Romanesque Cathedrals

The name Romanesque refers to the fusion of Roman, Carolingian and Ottonian, Byzantine, and local Germanic traditions that make up the style. The period of Romanesque architecture marks a period of sparked creativity and vigor to form art. Within the church there was a drive to rebuild churches into more beautiful pieces of architecture (even if there wasn’t a structural need). Stable conditions within politics and economics made the forming of these architectural masterpieces to come to fruition.

Romanesque churches characteristically incorporated semicircular arches for windows, doors, and arcades; vaults to support the roof of the nave; massive piers and walls, with few windows, to hold the outward slope of the vaults. They also had side aisles with galleries above them, a large tower over the nave and transept, and other smaller towers. French churches commonly expanded on the early Christian basilica plan, incorporating surrounding chapels, ambulatories around the sanctuary apse, and large transepts between the sanctuary and nave.

Cathedrals accommodated more priests and visiting pilgrims as the church continued to grow in size. Because Romanesque churches were places for monastic prayer and for the worship of the faithful, rather than being concerned with technical perfection the sculptors turned their attention in particular to the educational dimension. Since it was necessary to inspire in souls strong impressions, sentiments that could persuade them to shun vice and evil and to practice virtue and goodness, the recurrent theme was the portrayal of Christ as Universal Judge surrounded by figures of the Apocalypse. It was usually the portals of the Romanesque churches which displayed these figures, to emphasize that Christ is the Door that leads to Heaven.

Cathedrals have many characteristics similar to modern churches. Many churches serve as places of both education and worship with faith groups outside of just mass. These groups look to help kids, teens, and adults to walk the way of Christ and leave any evil ways behind. Within churches today there are also similar sculptures that depict religious figures in portals to depict that Christ is the way to heaven.