Secular Romanesque architecture. Romanesque architecture

At the beginning of the second millennium, Europe stopped shaking from endless wars, devastation and disasters. The subsequent feudal fragmentation became the reason for the formation of separate independent art schools, the styles of which had similar features in spirit. During this period, the Romanesque style in art was born, dominating throughout Europe over the next two centuries. It was expressed most clearly in Italy, Germany and France.

The Romanesque style is characterized by massiveness, the absence of deliberate decoration, and the severity and severity of its appearance. Famous buildings are heavy medieval castles in the form of thick-walled fortresses. The interiors are devoid of frills and elegance.

Romanesque architecture

After a century-long decline in church building, it again began to gain momentum amid the emergence of monastic orders and the development of complex forms of liturgy. Improved technology helped bring the early Christian ideas of the masters to life. Materials for construction were selected based on the saturation of the surrounding area with them. Limestone was most often used, in some cases - volcanic rubble, marble and granite. The simplified construction process was based on fastening small hewn stones with mortar. These stones were not subjected to painstaking selection and were processed exclusively from the outside.

Monumental architecture, as often happens after protracted wars, acquired motifs from several cultures: Syrian, Arab, Byzantine, and ancient. At the same time, the unifying style-forming features are:

Regular cylindrical and rectangular shapes;
Increased height of temples and ceilings;
The space is organized longitudinally, the base is an early Christian basilica;
Simplicity;
Conciseness;
Monochrome reliefs;
Muted colors: green, white, black, gray, brown, red;
Line shapes are standard straight, semi-circular;
Repeating floral or geometric ornament;
The halls have exposed ceiling beams and central supports;
Massive structures are based on thick-walled stone structures;
Decoration elements with a knightly theme - coats of arms, weapons, armor, torches.

Romanesque buildings are distinguished by rational simplicity of design, but a feeling of heaviness general view gives it a depressing character. The most powerful columns and walls under the arches of semicircular arches are an integral part of the Romanesque fortress. Narrow loophole windows and high towers emphasize the bulkiness of the walls.

One of the priorities of designers of Romanesque buildings is considered to be an ideal combination with the surrounding nature, which allows emphasizing the solidity and strength of the building. The laconic decoration of the building facades, combined with a simple silhouette, highlighted the beauty of the landscape, in which the building fit harmoniously and naturally.

(Ensemble of columns of the Cathedral of Monreale)

Architectural monuments of Romanesque art are observed throughout most of Europe and in the countries where European masters worked. The most famous of them are:

In Germany: Limburg Cathedral, St. Jacob's Church in Regensburg, Laach Abbey, Kaiser Cathedrals in Mainz, Worms and Speyer;
In France: Priory of Serrabona, Church of North-Dame-la-Grand;
In Great Britain: Oakham Castle, Ely Cathedral, Peterborough Cathedral, Malmesbury Abbey, Wincher Cathedral;
In Portugal: Braga Cathedral, Lisbon Cathedral, Old Town Hall of Braganza, Porto Cathedral, Old Coimbra Cathedral.

Romanesque art sculpture

Sculptors of the early Middle Ages sought to embody in stone the divine essence of a complex universe. The 12th century is considered to be the dawn of this style for sculpture. Individual works of art such as sculpture were not created at that time, since Christianity feared the return of idolatry. Speaking about sculpture of the Romanesque period, we mean reliefs on tympanums, column capitals and wall frames. Sculpture completely freed from stone appears only in the last stages of the era.

The subjects of the reliefs are inextricably linked with the Bible. Favorite themes include: Apocalypse, Last Judgment, End of the World. The characters in such paintings were mythical creatures and monsters, borrowed from barbarian legends about the world of people and shadows. Another storyline identifies Jesus Christ, whose image is interpreted as the Great Judge, the incarnation of God, the Almighty.

(Sculptures of North Dame Cathedral, transition from Romanesque to Gothic style)

The compositions are dynamic, they abound in bright speaking poses of the characters. Often a clash of opposites is imagined: heaven and hell, heaven and earth, good and evil. This fight reflects the diversity of the universe, its complex structure.

Most of the Romanesque works are anonymous, so the names of the masters who created these works of art have not survived to this day.

