parish Church, Iffley, 12th century, shows the detailed carving, particularly chevrons, and the side portal typical of Britain.
• 
  Southwell Minster 1108-1250, west front 1108-50 (west window 1450). The severe twin-towered facade with balance of vertical buttresses and horizontal courses is similar to St Etienne, Caen. It has retained its simple spires.
• 
  Rochester Cathedral, 1115-1280, west front 1150 (west window 1470). The west front has its interior forms emphasised by the verticals of the large pinnacled buttresses. The portal is richly carved with Christ in Majesty.
• 
  Dunfermline Abbey, Scotland, the nave (right of picture) 1128, shows the large decorated masonry columns, a distinctly British feature, occurring at Durham Cathedral and elsewhere. The aisle (left) has a ribbed vault.
• 
  Peterborough Cathedral, the three-stage nave 1155-75 has piers of ovoid section with attached shafts. While the forms are typically Norman, the length is greater than found in Normandy. The wooden ceiling is original.

Notable examples

• Durham Cathedral, England
• Peterborough Cathedral, England
• Ely Cathedral, England
• Southwell Cathedral, England
• Rochester Cathedral, England
• Tewkesbury Abbey, England
• St Bartholomew-the-Great, London, England
• St Mary the Virgin, Iffley, England
• Kilpeck Church, England
• Dunfermline Abbey, Scotland
• Kelso Abbey, Scotland (ruined)
• Cormac's Chapel, Ireland

Romanesque churches in Spain, Portugal and Andorra

Influences

• Prior to the beginning of the period, the greater part of the Iberian Peninsula was ruled by Muslims, with Christian rulers controlling only a strip at the north of the country.
• By 900 the Reconquista had increased the area under Christian rule to about one third of Iberia. This expanded to about half the area by 1150 and included Galicia, Leon, Castille, Navarre, Aragon, Catalonia and Portugal.
• Romanesque churches are located in the northern half of the peninsula, with a number occurring in Avila which was re-established and fortified around 1100 and Toledo in central Spain from 1098.
• Many small Pre-Romanesque churches were established in the 10th century with distinctive local characteristics including vaults, horseshoe arches, and rose windows of pierced stone.
• Many Benedictine monasteries were established in Spain by Italian bishops and abbots, followed by the French orders of Cluniacs and Cistercians.
• In 1032, the church of Santa Maria de Ripoll was built to a complex plan with double aisles, inspired directly by Old St. Peter's Basilica. The church set a new standard for architecture in Spain.
• Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela began as early as the 9th century, and by the 11th century was drawing pilgrims from England. The Way of Saint James (Camino de Santiago) was well established by the early 12th century and encouraged the foundation of monasteries along the route.
• Most of the area has abundant building stone, granite, limestone, Red Sandstone and volcanic rubble.
• There was little timber, so it was used sparingly for roofs.
• The northern part of the region is dotted with numerous small churches such as those of Andorra and the Vall de Boí in Catalonia. There are also larger monasteries. Many cathedrals were commenced at this time.

Characteristics

• It is characteristic of both cathedrals and large abbey churches that they have many accretions of different periods, particularly flanking chapels, in later styles, often Baroque.
• Most churches are built of stone. In areas where brick is used, Toledo, Sahagún, Cuéllar, the bricks are similar to Roman bricks. The exterior of brick churches, particularly the apses, are decorated with tiers of shallow blind arcading and square-topped niches, as at the churches of San Tirso and San Lorenzo, Sahagún
• Small churches abound across the area, usually having an aisless nave and projecting apse and a bell turret on one gable.
• Larger churches often have a wide turret extending across the upper facade with a gallery of openings holding bells, as at Jaca Cathedral
• Larger monastic churches often have a short transept and three eastern apses, the larger off the nave and a smaller flanking apse off each transept as at La Seu Vella, Lleida.
• Lateral arcaded porches are a distinctive regional characteristic of small churches. Larger churches sometimes have a similar narthex at the west as at Santa Maria, Ripoll
• Portals are typically deep set, round topped and with many mouldings, as at La Seu Vella, Lleida, Spain. Portals that are set within porches may be surrounded by rich figurative carvings as at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
• Freestanding towers with increasing openings in each stage, like those of Italy, occur with small churches.
• Small churches are sometimes barrel vaulted and are roofed with stone slabs lying directly on the vault.
• Wider spaces have timber roofs of low profile, as timber was scarce.
• Larger churches such as the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, have barrel vaults, sometimes with transverse arches marking the bays.
• Abbey churches of later French foundation have ribbed vaults.
• Larger monastic churches and cathedrals have nave and aisles and follow French plans, including chevets as at Avila Cathedral.
• The crossing of a large church sometimes has an octagonal tower or dome supported on squinches, as at Santa Maria, Ripoll and the Cathedral of Santa Maria d'Urgell .
• At the Old Cathedral, Salamanca and the Cathedral of Zamora there are polygonal crossing domes on pendentives, with narrow windows and with four small corner turrets.
• Externally, many large churches are fortresslike, such as Lisbon Cathedral and the Old Cathedral of Coimbra in Portugal and the Sigüenza Cathedral, Spain
• Rose windows with pierced tracery similar to those that occur in Pre-Romanesque churches of Oviedo are a feature in some facades, such as that at the Monastery of Santa María de Armenteira, Galicia.

