Romanesque architecture | the 2 main elements

In this article you’ll learn about the two main elements of Romanesque architecture and their functions

Around the 9th century, the Romanesque style was born – a term used in the 19th century because it adopted Roman forms, methods and materials. It was the first great Christian style, which spread from Italian Lombardy to Western Europe, prevailing until the 12th century.

Basilique Saint Sernain, Toulouse, France

Romanesque architecture elements

Romanesque arhitecture gets its name from the many elements of ancient Roman architecture that it uses.

The most important two are the arch and the vault.

The arch and the vault

There are several different types of vaults.

The most basic, an arch deep enough to cover an entire building, is called a barrel vault or a tunnel vault.

A barrel vault may have reinforcing arches, called transverse arches, along its length. You can see a barrel vault with transverse arches in the picture of Saint Sernin in Toulouse, France.

Two barrel vaults crossed at right angles form a groin vault.

A groin vault reinforced along the seams is called a ribbed vault. Ribbed vaults appear occasionally in Romanesque, but they’ll become an important component of Gothic.

The romanesque architecture – the buildings

Romanesque buildings were very solid structures with thick walls. There’s a good reason for that. Romanesque churches were mainly built of stone, which is heavy, particularly in a big vaulted roof.

You need thick walls and broad columns to hold up that great stone roof. Romanesque churches were rather dark inside for the same reason.

Builders couldn’t cut too much wall away, so windows tended to be few and small.

Durham Cathedral

Romanesque churches still survive today, particularly in England, where the style was once very popular. Durham Cathedral, shown above, is a significant example.

You’ll notice that in Romanesque architecture the buildings don’t actually look much like ancient Roman buildings even though they use many of the same elements.

As is usually the case with architectural styles, elements are recovered from previous eras but have a new use and a new aesthetic reading.