Roman-like about Romanesque architecture - Essay Example

What is so Roman-like about Romanesque architecture? Trace the development of the basilica through the period of 1050-1200 discussing in detail the modifications and inventions of specific features of these buildings. The word basilica was originally used to denote a large public building in ancient Rome which was used for general community purposes such as holding markets and dispensing justice to the assembled people. The simple design of a large rectangular space, called the nave, flanked by aisles, with an apse and transept was adopted later by Christians to accommodate large numbers of worshippers, and perhaps also because of the symbolism of the cross in its ground plan.

Medieval Christian basilicas incorporated many new inventions, however, including “the outstanding engineering achievement of the stone vault” (Stalley: 1999, p. 130). The Romans and early Christian architects had managed to construct groin and barrel vaulting, but they were usually very small. They had used wood to cover the vast basilica spaces. Romanesque masons worked out techniques to apply this feature to huge stone buildings. Romanesque vaults were made of “rubble or roughly dressed masonry, which called for a liberal supply of mortar.

” (Stalley, 1999, p. 130) This material was both thick and heavy, and was held together by compression. The forces involved in this caused the walls to buckle, and so builders had to make the walls very thick and strong, and support them with the use of external buttresses. In Italy there was a tendency to construct basilicas with a lot of columns, largely due to the availability of antique Roman columns (Clapham: 1946, p. 30). Better engineering techniques allowed the addition of windows in areas not subject to stress, and in Germany the basic basilica form was enhanced with, arches, side rooms, and towers and turrets as well to accommodate various kinds of smaller scale Christian activity alongside the massive public space for high festivals.

References Clapham, A.W. Romanesque Architecture in Western Europe. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936. Stalley, Roger A. Early Medieval Architecture. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.