• 
  Church of Santa Coloma, Andorra
• 
  Jaca Cathedral, Spain
• 
  Cathedral of Santa Maria d'Urgell, Spain
• 
  Lisbon Cathedral, Portugal
• 
  The cupola of the Cathedral of Zamora
• 
  Interior of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Notable examples

• The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
• Santa Maria de Ripoll
• The Cathedral of Santa Maria d'Urgell, Spain
• Jaca Cathedral, Spain
• The cloister of the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos
• San Martín de Tours (Frómista), Spain
• The Basilica of San Isidoro, León, Spain
• San Vicente, Ávila, Spain
• The Cathedral of Zamora
• Old Cathedral, Salamanca
• Lisbon Cathedral, Portugal
• Old Cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal

Romanesque churches in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands

See also: List of Brick Romanesque buildings

Influences

• Much of Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands were united under Charlemagne who built a castle on the Valkhof, Nijmegen, Holland, and the chapel of Aix-la-Chapelle at Aachen.
• The power of individual bishops and the establishment of cathedrals and monasteries were focused initially in the south of Germany and the Rhineland.
• In the early 10th century German and Lombardy were united under Otto the Great, crowned in Charlemagne’s church at Aachen.
• Consolidation under Frederick Barbarossa in the 12th century led to the establishment of towns, imperial palaces and churches of imperial patronage.
• Despite internal divisions and threats from Poland, Hungary and Denmark, Germany regained power and in the early 13th century Frederick II became Holy Roman Emperor of German, Sicily, Lombardy, Burgundy and Jerusalem.
• Southern Germany, the Rhineland and Belgium had abundant building stone.
• Saxony and Flanders had little stone, while Holland and the river plains of northern Germany had none, so that brick was the main building material.
• Timber was abundant in Germany and Belgium.
• The rich fertile river valleys, particularly those of the Rhine and the Meuse, encouraged the growth of towns.
• The period dating from the 9th to the 13th century produced Romanesque churches. Several important Early Romanesque churches occur in Saxony at Hildesheim and Gernrode. Many of the most notable examples of Romanesque architecture occur around the Rhineland, with twelve churches of this period in the city of Cologne.

Characteristics

• The most distinctive characteristic of large Romanesque churches is the prevalence of apses at both ends of the church, as on 9th century Plan of St. Gall, the earliest example being at Gernrode Abbey. Two reasons are suggested: that the bishop presided at one end and the abbot at the other, or that the western apse served as a baptistery.
• The main portal of a double-apsed church is into the side of the building, and may be richly decorated with carving.
• Both apses are flanked by paired towers. Many of the smaller towers are circular, as at Worms Cathedral. There may be numerous towers of varied shapes and sizes.
• The crossing is generally surmounted by an octagonal tower, as at Speyer Cathedral.
• Spires are of roofed timber rather than stone and take a variety of forms, the most distinctive being the Rhenish helm. Stone is sometimes used for Rhenish helms as at the eastern end of the Basilica of Our Lady, Maastricht.
• The towers and apse of the western end are often incorporated into a multi-storey westwerk. These westwerks take a great variety of forms, from a flat façade as at Limburg Cathedral, a flat façade with projecting apse at St Gertrude, Nivelles and a rectangular projecting structure of several storeys that juts beyond the towers as at St Serviatius, Maastricht.
• The transepts do not project strongly.
• In the Rhineland, the exterior walls and towers are encircled with courses, Lombard bands and dwarf gallerys, which serve to emphasise the individual mass of each component part of the whole, as at Speyer Cathedral.
• Wheel windows, ocular windows and windows with simple quatrefoil tracery often occur in apses, as at Worms Cathedral.
• Wooden roofs were common, with an ancient painted ceiling retained at St Michael’s, Hildesheim.
• Stone vaults were used at a later date than in France, occurring over the aisles at Speyer in about 1060.

