One of the oldest is the Romanesque style in architecture. The peak of its popularity falls on the X century, and it existed for more than 300 years. Readers may ask why in architecture. I answer: the Romanesque style arose first of all in this direction and, developing, reached significant heights. This name was given to him because of the significant similarities with ancient Roman architecture.
Roman style. Its features
In the X-XII, it was the Romanesque style in architecture that covered all of Western Europe and some countries of the East. As a sample was taken the Roman basilica, the structure of which formed the basis of this direction. Perhaps, for this reason, churches and castle structures were built in the Romanesque style. Their main feature was huge stone walls, towers and arches. Basically, the building looked like a fortified defensive structure. Because of her majesty, she fit perfectly into any natural environment, massive walls and narrow small windows perfectly harmonized with the grayness of the stone. In general, the castle looked like a ready fortification for war or defense. R
The Romanesque style in architecture differed from its predecessors by one feature - the donjon is a huge tower around which everything else was attached. Thanks to this breading, temples-fortresses and castles-fortresses were most often erected in those days.
Features:
- the basis of the layout is the Roman basilica;
- increase in space;
- simplicity: marble floor, Venetian stucco walls, tile with drawings;
- the architects did not try to show the external beauty and splendor of the temple, but the beauty of the spirit, so they were not greatly decorated;
- built in the shape of a rectangle or cylinder;
- the height of the temple and choir increases.
The transition from romance to gothic
The columns of the temples performed a very important function, since they held the entire heavy construction of the temple, stone walls. Arches, as mandatory elements, served not so much as decoration, but as a sign of the power of the temple. That was such a sculpture of the Romanesque style: a minimum of beauty and grandeur, but a maximum of simplicity and sincerity. Unlike the Gothic style, which replaced him, all the elements were seasoned and simple. Romanesque and Gothic styles were completely different.
The main advantage of the second was the new Gothic frame, which allowed to distribute the weight between the holders, and as a result, many elements of the temple ceased to fulfill the function of exclusively carriers. This discovery replaced the Romanesque style in architecture. A famous representative of the Gothic style is the Rhine Cathedral, which is distinguished by majesty and wealth. In essence, Gothic became the complete antithesis of romance, since the magnificent interior, the majesty of the exterior, many decorations and sculptures were put in contrast to Romanic modesty. As a result of the distribution of weight between the holders, most of the temple was freed from bulky columns. Gothic architecture reached its peak of popularity during the Middle Ages (late XII - XVI centuries), and the famous Renaissance style replaced it.
Romanesque and Gothic styles contributed to the development of world architecture . The first showed that even modest architecture can be beautiful, and the second opened the world a new Gothic frame.