architecture: Europe 73 Types of Medieval Architecture Two major types of architecture flourished in medieval Europe The first is called Romanesque, a name that suggests its roots in the architectural styles of the Roman Empire This type of architecture was especially prominent in the 11th century The related Norman style, which originated in Normandy, a region on the northwest coast of France, also became prominent during the 11th century, primarily in England Scholars regard English Norman architecture as essentially the English version of Romanesque But the form of architecture that remains most associated with the European Middle Ages is the second style, called Gothic, which underwent an enormous flowering beginning in the 12th century, specifically between 1137 and 1144 with the rebuilding of the royal Abbey of Saint-Denis by the abbot Suger (1081–1151) Interestingly, some Gothic buildings have characteristics of both the Romanesque and the Gothic—and even of later styles—principally because they took so long to construct that architectural styles changed over the generations Some buildings have combinations of styles because they later needed to be expanded or because they were damaged and parts needed to be rebuilt Medieval Europeans did not use the term Romanesque This term came into vogue in about the 18th century, when historians first began to study and classify the types of architecture they observed in Europe They noticed that much of Europe’s early architecture bore strong similarities to the architecture of ancient Rome Because the Roman Empire had exerted its influence through large portions of Europe, especially Italy, France, England, and parts of eastern Europe, its architectural influence remained behind, to germinate and grow some five centuries later Hence, historians coined the term Romanesque architecture was the direct result of the explosive expansion of the Catholic Church During this era a large number of religious orders were founded These religious orders, including the Cistercians, the Cluniacs, and the Carthusians, constructed monasteries to house their members The result was a concentration of religious communities that spurred a building boom Their chief characteristic was that their floor plan was in the form of a cross, symbolic of the cross on which Christ died Running down the center of the building was a nave—the long, central aisle of a church—with aisles on each side Projecting from the nave was an apse, or a semicircular portion with a vaulted ceiling that typically provided a “stage” for the choir If the nave can be thought of as running north–south, the portion of the building called the transept ran east–west, completing the cross design If later Gothic architecture is said to “soar,” Romanesque architecture is sometimes said to “squat” because of a num- ber of characteristics First, instead of the pointed arch of the later Gothic, Romanesque architecture used rounded arches, usually semicircular, made of stone The disadvantage of this type of arch is that it has a tendency to push supporting walls outward, so it requires a great deal of supporting stonework Sometimes the supporting walls are as much as 10 feet thick This feature gives buildings with rounded arches a somewhat squatter, less elegant look Second, these buildings often featured barrel vaults, sometimes called tunnel vaults A barrel vault essentially takes a semicircular arch and extrudes it horizontally, creating what looks like the semicircular half of a barrel lying on its side Again, the problem is a tendency to push the supporting walls outward, so once again the walls supporting these vaults are extremely thick An alternative, though, was to make use of groin vaults, an architectural feature produced by the horizontal intersection of two barrel vaults at right angles This concentrated the downward and outward thrust at the “groins,” sometimes called “arrises,” which are the four diagonal edges where the barrel vaults intersect Groin vaults then can be supported by pillars rather than thick walls Finally, Romanesque buildings used cruciform piers The word cruciform means “cross shaped,” and a pier is a vertical support, like a post While the cross section of a pier can take any shape, typically it is square or rectangular, reflecting the shape of the stone blocks that are stacked to form the pier In Romanesque buildings they took the shape of a fat cross Piers were stronger than simple rounded columns, though once again they were not as elegant A common practice was to alternate the two forms of support in a row down the side of a building: a pier and then a column or sometimes two or three piers and then a column Romanesque buildings were made with local stone that in itself was not always very attractive Marble was more attractive, but it was scarce, particularly in France To compensate, many Romanesque buildings have a profusion of sculpture: statues, relief work, carvings, and the like, all designed to enhance the building’s aesthetic appeal Poorer communities might not have been able to afford such sculpture, so the buildings were much plainer in appearance Examples of Romanesque architecture, or at least of architecture that reflects the Romanesque style, can be found all over Europe Numerous examples can be seen in France, including the abbey church at Cluny and Notre-Dame-laGrande in Poitiers The Romanesque style was especially popular in Spain, with noteworthy examples including the church of Saint Clement in Catalonia, the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, and the church of Santiago de Compostela In Germany, the Schottenkirche in Regensburg was built in the Romanesque style, as was Saint Mary Magdalene Church