• 
  Maastricht, Netherlands, showing the Basilica of Our Lady, Maastricht to the right, and the shorter towers of the Basilica of Saint Servatius (with the tower of St Jan's Church to the left)
• 
  Sainte-Gertrude, Nivelles, Belgium
• 
  Tournai Cathedral, Belgium, south transept
• 
  Worms Cathedral, Germany
• 
  Laach Abbey, Germany
• 
  Speyer Cathedral, Germany

Notable examples

• Aachen Cathedral, (Carolingian)
• Saint Nicolaas Chapel, Valkhof, Nijmegen, Holland
• Gernrode Abbey
• St. Michael's Church, Hildesheim
• Speyer Cathedral
• Worms Cathedral
• Mainz Cathedral
• Trier Cathedral
• Laach Abbey
• Bamberg Cathedral
• Limburg Cathedral
• Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude, Nivelles, Belgium
• Tournai Cathedral, Belgium
• Basilica of Our Lady, Maastricht, Holland
• Basilica of Saint Servatius, Maastricht, Holland

Romanesque churches in Scandinavia

See also: List of Brick Romanesque buildings

Influences

• Norway, Sweden and Denmark were separate kingdoms for much of the period.
• Much of Norway was united from the late 9th century until 1387 under Harold I and his successors.
• Cnut the Great briefly united Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden in the early 11th century.
• King Olaf II of Norway, known as St Olav, did much to enforce Christianity on the Vikings, and by the end of the 11th Century, Christianity was the only legal religion.
• In Denmark, Christianity was promoted by Canute the Holy in the late 11th century, with Sweyn II of Denmark dividing the country into eight dioceses, and establishing many churches, cathedrals and monasteries from about 1060 onwards.
• Much of Sweden was united under Olaf Eiríksson around 995, with the southern area, Götaland being united with Svealand by Sverker I of Sweden in the 1130s.
• Lund Cathedral, Sweden, was made the seat of the archbishop for all of Scandinavia in 1103, but only the crypt remains from the 1130s, the rest being mostly 19th century rebuilding.
• Bishop Absalon founded Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark in 1158 and the city of Copenhagen (1160–67).
• Architectural influences came with clergy brought from England (such as Nicholas Breakspeare), Lombardy and Germany. The influence of English Norman architecture is seen particularly in Norway at Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim, and of German Romanesque at Lund Cathedral, Sweden.
• Benedictine monks from Italy introduced the skill of firing bricks to Denmark.
• While most churches were initially built of timber, the larger ones were replaced by stone, with brick being the dominant material in much of Denmark where building stone is scarce.
• Small Romanesque churches are plentiful and are generally in relatively unchanged condition. Large churches are rare and are much altered as at Aarhus Cathedral, Lund Cathedral and Roskilde Cathedral.
• Norway has 25 wooden stave churches from this period, making up all but three of the world’s medieval wooden churches.

Characteristics

• The wooden stave churches of Norway represent a type that was once common across Northern Europe, but elsewhere have been destroyed or replaced. They have timber frames, walls of planks, and shingled roofs which are steeply pitched and overhanging to protect the joints of the building from the weather.
• Denmark has seven rotunda churches, which have a circular nave, divided into several storeys internally, and have projecting chancel and apse as at Bjernede Church and Nylars Church. At Østerlars Church, the chancel and apse are constructed as small intersecting circles. Rotunda churches also occur in Sweden as at Hagby Church.
• Bulky west towers with stepped gables are typical of Denmark and are found on smaller churches as at Horne Church, Søborg Church, and Aa Church, Bornholm where the tower has paired crow-step gables at each side.
• In Denmark the west tower may extend across the whole width of the church, forming a westwerk as at Aa Church and Hvidbjerg Church, Morsø, with some such towers incorporating a large open archway with stairs such as at Torrild Church.
• Small stone churches in Norway and Sweden have a short wide nave, square chancel, an apse and a western tower with pyramidal shingled spire, as at Hove Church, Norway and Kinneveds Church and Våmbs Church, Sweden.
• Large central towers occur in Norway, as at Old Aker Church.
• Free standing belltowers are found, often with half-timbered upper sections.
• Stone churches, such as Aa Church, Denmark and Lund Cathedral, Sweden, have Lombard bands and paired windows, similar to churches of Lombardy and Germany.
• Openings are generally small and simple. Many doors have a carved tympanum as at Vestervig Church and Ribe Cathedral, Denmark
• Most churches have timber roofed naves, but ribbed vaulting over smaller spaces such as the chancel is common. Some small churches, such as Marka Church in Sweden, have groin vaults. Larger churches such as Ribe Cathedral are vaulted.
• Arcades may be of simple rectangular piers such as at Ribe, Denmark, or drum columns such as at Stavanger Cathedral, Norway. Lund Cathedral has alternating rectangular piers and piers with attached shafts which support the vault.
• Fully developed Romanesque arcades of three stages occur in churches built under English or German influence as at Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim.
• Large churches may have paired towers at the western end, as at Mariakirken, Bergen.
• Visby Cathedral and Husaby Church, Sweden, have tall westwerks, framed by round towers. At Ribe Cathedral the stone westwerk is framed on the south by a Romanesque tower of German form with a Rhenish helm spire and on the north by a taller Gothic tower in red brick.