Romanesque art painting

Despite the fact that Romanesque sculpture gravitates towards realism, in painting a formal path is chosen, devoid of realism and humanism. Technically, preference is given to linear designs, severity and majestic calm of images. The character of the Romanesque stained glass windows, altarpieces, paintings and manuscripts combines motifs from Eastern Byzantine works and Western Gothic art.

(Romanesque painting in the Church of San Clemente)

In the depthless space of the paintings, a strict hierarchical dependence of the sizes of the elements can be traced. For example, the figure of Jesus is always larger and compositionally higher than the images of angels and apostles. Those, in turn, are larger than mere mortals. The images located in the center of the canvas are larger than those shifted to the edges. The Romanesque style is distinguished by abstractness and lack of proportions: the hands and heads are exaggerated, the bodies are elongated.

(Ornamental composition of the Romanesque period, church and medieval village, Conques, commune of France)

The Romanesque period is the era of popularization of ornamental art. Compositions representing biblical scenes from the lives of saints were depicted on large-scale walls. The figures in them are not perceived as realistic images, but have a symbolic meaning.

The Romanesque style is characterized by the use of wax painting, frescoes and tempera. But color palette each medieval craftsman was limited and consisted of basic colors: blue, burgundy, green, black, brown, gray.

Conclusion

Romanesque art marked the political and the economic growth Europe. The taxation of church activities and high taxes provided states with opportunities to build new temples and decorate them with frescoes, paintings and statues. Elements of art, in turn, attracted the interest of citizens and increased the profits of religious institutions.

Romanesque style - a stage in the development of medieval European art, an artistic style that dominated Western Europe, and also affected the countries of Eastern Europe, in the 10th-12th centuries, in some places until the 13th century. The main role in the Romanesque style was given to harsh, serf-like architecture: monastery complexes, churches, castles were located on elevated places, dominating the area. Churches were decorated with paintings and reliefs, expressing the power of God in conventional, expressive forms. At the same time, semi-fairy tales, images of animals and plants went back to folk art. During the Romanesque period, metal and wood processing, enamel, and miniatures reached a high level of development. The term Romanesque style was introduced in the early 19th century.

Pisa. Cathedral complex

The Romanesque style absorbed elements of early Christian art, Merovingian art, the culture of the Carolingian Renaissance, but, in addition, the art of antiquity, Byzantium, and the Muslim Middle East. In contrast to the trends in medieval art that preceded it, which were local in nature, the Romanesque style became the first artistic system of the Middle Ages, which, despite the diversity of local schools, embraced the majority European countries. The unity of the Romanesque style was based on an international essence catholic church, which was the most significant ideological force in society and, due to the absence of a strong secular centralized power, had a fundamental political influence. The main patrons of the arts in most states were monastic orders, and the builders, workers, painters, copyists and decorators of manuscripts were monks. It was only at the end of the 11th century that wandering artels of lay stonemasons - builders and sculptors - appeared.

Principles of the Romanesque style

Monastery of Maria Lach

Individual Romanesque buildings and complexes (churches, monasteries, castles) were often created among the rural landscape and, located on a hill or on an elevated river bank, dominated the area as an earthly likeness of the “city of God” or a visual expression of the power of the overlord. Romanesque buildings are in harmony with the natural environment, their compact forms and clear silhouettes seem to repeat and enrich the natural relief, and the local stone, which most often served as the material, organically combines with the soil and greenery. The external appearance of the buildings is full of harsh strength; in creating such an impression, a significant role was played by massive walls, the heaviness and thickness of which were emphasized by narrow window openings and stepped recessed portals, as well as towers, which in the Romanesque style became one of the elements of architectural compositions.

Pentecost. Tympanum of the Church of La Madeleine in Vézelay

The Romanesque building was a system of simple stereometric volumes (cubes, parallelepipeds, prisms, cylinders), the surface of which was dissected by blades, arched friezes and galleries, rhythmicizing the mass of the wall, but not violating the monolithic integrity. Temples developed the types of basilical and centric (most often round in plan) churches inherited from early Christian architecture; at the intersection of the transept with the longitudinal naves, a light lantern or tower was erected. Each of the main parts of the temple was a separate spatial cell, both inside and outside, isolated from the rest, which was determined by the requirements of the church hierarchy: for example, the choir of the church was inaccessible to the flock that occupied the naves. In the interior, the rhythms of the arcades and supporting arches separating the naves, cutting through the stone mass of the vault at a considerable distance from each other, gave rise to a feeling of stability of the divine world order; this impression was strengthened by the vaults (mostly cylindrical, cross, cross-rib, less often - domes), which replaced the flat ones in the Romanesque style wooden floors and originally appeared in the side naves.

