HSTARC2: Romanesque Architecture.

At first I thought I’d be bored on studying the history of architecture. Especially, thinking that I’ll encounter the topics such as Romanesque and Gothic architecture. But then it kept interesting how they formed and develop those architectures. To start off here’s a short blog about Romanesque architecture.

Medieval Romanesque Architecture was the first major style of architecture to be developed after the collapse of the Roman Empire. It was the term used to describe the building styles which were used between 800 A.D. to 1100 A.D. Romanesque Architecture was primarily developed by the Normans. Century due to its similarities between the barrel vault and the roman arch. Church buildings, art, and sculpture, were all used for the purpose to spread the Christian Gospel.

The design and characteristics of Romanesque Architecture had to be a combination of practical use and the aesthetic design, especially in the building of churches and castles. Romanesque architecture builders and designers had to consider considerations to guide a successful structure. The castle and church design and Romanesque architecture needed to convey fear, awe, domination, envy, submission, respect, power and wealth. On the other hand the Comfort of the stone castle interior significantly improved from the wooden Motte and Bailey Castles but was still cold, smelly and dim. On ornaments. the medieval stone masons were able to add some ornamentation to the Romanesque castles. They also considered economy by the way. The Medieval castles and churches designed in the Romanesque Architecture style were expensive yet durable.

On stating the features of Romanesque architecture, just stop and stare at Philippine churches that were built during the era of the Spaniard invasion. To start off, stone was cut with precision. Walls were initially solid but the walls and shell keeps designed in the Romanesque architecture style were hollow and distributed the weight of the stones. The use of the Roman arch led to the stone being supported in the middle by the arch construction The stone used was extremely heavy. The weight of the ceilings would tend to buckle the walls outward and large piles of stone would be stacked along the wall in intervals to buttress (or support) the walls from pushing outward - these piles of stones became features of Romanesque Architecture and buttresses were introduced to the basic design and a major characteristic of Romanesque architecture. The window openings of Romanesque Architecture castles and churches had to be small to keep the strength of the walls strong.

Good start on the 3rd term of the school year for history. Topics starting on this Romanesque architecture caught my interest. To simplify everything, round arches, crossed floor plans, massive stone materials, wide windows, monarchy and religion started Romanesque architecture.