• 
  Hopperstad Stave church, Norway (1130)
• 
  Old Aker Church, Norway
• 
  Nylars Church, Bornholm, Denmark
• 
  Aa Church, Bornholm, Denmark
• 
  Husaby Church, Sweden
• 
  Lund Cathedral, Sweden

Notable examples

• Hopperstad Stave church, Norway (1130)
• Borgund Stave church, Norway
• Aa Church, Bornholm, Denmark, late 12th century
• Bjernede Church, Denmark
• Østerlars Church, Bornholm, Denmark
• Horne Church, Denmark
• Vestervig Church, Denmark
• Roskilde Cathedral, Denmark (1160–1280)
• St. Bendt's Church, Ringsted, Denmark (1170)
• Ribe Cathedral, Denmark
• Old Aker Church, Oslo, Norway, founded 1080
• Stavanger Cathedral, Norway
• Lund Cathedral Sweden, 1145, (much heavy-handed late 19th century rebuilding purged the church of Gothic elements. Of the facade, only the lower section is medieval.)
• Visby Cathedral, Sweden
• Husaby Church, Sweden

Romanesque churches in Poland, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic

See also: List of Brick Romanesque buildings

Influences

• The remaining buildings are few in number and the influences are diverse.
• Poland became Christian under Mieszko I in 966, resulting in the foundation of the first Pre-Romanesque churches, including Kracow, Gniezno and Poznan Cathedrals.
• During the period 976–1248 Austria was ruled by margraves of the House of Babenberg. Towns and monasteries were established.
• The Romanesque style was introduced to Poland from Germany with the founding of the bishopric of Gniezno in 1000.
• In Hungary, Stephen I brought the Magyar states together in 1001 and created two Catholic archbishoprics.
• Bohemia was largely Christianised in the 10th century under Vaclav I.
• The bishopric of Prague was established in 973 with a Saxon Benedictine bishop, Thietmar.
• The Benedictine, Premonstratensian and Augustinian orders founded monasteries and built abbey churches throughout the area.
• The influence on architectural style was initially from Germany, and later from France and Italy.

Characteristics

• There are a number of surviving small rotunda churches, generally with an apse as at Öskü, Hungary and Saint Nicholas Rotunda in Cieszyn, Poland.
• Rotunda churches sometimes have towers which may be circular as at Saint Procopius Church, Strzelno, Poland or square in plan as at the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Budeč, Czech Republic.
• Other small churches found in the region are rectangular, aisleless and with a square chancel, or an apse as at the Church of Saint Wenceslas, Hrusice, Czech Republic. Schöngrabern Church, Austria, has a square chancel and projecting apse.
• Larger churches have a nave and aisles, each ending in an apse, and with no transept. Examples are Pécs Cathedral, Ják Church and the Basilica of the Assumption, Tismice, Czech Republic.
• The aisles sometimes contained galleries for the nobility.
• While arcades are usually supported on piers, the Basilica of the Assumption, Tismice has alternating piers and columns which have cushion capitals.
• Larger churches have paired western towers, some with decorated central portals, as at Ják Church and the ruined Zsambek Church, Hungary.
• At St. Andrew's Church, Kraków, the unornamented facade takes the form of westwerk, with an octagonal towers rising on either side. Gurk Cathedral, Austria, has a similarly flat facade, rising to two very tall square towers.
• The Collegiate Church at Tum has and apse at either end, similar to many German Romanesque churches. The western apse is flanked by square towers.
• Pecs Cathedral, Hungary, has four towers of square plan, like Bamberg Cathedral, Germany.
• Tower openings take the typical Romanesque paired form as at Church of St Peter and St Paul, Budeč Czech Republic.
• Roofs are generally of wood, with vaults occurring
• Lombard bands are used, as at Schöngrabern Church, Austria, and around the towers of Tum and Ják churches.
• The facade of Sulejów Abbey Church, founded by the Cistercians, and having a gabled portal and rose window, heralds the influence of French architectural style that was to introduce Gothic.

• 
  Church of St Peter and St Paul, Budeč Czech Republic
• 
  Tum Collegiate Church, Poland
• 
  St Andrew's Church, Kraków
• 
  Gurk Cathedral, Austria
• 
  Ják Church, Hungary
• 
  The Basilica of the Assumption, Tismice, Czech Republic

Notable examples

• Gurk Cathedral, Austria
• Schöngrabern Church, Austria
• Tum Collegiate Church, Poland
• St. Andrew's Church, Kraków, Poland
• Saint Procopius Rotunda Church, Strzelno, Poland
• St Martin's Collegiate Church, Opatow, Poland
• Sulejów Abbey, Poland
• Zsambek Church, Hungary. The facade of this ruined Premonstratensian abbey church, (1220), has remained largely intact.
• Pécs Cathedral, Hungary. Although the plan reflects the church of the 11th century, the exterior appearance is almost entirely due to 19th century renovation.
• Ják Church, Hungary, is one of the most complete Romanesque churches in the region.
• Church of Saint Wenceslas, Hrusice, Czech Republic
• Church of St Peter and St Paul, Budeč Czech Republic, (c. 900 AD)
• The Basilica of the Assumption, Tismice, Czech Republic

Comparisons

Plans

The plans below do not show the buildings in their current states. 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.