Apostle Paul. Relief from the abbey at Moissac

The early Romanesque style was dominated by wall painting. At the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th century, when the vaults and walls acquired a complex configuration, the leading type of temple decoration became monumental reliefs that decorated the portals and the facade wall, and capitals in the interior. In the mature Romanesque style, the flat relief became more convex, rich in light and shadow effects, but maintaining an organic connection with the wall. The Romanesque period in medieval art was characterized by the flourishing of book miniatures, distinguished by their large sizes and monumental compositions, as well as decorative and applied arts: casting, embossing, bone carving, enamel work, artistic weaving, carpet weaving, and jewelry. In Romanesque painting and sculpture, themes related to the idea of God's power (Christ in glory, the Last Judgment) occupied a central place. The strictly symmetrical compositions were dominated by the figure of Christ, which was larger than the other figures. Narrative cycles of images (based on biblical and evangelical, hagiographic, and occasionally historical subjects) took on a freer and more dynamic character. The Romanesque style is characterized by deviations from real proportions (heads are disproportionately large, clothes are interpreted ornamentally, bodies are subordinated to abstract patterns), thanks to which the human image becomes the bearer of an exaggerated expressive gesture or part of an ornament. In all types of Romanesque art, a significant role was played by patterns, geometric or composed of motifs of flora and fauna (typologically dating back to the works of the animal style and directly reflecting the spirit of the pagan past of European peoples).

Romanesque style in European countries

Monastery church in Cluny. South facade

The original forms of the Romanesque style appeared in French architecture at the end of the 10th century. In France, three-nave basilicas with barrel vaults in the middle nave and cross vaults in the side ones, as well as the so-called pilgrimage churches with a choir surrounded by a bypass gallery with radial chapels (the Church of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, around 1080 - 12th century), became widespread. French Romanesque architecture is marked by a variety of local schools; the Burgundian school (the so-called Cluny 3 church) gravitated towards monumental compositions, and the Poitou school (Notre Dame Church in Poitiers, 12th century) towards the richness of sculptural decoration. In Provence, a feature of the churches was a single-bay or three-bay main portal decorated with sculpture, probably similar to the motif of the ancient Roman triumphal arch (the Church of Saint-Trophime in Arles). Norman churches, strict in decoration, prepared the Gothic style with clarity of spatial divisions (the church of La Trinite in Caen, 1059-1066). In secular Romanesque architecture in France, a type of castle-fortress with a donjon developed. Achievements of the Romanesque visual arts France is considered to be the sculpture of the tympanums of the Burgundian and Languedoc churches in Vézelay, Autun, Moissac, cycles of paintings, monuments of miniatures and decorative arts, including Limoges enamels.

Ghent. Count's Castle

In early Romanesque architecture in Germany, the Saxon school stood out: churches with two symmetrical choirs in the west and east, sometimes with two transepts, devoid of a front façade, for example the St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim (after 1001-1033). In the mature period (11th-13th centuries), grandiose cathedrals were built in the Rhine cities in Speyer, Mainz, and Worms using the so-called connected system of ceilings, in which each trestle of the middle nave corresponded to two trestles of the side naves. The ideas of the greatness of imperial power, distinctive for German Romanics, found expression in the construction of imperial palaces (palatinates). The “Ottonian period” (second half of the 10th - first half of the 11th centuries) became the heyday of German book miniatures, the centers of which were the Abbey of Reichenau and Trier, as well as the art of casting (bronze doors in the cathedral in Hildesheim). During the era of the mature German Romanesque style, the importance of stone and stucco sculpture expanded.
In Spain, like nowhere else in Europe, in the Romanesque era, widespread construction of castles, fortresses and city fortifications began, for example, in Avila, which is associated with the Reconquista. The church architecture of Spain followed the French “pilgrimage” prototypes (the cathedral in Salamanca), but in general it was distinguished by the simplicity of its compositional solutions. In a number of cases, sculpture anticipated the complex figurative systems of Gothic art. In Catalonia, Romanesque paintings have been preserved, marked by the lapidary design and intensity of color.
After the Norman Conquest (1066), in the architecture of England, the traditions of local wooden architecture were combined with the influence of the Norman school; in painting, miniatures, which are characterized by a wealth of floral ornaments, gained leading importance. In Scandinavia, large city cathedrals followed German models, and parish and village churches had a local flavor. Outside of Europe, the castles built by the Crusaders in Palestine and Syria (Castle des Chevaliers, 12th-13th centuries) became centers of the Romanesque style. Certain features of the Romanesque style, due not so much to direct influences as to the similarity of ideological and artistic goals, appeared in art Ancient Rus', for example, in the architecture and plastic arts of the Vladimir-Suzdal school.

