The difference between Romanesque and Gothic architecture

Gothic and Romanesque architecture are different architectural styles with similarities and many differences. Both, Roman and gothic art are one of the most important styles of European art.

ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE

Romanesque architecture was developed during the Middle Ages. This style began during the 1000's and lasted for more than 200 years.

The Romanesque architecture was influenced by the Byzantine and the Roman styles. It had the characteristics of large, internal spaces, barrel vaults, thick walls and pillars supported the weight of the stone buildings and rounded arches on windows and doors.

(Main theme) Almost all Romanesque art was designed for the Roman Catholic Church. Because of this, the theme of the decoration of the interior of the churches was based on Christianity, at that time artists were very interested in the power and glory of god. Many architects were employed to create impressive settings to represent Christianity.

(Type of structures, buildings) Christian Basilicas were built high with timber roofs; unfortunately no example of these remain today because they have all been remodelled over the centuries. Interiorly, these basilicas were filled with shimmering light and colour of precious marble surfaces and wall mosaics in gold and coloured glass.

The Romanesque church was based on the basilica form; a long rectangular bulding with nave and side aisles to form a cross shape. Two transepts were added and the altar was found at the meeting of the transepts and nave. These churches were plain with thick walls, with few windows, so the interior was very dark, not a lot of klight came inside.

Romans used thick walls to support the building. Romanesque architecture is massive, of a medium horizontal size, and solid-looking. Round Roman arches, thick walls, and small windows are typical of the buildings.

buildings (plan) Churches were built in the shape of a cross, using the basilica as the basis for the design. Another important feature of Romanesque architecture was the use of a separate bell tower, or campanile, that was built beside the main church.

Although there were slight variations in each country, the Romanesque style dominated

Western Europe until it was replaced by the Gothic style.

ART AND DECORATION

The romans used small windows to build their chapels

Roman Painters used symbols figures and signs to represent god.They often sized the figures in their paintings relative to their importance; for instance, they painted Jesus larger than less important characters. The colours used for the painting that decorated churches were often muted because painters preferred to use brighter and more vivid colours for illuminated manuscripts and windows.

Their paintings weren’t very correct in terms of proportions, because the figures appear to us flat, still and immobile. Painters didn’t use lights and shade to improve their paintings nor foreshortening. The style of the paintings we can find in the Romanesque churches was inspired by pagan roman paintings

Sculptors created works that were representative rather than strictly realistic.

Romans used barrel vaults and also used buttresses inside the chapel or cathedral.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

The Gothic architecture is traced to the mid-12th century. Man began to improve the bulky Romanesque style and make it more elegant.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

Gothic architecture has many features like, vertical lines, ribbed vault, flying buttress and pointed arch, that most clearly makes Gothic buildings look different from Roman and Romanesque work.

But Gothic architects did not invent the pointed arch. It had been used much earlier in the Near East. It was used by Muslim artists in Asia, Africa, and even in parts of southern Europe. The use of the pointed arch in Europe started very soon after the First Crusade (1099), when Jerusalem was captured from the Muslims. Thousands of crusaders from Western Europe saw buildings and works of art entirely different from those that they were used to. Though they did not believe in the Muslim religion, there was no reason why they should not imitate the art that pleased them. This explains the arrival of the pointed arch in Europe. The Europeans used the pointed arch in a new way. Medieval buildings were constructed with vaults--ceilings made by continuous arches of heavy columns. Architects of the late Romanesque period had experimented with the ribbed vault, which allowed them to build much higher churches.

Gothic architecture was mainly intended to make the churches look like heaven, and the reason why these cathedrals were so tall was that they believed that the higher the ceiling was the closer to god.

(Main theme) Christian themes remained central to Gothic art, although depiction of mythological scenes and animals became more common. The largest difference between Romanesque art and Gothic art was that artists started to be more realistic using brighter colours, along with more light and shadows, in their paintings. They began to use perspective, proportion and symmetry too. Other forms of Gothic art were sculpture, metalwork, stained glass, embroidery, frescoes and illuminated manuscripts.

To build churches men developed their ideas and started to introduce thin walls to construct churches and cathedrals. Because their buildings were so high, thin walls couldn’t support the ceiling. To solve this problem they constructed flying buttresses on the outside and ribs on the inside.

-buildings (plan)The plan of the church was divided into square sections called bays. At each corner a pier (large pillar) was built. Diagonally from corner pier to corner pier, round arches were built. Because the diagonal of a square is longer than its side, round arches on the sides of a bay would not be as high as the round arches that spanned the bay diagonally. It was found that pointed arches at the sides and round arches at the diagonals would all reach the same height. This system of building is called ribbed vaulting.

ART AND DECORATION

Because windows were larger, art of stained glass was used to ass colour to the church. Scenes from the bible were illustrated in stained glass so common people, who were illiterate could understand the teaching of the church just by looking at these windows. this was a very useful way of decorating churches.

Plus we can notice that many gothic cathedrals have rose windows, these are circular windows. these particular windows were mostly built at the entrance of the building.

Although the main form of two dimensional work was stained glass and tapestries also painting on wood was done in the form of diptych or triptych. These were used on special days placed at the back of the altar, then they could be folded up and put away till the next occasion. Churches were very colourful with all these coloured windows and paintings.

Skills and tools were developed so sculptures were used for decoration too, especially on the outside of gothic churches.

The weight of the vaults on the walls tended to force the walls outward. This is called thrust. To support the walls, structures called buttresses were built against the outside of the walls. As ribbed vaulting enabled the construction of higher buildings, it became more difficult to resist the thrust from the arches. To support the additional weight of a higher building, buttresses had to be taller and to project more and more from the wall. Architects discovered that a fairly low buttress could be used to support the taller walls by means of a sloping arch, reaching up from the buttress and pressing against the outside of a higher wall. This kind of buttress is called a flying buttress.When the flying buttress had been added to the ribbed vault and the pointed arch, all the main parts of Gothic architecture were there.

The principal differences between the Romanesque and the gothic architecture:

When comparing the buildings of the two periods, the buildings of the Romanesque period had rounded arches and the buildings of the gothic period had pointed.

The thick Romanesque walls were replaced by the thin walls; which were supported on the outside by flying buttresses and ribs on the inside.

The Romanesque buildings only had small windows and, as such, the rooms were very dark. This changed with the gothic ones because there were more windows and these were much bigger so the churches were much brighter.

Another difference that can be seen is that the Romanesque structures were horizontal of a modest height, instead Gothic structures were very tall and pointed towards the sky.

The Romanesque buildings had blunt towers. Unlike them, the Gothic buildings had ornate, round windows named “rose windows.”

One of the main differences between the two architectures is in the use of the buttress which was common in Gothic buildings. Romans used internal buttresses and for Gothic churches exterior flying buttresses were used.

Romans mostly used barrel vaults and some groin vault, and the gothic used only groin voults for their chapels and cathedrals.

Their way of decorating their building is very different. Roman chapels were not vey decorated; but the little decoration they had were abstract and thin figures. Gothic churches are fully decorated of lots of delicate sculptures and they were more realistic in proportions compared to the romans.

To conclude, both, Roman and Gothic architecture were important architectures studies all over the world.