• 
  The plan of the Abbey of St Gall, Switzerland
• 
  Germany, Speyer Cathedral
• 
  France, Autun Cathedral
• 
  England, Ely Cathedral
• 
  Spain, Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
• 
  France, Angoulême Cathedral
• 
  Modena Cathedral
• 
  Spain, San Isidoro de León

• The 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 aisless 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Modena Cathedral shows a typically Italian romanesque plan, often architecturally termed a "basilica", because of its similarity in plan to a Roman basilicas.

Form and material

Romanesque churches range in size from tiny chapels to vast abbeys and cathedrals of which several survive where the length is in excess of 150 metres (500 ft). They may range between a single cell building with a small apse, and a vast arrangement of many parts to satisfy complex liturgical and organisational functions.

Small churches

• 
  England, Cambridge, the Leper Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, 1109.
• 
  Austria, Schoengrabern. The tower is of the Baroque period.
• 
  Belgium, Xhignesse, St-Médard.
• 
  Italy, San Vittore alle Chiuse, Genga.
• 
  France, the Church of Notre-Dame, Domfront.
• 
  Poland, St. Giles Church.
• 
  Spain, Sant Climent de Taüll, Vall de Bohí.
• 
  Czech Republic, the Rotunda of St. George.

• The small Leper Chapel on the outskirts of Cambridge, is a rare survivor as the majority of Romanesque (or Norman) Churches in England have been extended over the centuries and their origins may not be immediately visible. This church is typically English in its simple square lines, its gables, the clear division of the nave from the lower, square-ended chancel and the material which includes flint rubble repaired with old bricks, and ashlar masonry for the chancel, with was originally vaulted but no longer is. The sculptural details are of chevrons, checkerboard and other geometric patterns.
• Schoengrabern Church, Austria is also a simple aisless church, which is divided into nave and chancel, with a projecting apse which is semicircular. The church is of ashlar masonry and has a later tower of Baroque form. The decoration comprises a Lombard band beneath the roof, and sculptural scenes in high relief on the upper part of the wall, which, unlike the sculpture found on door mouldings and capitals, are not directly related to the architectural form.
• The Church of St-Médard, Xhignesse, Belgium, is cruciform in plan with an extended chancel with apsidal end and paired windows. Externally the roughly-hewn walls have pilasters rising to arches, surmounted by another tier of arches around the chancel, which are different in number and do not match the arrangement of those beneath them, The upper arches surround shallow niches.
• San Vittore alle Chiuse in Genga, Italy, is a monastic church. It is built of rubble and is of severely simple appearance. Its form is based upon Byzantine models, having a Greek Cross plan set within a square and surmounted by an octagonal tambour over the crossing. There are three tall apses projecting from the chancel wall, the central being a little larger. The church also has a squat tower covered by a sloping roof.
• Notre-Dame, Domfront, Normandy, France, is a cruciform church with a short apsidal east end. The nave has lost its aisle, and has probably some of its length. The crossing has a tower that rises in two differentiated stages and is surmounted by a pyramidical spire of a type seen widely in France and Germany and also on Norman towers in England.
• St. Giles Church, Poland, has a simple plan with a single round tower at the end. Similar single round towers are also seen in Italy where they are usually to one side of the building. The axial position of the tower is normal to those of English Parish churches, which are generally square in plan, and is also common in France and Germany but is not normal to Italy.
• Sant Climent de Taüll, Spain, has a tower set towards the eastern end. It is of a type which was very common in most parts of Europe, particularly Italy where it generally is free-standing. The tower rises in clearly defined stages with openings that increase in number, in size or both. This type of tower is not seen in England. In Germany, a similar style of tower occurs in pairs.
• The Rotunda of Saint-George at Říp, Czech Republic, is a circular church of great simplicity in construction and decoration. It has an apse and a circular tower with paired windows at the belfry level and no other ornament. The round nave has possibly been inspired by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. The present appearance of the rotunda is the result of a purist reconstruction from 1870s.

Large churches

• 
  France, the Abbey of Notre Dame de Fontgombault.
• 
  Italy, Parma Cathedral.
• 
  Germany, Bamberg Cathedral.
• 
  England, Norwich Cathedral.
• 
  England, Durham Cathedral.
• 
  Sweden, Lund Cathedral.
• 
  Hungary, Pécs Cathedral.
• 
  Poland, Collegiate Church in Tum.