For an architectural style that originated in medieval Europe, are characterized by semicircular arches, which differ from Gothic pointed arches. Because examples of Romanesque architecture can be found throughout the European continent, the style is often considered to be the first pan-European architectural style since the Roman Empire. In addition to semicircular arches, the direction is distinguished by massive forms, thick walls, strong supports, cross vaults and large towers. From the 6th to the 10th centuries, most churches and monasteries in Europe were built in this majestic style. We have selected for you 25 of the most breathtaking and impressive examples of the Romanesque style in architecture that you simply must see!

Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Gurk, Austria. 12th century

This basilica is considered one of the most important Romanesque buildings in the country. It has two towers, three apses, a crypt and galleries.

Notre Dame Cathedral, Tournai, Belgium. 17th century

Since 1936 it has been considered the main attraction and heritage of Wallonia. It is impossible not to note the heavy and serious nature of the building, the Romanesque nave and the cluster of five bell towers and semicircular arches.

Rotunda of St. Longina, Prague. 12th century

Founded as a parish church in a small village near Prague, it was almost destroyed at the beginning of the 19th century, but was later rebuilt.

Cathedral of Saint Trophime, Arles, France. 15th century

One of the most important examples Romanesque architecture in France.

Saint-Savin-sur-Gartampe, France. Mid 11th century

The church, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, has a square tower and five radial chapels with a polygonal apse.

Bamberg Cathedral, Bamberg, Germany. 13th century

Founded in 1012 by Emperor Henry II, the church is famous for its four imposing towers. The cathedral was partially destroyed by fire in 1081, but rebuilt by 1111.

Cathedral in Clonfert, Ireland. 12th century

The doorway of this cathedral is considered the crown of the Romanesque style. It is decorated with animal heads, leaves and human heads.

San Liberatore in Maiella, Abruzzo, Italy. 11th century

The facade of this abbey is an example of the Lombard-Romanesque architectural style.

Modena Cathedral, Modena, Italy. 12th century

The cathedral is considered one of the most iconic Romanesque buildings in Europe and is a World Heritage Site.

Basilica of St. Servatius, Maastricht, Netherlands. 11th century

The building is considered an example of various architectural styles, but mostly Romanesque.

Doors of the Cathedral in Gniezno, Poland. 12th century

The bronze doors are considered one of the most significant works of Romanesque art in Poland. They are decorated with bas-reliefs that show 18 scenes from the life of St. Wojciech.

Monastery of Peter and Paul, Kruszwica, Poland. 1120

This work of Romanesque art is built from sandstone and granite. It has a transept, presbytery and apse.

St. Andrew's Church, Krakow, Poland. 1079-1098

This church was created for defensive purposes. It is one of the few remaining examples of European fortified churches.

Lisbon Cathedral, Portugal. 1147

The oldest church in Lisbon, which is a mixture various styles and became famous for its Romanesque iron gates.

Cathedral of St. Martin, Slovakia. 13th-15th century

The largest and most interesting Romanesque cathedral in Slovakia. Inside it are marble tombstones, and the walls are painted with scenes of the coronation of Charles Robert of Anjou.

Basilica of San Isidro, Leon, Spain. 10th century

Among the building's most notable features are the arches that cross the transept and the carved tympanum.

Lund Cathedral, Sweden. 1145

The Romanesque style here is expressed in the layout, crypt and arched galleries.

Grossmunster, Zurich, Switzerland. 1100-1120

Protestant church in Romanesque style. It has a large carved portal with medieval columns.

Durham Cathedral, England. 1093

The building is notable for its unusual nave roof vaults, transverse arches and massive columns.

Dunnottar Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 15-16th century

The ruined medieval fortress consists of three main wings set around a quadrangle and an unusual, intricate oak ceiling.

