SUBMITTED BY :- NITIN GREWAL, SANDEEP SINGH DALAL, NAVEEN SHARMA

The term Romanesque ("Roman-like") was first used to designate a style of architecture that used Roman arches and had thick, heavy walls, based upon the basilica. The style is pervasive throughout Europe.

Geographical Conditions Due to collapse of Roman Empire,

Romanesque Architecture developed in Western Europe.

This is the direct modification of Roman Architecture.

This style developed in Italy, France, Germany, Central Europe, Spain and Britain.

Geological Conditions This style had its building materials like

stone, brick, marble, ready made columns or other remains from ruins of roman buildings.

Materials were available from Italy and France

Climatic Conditions

There were huge variations in the climate of Italy, France and England.

Climate of north being dull, large window openings were provided to allow sufficient sunlight, whereas south being hot, small windows were kept to cut off dazzling sunlight.

Due to less rainfall in the south part, roofs were flat, whereas in north high pitched roofs were provided to drain out water and snow.

Historical Condition From the fall of Roman Empire to the period

of Charlemagne, many churches were constructed.

He encouraged artists & craftsmen and restored art & civilization in west Europe.

For the next two centuries, architecture made little progress with slight changes.

Romanesque churches were heavily influenced by the Roman Basilica, but they had a few important differences. The roof was made of stone vaults, which were much heavier and needed more supports. The solution was thicker walls and piers, rather than columns alone, to support interior spaces. This made the space inside dark, rather gloomy, and kept the height rather low. The exteriors were very simple, and several geometric forms often made up the building, rather than one large space.

Dark Spaces Romanesque churches

and castles were dark, with few openings. Wars and invasions were common place, so windows and doors were kept to a minimum. With stone and masonry buildings, buildings were safe from fire and invaders, but required large supports for the weight of walls and vaults.

Exterior is simple Combination of masonry, arches and piers

are the basis of the Romanesque style. The main concept of the building was the addition of pure geometrical forms.

Romanesque churches have an emphasis on horizontal lines, similar to those of Greek & Roman public buildings.

Horizontal linesRomanesque Church1000-1200

Vertical linesGothic Church1200-1500

Round arches

Barrel Vaults

Piers supporting vaults

Groin vaults

Round arches are similar to those of the Romans.

Also called Tunnel Vaults, Barrel Vaults replace the flat roofs commonly used in Roman architecture. This is the simplest vault, created by combining a series of round or Roman arches.

The Barrel vault creates a higher ceiling, but needs large supports under it, so columns are combined with piers.

The Pier (an upright support generally square or rectangular in plan) is a better solution for heavy masonry walls than the column.

In the picture on the left, Piers interspaced with columnssupport a Barrel Vault. On the right, columns on the pier aredecorative, rather than main supports.

The diagonal intersections are called groins. The advantage of the groin vault is that its weight and thrusts are concentrated at the four corners.

A Groin, or Cross vault is a combination of two barrel vaults atintersecting angles. It provided a more aesthetically pleasingappearance for intersecting vaults. Notice the piers, right.

The Companile, Pisa, Italy (1174).This is world famous

leaning tower, 15.8 M in diameter rising to a height of 57 M in 8 storeys of encircling archades. Due to the settlement of the foundations the upper part of the tower has leaned as much as 4.2 M.

The Baptistery, Pisa, Italy (1155-1278)It is the most famous group of Pisa buildings. It is circular in Plan with a central nave, 18.3 in diameter. These are the special features of Italian-Romanesque Architecture where Baptismal rite was carried out thrice a year.

The Abbey Church, Cluny (1089-1131)It formed one of the most famous monastic buildings in Burgundy, now completed destroyed. It was the largest church in france.