• The Abbey of Notre Dame de Fontgombault in France shows the influence of the Abbey of Cluny. The cruciform plan is clearly visible. There is a chevette of chapels surrounding the chance apse. The crossing is surmounted by a tower. The transepts end with gables.
• Parma Cathedral is typically Italian in its cruciform plan and the dome over the crossing. The tower is constructed as a separate entity, as is the octagonal baptistry.
• Bamberg Cathedral is typically German in appearance with a transept and short chancel, and a second apse projecting from the eastern end, the main door being at the side. The paired towers flank each end of the building and have later copper spires.
• Durham Cathedral presents the English pattern of three towers, two at the western end, and one at the crossing. The original Romanesque central tower is thought to have been lower than the western towers. In typically English fashion, the western towers, begun in about 1120, were not completed until 1220 and although retaining Romanesque form, have pointed arches. They are topped by battlements and pinnacles of c 1470.
• The cruciform plan of Lund Cathedral is visible in the picture, with massive western towers. The chancel is quite short and terminates in an apse which, although large, does not extend directly from the chancel as at Fontgombault, but is a discrete form, as at Schoengrabern Church (above) and as typical in German churches.
• Pécs Cathedral, Hungary, is an aisled basilica form with the main door central to a side, rather than the west end. There are four matched towers, one at each corner of the building.
• Norwich Cathedral is typical of English monastic cathedrals in the length of its nave. Also in the typically English style, emphasis is given to the central tower (1120–45) which is massive and rests not upon walls but on four piers. The Gothic spire dates from 1464.
• The Collegiate Church of Tum, Poland, has apses at either end in the German manner, those at the west being flanked by towers with copper spires of the original form. The aisles are two-storied with clerestory above. The round towers flanking the eastern apse were reconstructed in the 20th century. The church was made in opus emplectum technics.

West fronts

The facade, or west front, generally has the main portal, and often a group of three doors, except in some churches of the German tradition where the main door is at the side. Except in Italy, in large churches there are often paired towers.

Facades of Italy and France

• 
  Italy, Lombardy, San Michele Maggiore, Pavia.
• 
  Italy, Tuscany, Santa Maria della Pieve. Arezzo.
• 
  Italy, Tuscany, Façade of Pisa Cathedral, Italy (11th-12th centuries).
• 
  Italy, Modena Cathedral
• 
  Italy, Lombardia, Cathedral and Baptistery of Cremona
• 
  Italy, Tuscany, San Miniato al Monte, Florence.
• 
  Italy, Tuscany, Empoli Collegiata of St. Andrew.

• Italy, San Michele Maggiore, Pavia, Lombardy, is an example of an aisled church where a single unbroken gable on the facade screens the lower profile of the aisles. This large gable is decorated with stepped galleries and is divided by pilasters which rise uninterrupted to the roofline. The central windows rise in three tiers, double, single and occular. The three portals are not deeply recessed and have simple mouldings. A significant feature is rustication which runs in several bands across the facade, from half-way up the central portal to beneath the windows. the contrast of ashlar and rustication was to become a feature of Italian Renaissance architecture.
• Italy, Santa Maria della Pieve. Arezzo. At this church the facade extends in a horizontal line across the church like a screen, which is decorated by rows of tiered colonnettes, of diverse forms.
• At Pisa Cathedral, the nave and aisles are revealed by the facade. While polychrome marble is present, it is not the dominant factor in the overall effect of the facade. There is a superimposed classical blind arcade with Corinthian-style capitals on the lower level, surmounted by five arcades of superficially identical form, (the spacing is somewhat different). Pisa Cathedral has one of the most lavish displays of this typically Italian decoration.
• Modena Cathedral
• Italy, The Cathedral of Parma clearly shows its Romanesque origins in the tiers of galleries of its facade and single gallery beneath the roof of the Baptistry. Parma Cathedral has retained its Romanesque portal, surmounted by a Gothic porch and window and a Renaissance pediment and loggias. The North and South transepts have retained intact medieval facades in brick.
• Italy, At San Miniato al Monte, Florence, the Classical heritage is made clear by the use of half-columns and pilasters of Corinthian style and classically proportioned pediments rather than steep gables and the square lintels over huge bronze doors like those of ancient Rome. However, the precise classical forms are somewhat disguised by the overall decorative appearance of the polychrome marble, a style favoured in Tuscany.
• Italy, the Church of St. Andrew, Empoli, is simpler that San Miniato, being aisless. It demonstrates another example of classical features being used in combination with polychrome.