Salamanca Cathedral, Spain. 1513-1733

Although the cathedral was rebuilt in the 17th century and became Gothic, it retains much of the Romanesque style.

Wonchock Abbey, Wonchock, Poland. 1179

The abbey is recognized as one of the most precious monuments of Romanesque architecture in Poland.

Cathedral in Porto, Portugal. 1737

This is one of the oldest cathedrals in the city. It is surrounded by two square towers supported by buttresses and topped by a dome.

Santa Maria Maggiore, Veneto, Italy. 11th century

The interior of this cathedral is decorated with amazing mosaics from the 9th century.

Cathedral of San Nicola di Trullas, Italy. 1113

The cathedral was built as a village school and later became a monastery with cross vaults and frescoes.

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Roman style(from Latin romanus - Roman) - style of architecture and art of the early Middle Ages.

General characteristics of the Romanesque style

For Romanesque style is typical massiveness, severity and lack of frills, as well as the severity of appearance. Romanesque architecture is famous for its ponderous castles and temples, rather reminiscent of an impregnable fortress in the spirit of the Middle Ages. The Romanesque style is dominated by powerful walls, massive semicircular doors, thick columns, cross or barrel vaults, semicircular or round windows. The floor is marble, patterned tiles. Mirrors – chiffon bronze. Walls - Venetian plaster. Painting (religious motifs).

IN Romanesque style interior also more power than grace. All interior elements create a feeling of simplicity and heaviness, almost no decorative ornaments rooms.

For Romanesque buildings Characterized by powerful walls and columns due to heavy vaults. The main motif of the interior is semicircular arches. In general, the rational simplicity of the structures is noticeable, but the feeling of the heaviness of the Romanesque cathedral is depressing.

Basic elements of the Romanesque style:

relief plane, conciseness and simplicity;
colors: brown, red, green, white, gray, black;
barrel, semicircular, straight, horizontal and vertical lines;
rectangular and cylindrical shapes;
semicircular frieze, repeating geometric or floral pattern; halls with exposed ceiling beams and center supports;
stone, massive, thick-walled structures;
castle and knightly themes - torches, armor, coats of arms, battles, weapons.

History of the Romanesque style

Roman style(from Latin romanus - Roman) in art arose around 800, after the fall of the Roman Empire and the completion of the great migration of peoples. The source for the emergence of a new style was the Byzantine style, the art of the peoples of northern Europe and early Christian forms. Developed in Western European art of the X-XII centuries.

Roman style absorbed numerous elements of early Christian art, Merovingian art, the culture of the “Carolingian Renaissance” (and, in addition, the art of antiquity, the era of migration of peoples, Byzantium and the Muslim Middle East). In contrast to the trends in medieval art that preceded it, which were local in nature, the Romanesque style was the first artistic system of the Middle Ages, which covered (despite the huge variety of local schools caused by feudal fragmentation) most European countries.

Romanesque art style, which dominated Western Europe (and also affected some countries of Eastern Europe) in the X-XII centuries. (in a number of places - and in the 13th century), one of the most important stages development of medieval European art.

The entire aesthetics of the Renaissance originates from the art of the Middle Ages. The aesthetics of the Medieval era is characterized by a high degree of theology. Thus, the aesthetic concepts of the Middle Ages have their beginning and completion in God. It should also be noted that the early Romanesque style shows the influence of the Roman thinker and philosopher Aurelius Augustine, who lived from 354 to 430 AD. Aurelius Augustine had an excellent sense of beauty, was a sensual, expressive person, and at the same time, being a Christian, he understood that divine beauty is far superior to visible, earthly beauty. It was this thinker who turned his attention to how the ugly and the beautiful correlate in the world. For Augustine, the form of beauty was the unity in which a room was maintained. The Romanesque style originated in the Middle Ages, at the beginning of the 10th century, and lasted approximately until the 12th century. The Romanesque style was most widespread in Germany and France.

Myself term Romanesque style appeared at the beginning of the 19th century, when a connection was established between the architecture of the 11th and 12th centuries with ancient Roman architecture, partly through the use of semicircular arches and vaults. The term, although conventional, has come into widespread use. The development of the Christian Church on the ruins of the Roman Empire served to popularize the Romanesque style. The monastic brethren moved to all corners of Europe, erecting churches and monasteries in the Romanesque style. Among the monks there were also artists and craftsmen who, with their work, spread this style throughout Europe.

buildings, considered examples of architecture of this period, have the appearance of fortresses: a castle-fortress and a temple-fortress. The Romanesque style is distinguished by thick massive walls, narrow loophole windows and high towers. During periods of civil strife, Romanesque churches could withstand siege and serve as refuge during war. Knight's castles were built on elevated places, convenient for protection from the enemy, and then surrounded by high walls and a moat.

