Romanesque

The Romanesque was a style of art that first emerged out of France and Italy around 800 A.D. This style can be highly contributed to the emperor of Rome at the time, Charlemagne. He emphasized the importance of learning and the arts, established schools and monasteries, and encouraged building by using the technology of Roman structures. The Romanesque style was rather in inornamented  but had a very strong and fortifying appearance.

Although the style began around 800, before 1000 AD there was little architecture that was built, however, due to a strong religious movement there were well over a thousand new churches built. Some of the characteristics of these churches are the semicircle arches and vaults, masonry roofs, gilded sculptures, rich tapestries, and a color scheme of blues, greens, purples, and golds. The layout of the church also changed during the Romanesque time period. It moved away from the classic basilica and added multiple aisles, a side chapel, an area for a choir and better illumination. One of the most famous pieces of architecture from this timer period is Fontenay Abbey, located in France. This abbey was established in 1118 and was seen as a religious and economic force of its day. A couple of pictures of the abbey are shown below; in both of the photos you can clearly see the semicircular arches and the abundance of light that was signature of the Romanesque time.

There  are few examples of residential design from this time period, homes were primitive and made of wood and mud with dirt floors and a fire at the center to warm the home and cook on. Most people had chests in which they would keep important belongings and could be easily transported. 

Modern Application 

This is an image of Caesars palace in Las Vegas. I think it is a good example of Romanesque architecture because you can clearly see the multiple semicircle arches as well as lots of daylight being let in through the windows. 

This is a wooden and iron chest that is similar to those that people used during the Romanesque timer period to store their things in. 

I read Nicole's blog and I really liked the drawing that she shared that showed the structure and different features of the time period, I thought it was a really good illustration and accurately showed the main features. I also liked how her current application pictures showed the influence of Romanesque in residential settings. 

I also read Alexandra's blog, I liked how she broke down the Romanesque period into the three categories of churches, homes, and furniture; I thought she gave a really good synopsis of each category and then followed that up with really unique modern application pictures.