Facades of France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and England

• 
  France, Saint-Étienne, Caen
• 
  France, Trinité church, Caen
• 
  Germany, Limburg Cathedral.
• 
  Germany, Bremen Cathedral.
• 
  Germany, Maria Laach Abbey.
• 
  Belgium, westwork St Bartholomew's Church, Liège
• 
  England, Ely Cathedral
• 
  England, Lincoln Cathedral
• 
  France, Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire
• 
  France, Angoulême Cathedral

• France, Saint-Étienne, Caen presents one of the best known Romanesque facades of Northern France, with three portals leading into the nave and aisles, and a simple arrangement of identical windows between the buttresses of the tall towers. Begun in the 1060s, it was a prototype for Gothic facades. The spires and the pinnacles, which appear to rise inevitably from the towers, are of the early 13th century.
• France, Trinité Church, Caen, has a greater emphasis on the central portal and the arrangement of the windows above it. The decoration of the towers begins at a lower level to that at Saint-Étienne, giving them weight and distinction. The upper balustrades are additions in the Classical style.
• Germany, Limburg Cathedral built in the early 13th century, has similar proportions to Trinity Church, Caen, but a greater diversity in its windows which include a central rose with plate tracery. During the 19th century the polychrome was stripped from the building but this has recently been restored.
• Germany, Bremen Cathedral. The present facade, including the rose window owes much to the restoration of the 1880s, when the towers which have otherwise retained their original form, were given Rhenish helm spires in place of the ancient pyramidical spires of very uneven height. During the medieval period the centre of the facade appears to have had a projecting two-storey porch or "westwork" with lower arcade and upper gallery like that at Minden.
• Germany, Maria Laach Abbey. This facade has a grouping of three towers which is a common German motif and is seen at either end of a number of churches in conjunction with an apse, as here, or porch such as at the Church of St. Pantaleon, Cologne. part of the composition here is an atrium with portal and arcades. The various parts of the building are clearly defined cubic and cylindrical shapes, so that the building has the appearance of assembled from component pieces like building blocks.
• Belgium, St Bartholomew's Church, Liège has rebuilt towers and a heavily restored westwerk after the original form. A doorway of a Classical form has been inserted. The entrance appears to have been at the southern end of the westwerk.
• England, Ely Cathedral, had an elaborate Norman west front of the 1180s, with its central tower framed by two smaller towers. There is a great variety of arcaded decoration, showing transitional features. The circular tower to the left fell and was never replaced. The Early English Gothic porch is an addition of the 1250s and the upper lantern of the central tower, 1390s. While this triple facade is unique in England, the diversity of building styles forming a single composition is usual, rather than the exception. No cathedral in England has an intact Romanesque facade, although they appear on a number of abbey churches.
• Lincoln Cathedral has retained many elements of its Norman facade, incorporated into the later Gothic structures. The outline of the Norman facade is clearly visible, and its portals, and sculptured galleries remain intact. The Norman towers rise behind the later scree wall, and support a tall upper stage of Gothic design.
• France, Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire. The facade of this church has a complex arrangement of openings and blind arcades that was to become a feature of French Gothic facades. It is made even richer by the polychrome brick used in diverse patterns, including checkerboard, also a feature of ceramic decoration of Spanish churches of this period. The profile of the aisles is screened by open arches, perhaps for bells.
• France, Angoulême Cathedral, is another richly decorated facade, but here it is of dressed stone with sculpture as the main ornament. The manner of arrangement of the various arches is not unlike that at Le Puy-en-Velay, but forming five strong vertical divisions which suggests that the nave is framed by two aisles on each side. In fact, the church has no aisles and is roofed by domes. The figurative sculpture, in common with much Romanesque sculpture, is not closely integrated to the arched spaces into which it has been set.

Some facades of Poland, Italy, Hungary, Portugal and Austria

• 
  Poland, Abbey church in Sulejów.
• 
  Italy, Marche, San Ciriaco, Ancona.
• 
  Hungary, Jak Church.
• 
  Portugal, Lisbon Cathedral.
• 
  Portugal, Old Cathedral of Coimbra.
• 
  Italy, Apulia, Basilica di San Nicola, Bari.
• 
  Poland, At St. Andrew's Church, Kraków.
• 
  Austria, Gurk Cathedral.