The main buildings during this period were the temple-fortress and the castle-fortress. The main element of the composition of a monastery or castle is the tower - the donjon. Around it were the rest of the buildings, made up of simple geometric shapes - cubes, prisms, cylinders.

The most famous buildings in the Romanesque style are: Libmurg Cathedral in Germany; Pisa Cathedral and partly the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy; Kaiser Cathedrals in Speyer, Worms and Mainz in Germany; Romanesque churches in Val de Boi; Church of St. Allegedly in Regensburg.

The godly social order, as the church imagined it, was not aimed at the development of style. For approximately 400 years of existence, the Romanesque style received neither development nor a leap in technology in production.

Household items, fabrics and furniture for a society that was based on subsistence farming were made only for the needs of this household, giving absolutely nothing to the development of the style. However, with the beginning of the Crusades, progress began.

Knights and pilgrims, having visited the Holy Lands, saw all the luxury of the east and wanted to partially reproduce it in their homeland. This served as an impetus for the development of the Romanesque style, which later degenerated into the Gothic style.

Features of the Romanesque style

Creators of the Romanesque style- sculptors, architects, painters - wanted one thing: the embodiment of beauty in their creations. The era of this style gives rise to a special feeling of touching an everlasting history, a sense of the significance of the Christian world. The interiors and architectural buildings of that time reveal warmth and harmony, smooth arches and majestically calm decor.

Romanesque walls: imitation stone - castle walls. Also in the Romanesque style you can use plain plaster of gray, yellowish-brown, beige colors. The bathroom/toilet has stone wall tiles. The feeling of gloom can be diluted with inserts made of dark wood, frescoes and even stained glass windows made of colored pieces of glass. You can also create a decorative window of a semicircular elongated shape in the wall, or in the form of a fresco, adding a sense of fortress.

Romanesque ceiling: often as a continuation of the wall in the form of vaults. The color of the Romanesque ceiling matches the color of the wall. To liven things up, you can use wood inserts, but as rough supports rather than carved decorations.

Romanesque floor: distinguishing feature This style involves covering the floor with mosaics, mainly made of natural stone. Possibility of using ceramic tiles large sizes, again imitating stone. Parquet in the Romanesque interior style is rarely used. When using it, try to choose an array of dark wood that matches the inserts on the walls with an antique effect.

Romanesque style furniture: Simple and even primitive. The most common: rough tables, stools with three and four legs, benches. Seating furniture was made of planks, carvings and forged iron parts were added. The backs of the chairs and the chairs themselves are quite high, their size indicated nobility of origin. Romanesque style furniture was often painted in bright colors. The materials used to make furniture in the Romanesque style were spruce, cedar and oak.

The main mistake when creating a Romanesque interior style is the use upholstered furniture. In those years it was not available, and the furniture was covered with paint and often covered with canvas, then a layer of plaster was applied and the entire structure was subsequently painted. The only possible deviation from the rules is the bed. In the Romanesque period, an important role was played by beds, whose design resembled frames on carved legs. Canopies can be hung as an elegant addition to the bed, although at that time they were used more as protection from the cold.

The first place among household items in the Romanesque style belongs to the chest, which was used as a table, chair and even a bed, but mainly as a place to store household items. Later, chests with legs and doors begin to appear in temples, which are the original ancestors of modern cabinets. However, the use of cabinets in any form is considered unacceptable. To create a special touch in the Romanesque style of the interior, get a wooden chest with wrought iron inserts.

Roman style characterized by the simplicity of the interior and the materials used in it, as well as small decorative details. In the Romanesque style, the concept of curtains and curtains first appeared. This is due to the fact that spaces during antiquity were windowless, and buildings during the early Christian era had small windows made of colored glass, so these interiors did not require curtains. Despite the fact that the Romanesque architecture has a heavy castle character and there are not many windows there either. It contains semi- and round windows, which began to be decorated with transverse curtains. The semicircle was a typical Romanesque window shape, so the curtain rod or cornice of this era was round. At the same time, a carved zigzag line decorated the simple architecture of the interior. The cornice or pole was made of dark wood, just like the furniture. In addition to cross curtains in the Romanesque style interior, there were carpets and heavy draperies that served as protection from the cold.

Decor items in the Romanesque style: paintings, tapestries, Wall lights in the form of candles. When choosing a chandelier, focus on its massiveness (heavy and forged metal, chains, etc.). The predominant type of sculpture was relief. Relief images, large vases with drawings, tapagrams (small terracotta figurines) complement the painted coffered ceiling. You can complement the interior with items of knightly heritage: armor, helmet, sword. A special touch is the presence of a fireplace.

Roman style– style of revival of traditions Ancient Rome. The style is characterized by heavy, closed, massive forms, static, smooth arches and majestically calm decor.

A characteristic feature of architecture the monumentality of the defensive fortifications - a stone vault, thick walls cut through by small windows. The decor is dominated by massive elements, only the minimum necessary for life - beds, mostly with canopies, rough wooden chairs with a high back, chests fastened with metal plates. Comfort was achieved through finishing with fabrics and carpets. A mandatory element is a fireplace with a hanging hood.

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Roman style

an artistic style that dominated Western Europe (and also affected some countries in Eastern Europe) in the 10th-12th centuries. (in a number of places - in the 13th century), one of the most important stages in the development of medieval European art. The term "R. With." was introduced at the beginning of the 19th century

R.s. absorbed numerous elements of early Christian art, Merovingian art (See Merovingian art) , the culture of the “Carolingian Renaissance” (See Carolingian Renaissance) (and, in addition, the art of antiquity, the era of migration, Byzantium and the Muslim Middle East). In contrast to the trends in medieval art that preceded it, which were of a local nature, R. s. was the first artistic system of the Middle Ages, which covered (despite the huge variety of local schools caused by feudal fragmentation) most European countries. The basis of the unity of the R. s. there was a system of developed feudal relations and the international essence of the Catholic Church, which was in that era the most significant ideological force in society and, due to the absence of a strong secular centralized power, had fundamental economic and political influence. The main patrons of the arts in most states were monastic orders, and the builders, workers, painters, copyists and decorators of manuscripts were monks; only at the end of the 11th century. wandering artels of lay stonemasons (builders and sculptors) appeared.

If in early R. s. Wall painting dominated, then at the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th centuries, when the vaults and walls acquired a more complex configuration, the leading type of temple decoration became monumental reliefs that adorned the portals, and often the entire facade wall, and in the interior they were concentrated on the capitals. In mature R. s. the flat relief is replaced by an increasingly convex one, saturated with light and shadow effects, but invariably maintaining an organic connection with the wall, inserted into it or, as it were, growing out of its mass. The era of R. s. It was also the heyday of book miniatures, generally distinguished by the large size and monumentality of the compositions, as well as various branches of decorative and applied art: casting, embossing, bone carving, enamel work, artistic weaving, carpet weaving, and jewelry.

In Romanesque painting and sculpture, a central place was occupied by themes related to the idea of the limitless and formidable power of God (Christ in glory, “ doomsday" etc.). The strictly symmetrical compositions were dominated by the figure of Christ, significantly larger in size than the other figures. Narrative cycles of images (based on biblical and evangelical, hagiographic, and occasionally historical subjects) took on a freer and more dynamic character. For R. s. characterized by numerous deviations from real proportions (heads are disproportionately large, clothes are interpreted ornamentally, bodies are subordinated to abstract patterns), thanks to which the human image becomes the bearer of an exaggerated expressive gesture or part of an ornament, often without losing intense spiritual expressiveness. In all types of Romanesque art, patterns, geometric or composed of motifs of flora and fauna (typologically dating back to the works of the animal style) often played a significant role. and directly reflecting the spirit of the pagan past of European peoples). General system The images of Russian literature, which at the mature stage gravitated towards the universal artistic embodiment of the medieval picture of the world, prepared what was characteristic of Gothic (See Gothic) the idea of the cathedral as a kind of “spiritual encyclopedia”.