• Poland, the 12th century Abbey Church at Sulejów, dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury, has a facade that is very typical of many Romanesque churches across Europe. The elevation of nave and aisles are clearly revealed in the facade, and they are divided from each other by buttresses. The gable is decorated with shallow arcading and there is a splendid portal with separate gable beneath a wheel window.
• Italy, San Ciriaco, Ancona, Marche, while having the same basic components as the previous church, the massive size of the portal dominates the facade, overlapping the oculous window. The effect is very dynamic.
• Jak Church, Hungary, also has a very dynamic portal, in this case combining a round inner arch with tympanum of Christ in Majesty, with an outer arch that maintains the same style of elaborate mouldings but rises to a point, beneath a gable with stepped niches containing figures. All the various openings and courses on the building are detailed at the edge. Between the towers is a gable, unlike similar churches in Germany which usually have a straight, sloping roof.
• The facade of Lisbon Cathedral has a massive fortress like appearance, it apparently defensive nature emphasised by its deeply recessed door and wheel window. The architectural details are sparse, except for the slender shafts and carved capitals around the openings and dividing the lower tower windows. The buttresses are more strongly projecting than in most Romanesque buildings.
• Portugal, the Old Cathedral of Coimbra has similar characteristics to Lisbon Cathedral, but the towers mask its roofline and end at the same height as the nave, topped by battlements. The whole central part of the facade is stepped forward.
• Italy, at the Basilica di San Nicola, Bari, the facade reveals the form of the of nave and aisles, as at Ancona. However, unlike this church where the details are focused on the single feature of the great portal, there are a great number of diverse details which with the exception of the placement of the round-topped windows, appear to have a random and scarcely rational distribution. The very shallow porch is little more than a moulding and its columns are supported on beasts which rest on brackets rather than the podium, giving an unstable appearance. Two columns are used to support the shallow buttresses of the nave, adding to the appearance of instability. The blind-arcading which decorates the building is of very shallow relief, against the massive appearance of the stone work. The towers differ in form and project one each side of the outer walls of the facade.
• Poland, St. Andrew's Church, Kraków. The facade has no portal, the entrances being located to either side of the church, into the aisles. It has a defensive appearance, the single large window being located high above the ground and above it, a triple opening under the sloping roof between the towers. Above the height of the ailses, the towers emerge in octagonal form with two high tiers of openings, the lower single and the upper paired. The original octagonal spires have been replaced with a baroque form.
• Austria, Gurk Cathedral, presents a rather stark facade, in form similar to St Andrew's, Kraków. However, there is no emphasis on the windows, but on the central door, (1200), which is deeply recessed into a vaulted porch. The effect is lost since the porch was screened with a Gothic doorway and windows. The square towers, complete with their Baroque domes rise to 60 metres.

See also

• List of Romanesque architecture
• Romanesque art
• Romanesque sculpture
• Renaissance of the 12th century
• Romanesque Revival architecture
• Medieval architecture
• Mosan art
• Pre-Romanesque art
• Ottonian architecture
• Gothic architecture
• Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England
• Architecture of cathedrals and great churches

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Wischermann, Heinfried (1997a). "The Romanesque Period in Scandinavia". In Toman, Rolf (ed.). Romanesque : architecture, sculpture, painting. Köln: Könemann. pp. 252–253. ISBN 3-89508-447-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Wischermann, Heinfried (1997b). "The Romanesque Period in Scandinavia". In Toman, Rolf (ed.). Romanesque : architecture, sculpture, painting. Köln: Könemann. pp. 254–255. ISBN 3-89508-447-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Fletcher, Banister (1996). Cruickshank, Dan (ed.). Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture on the Comparative method (20 ed.). London: Architectural Press. ISBN 0-7506-2267-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Clifton-Taylor, Alec (1986) [1967]. The cathedrals of England. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0500200629. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• O'Keeffe, Tadhg (2003). Romanesque Ireland : architecture and ideology in the twelfth century. Dublin: Four Courts. ISBN 1851826173. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Cox, John Charles; Ford, Charles Bradley (1961). Parish Churches. London: Batsford. OCLC 1114706. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) (1914 edition is available from Archive.org)

Further reading

• Gardner, Helen (2005). Kleiner, Fred S.; Mamiya, Christin J. (eds.). Gardner's Art through the Ages. Thomson/Wadsworth. ISBN 978-0-15-505090-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Holmes, George, ed. (1988). The Oxford illustrated history of medieval Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-820073-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Huyghe, René (1958). Larousse Encyclopedia of Byzantine and Medieval Art. Paul Hamlyn.
• Icher, François (1998). Building the great cathedrals. New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-4017-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1957]. An Outline of European Architecture. Gibbs Smith. ISBN 978-1-4236-0493-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Beckwith, John (1985) [1969]. Early medieval art: Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 9780500200193.
• Kidson, Peter (1967). The Medieval World. London: Paul Hamlyn. OCLC 260121688. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Bumpus, Thomas Francis (1928). The Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium (2 ed.). T. Werner Laurie. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) (1st edition available from Archive.org)
• Harvey, John Hooper (1961). English cathedrals. London: Batsford. OCLC 222355466. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

St-Sernin basilica, Toulouse, France: elevation of the east end (1080-1120).

• Romanesque churches in Cologne,Germany
• Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland
• Overview of French Romanesque art
• French Romanesque art through 150 places (fr)(es)(en)
• Corrèze region Illustrated history (French)
• Italian, French and Spanish Romanesque art (it) (fr) (es) (en)
• Spanish and Zamora´s Romanesque art, easy navigation{es}
• Spanish Romanesque art{es}
• El Portal del Arte Románico Visigothic, Mozarabe and Romanesque art in Spain.
• Romanesque Churches in Portugal {en}
• The Nine Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boi - Pyrenees - France {en}
• Satan in the Groin - exhibitionist carvings on mediæval churches