In the architecture of France, where the initial forms of R. s. appear at the end

10th century, the most widespread were three-nave basilicas with barrel vaults in the middle nave and cross vaults in the side ones, as well as the so-called pilgrimage churches with a choir surrounded by a bypass gallery with radial chapels (the Church of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, around 1080 - 12th century). . In general, French Romanesque architecture is marked by an extreme diversity of local schools: the Burgundian school gravitated towards the special monumentality of compositions

(the so-called Cluny 3 church) , to the wealth of sculptural decoration - the Poitou school (Notre Dame Church in Poitiers, 12th century); in Provence, a distinctive feature of the churches was the main portal (single-bay or three-bay), richly decorated with sculpture, probably developing the motif of the ancient Roman triumphal arch (the Church of Saint-Trophime in Arles) . The Norman churches, strict in their decor, largely prepared the Gothic with the clarity of their spatial divisions (the church of La Trinite in Caen, 1059-66). In secular architecture R. s. In France, a type of castle-fortress with a Donjon developed. The sculpture of the tympanums of the Burgundian and Languedoc churches, imbued with powerful expression, belongs to the peaks of Romanesque fine art in France [in Vézelay, Autun , Moissac], numerous cycles of paintings, monuments of miniatures and decorative arts (including Limoges enamels (See Limoges enamel)).

In the Romanesque architecture of Germany, the Saxon school stood out [churches with two symmetrical choirs on the west and east, sometimes with 2 transepts, deprived of a front facade (St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim, after 1001-33)], and in the mature period - church architecture Rhine cities, where in the 11th-13th centuries. grandiose cathedrals were built [in Speyer, Mainz, Worms]; here the so-called connected system of floors was widely used, in which each trave of the middle nave corresponded to 2 traves of the side naves. The ideas of the greatness of imperial power, characteristic of German Romanesque, found vivid expression in the construction of imperial palaces (palatinates). During the “Ottonian period” R. s. (2nd half of the 10th - 1st half of the 11th centuries) German book miniatures flourished (the most important centers were Reichenau Abbey and Trier), as well as the art of casting (bronze doors in the cathedral in Hildesheim). In the era of mature German R. s. Stone and stucco sculpture is becoming increasingly important.

In Italy, elements of R. s. first of all originated in the Lombard school (See Lombard school) , where already in the 9th-10th centuries. the so-called first R. s. (regular masonry of walls and supports, stone floors, tectonic decoration of external surfaces in the absence of a clear relationship between the elements of the volumetric-spatial composition). For Italian R. s. Typical are the predominantly urban nature of the architecture, constant antique and (in southern Italy and Sicily) Arab influences. The architecture of Tuscany [the cathedral complex in Pisa], where the Inlay style arose, is more closely related to German and French Romanesque.

In Spain, partly in connection with the Reconquista, the construction of castles, fortresses and city fortifications [for example, in Avila] began widely (like nowhere else in Europe) in the Romanesque era. The church architecture of Spain often followed the French “pilgrimage” prototypes (the cathedral in Salamanca; see illustration at Art. Salamanca), but in general it was distinguished by the comparative simplicity of compositional solutions. Spanish sculpture R. s. in some cases it anticipates the complex figurative systems of Gothic. In Spain (mainly in Catalonia) numerous Romanesque paintings have also been preserved, marked by the sharp lapidary design and extreme intensity of color.

R.s. also develops in England (after the Norman conquest of 1066; in architecture here the traditions of local wooden architecture were combined with the influence of the Norman school, and in painting miniatures, which are characterized by a special richness of plant ornaments, gained leading importance), in the countries of Scandinavia (if large city cathedrals here follow predominantly German models, then in parish and rural churches features of local originality clearly appear), in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Outside Europe, foci of R. s. there were castles built by the crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. in Palestine and Syria (Krac des Chevaliers castle,

12-13 centuries). Certain features of artistic style, due not so much to direct influences as to certain similarities in ideological and artistic goals, appeared in the art of Ancient Rus' (for example, in the architecture and plastic arts of the Vladimir-Suzdal school (See Vladimir-Suzdal school)).

Lit.: General History of Arts, vol. 2, book. 1, M., 1960; General history of architecture, vol. 4, L. - M., 1966; Grabar A., Nordenfalk S., Romanesque painting from the 11th to the 13th century, N.Y., ; Conant K. J., Carolingian and romanesque architecture. 800-1200, [Harmondsworth, 1959]; Demus 0., Romanische Wandmalerei, Münch., ; Fillitz H., Das Mittelalter, Bd I, B., 1969; Francastel P., L "humanisme roman, P. - La Hayt, .

E. T. Yuvalova.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .