Romanesque Churches

Describe the architectural features of the typical Romanesque church and their purposes. How was the traditional Latin-cross basilica modified?

The Romanesque artwork and architecture are stylistically composed of elements from Roman, Byzantine, and Hiberno-Saxon artwork. The Romanesque period adopted round arches and thick stone walls from Roman architecture, which was evident in Romanesque churches. The Romanesque period brought an over-whelming importance of the Christian Church. Since the Christian churches were so important, and so many pilgrims were making pilgrimages, the architects during the Romanesque period had to be sure they built churches that were big enough to incorporate all the pilgrims. The Romanesque churches were composed of several elements: the nave, the aisle, the crossing, the choir, the transept, the chevet, the apse, the ambulatory, and the radiating chapel. The nave is the central area at the entrance used to "house the congregation." The Romanesque churches incorporated the aisles to allow more space for the many pilgrims visiting the church. The transept is a cross arm across the Romanesque churches. The Latin-cross basilica was modified by wrapping the aisles arond the transepts and apse to allow more space for visitors to walk freely without disturbing the monks. This layout is calling the ambulatory. The radiating chapels were smaller apses protruding from the main apse. The chevet is the area that incorporates the ambulatory, the apse, and the radiating chapel. Another development of Romanesque churches was the stone barrel vaults. In order to support the weight the barrel vaults had on the walls, the churches had to have buttresses.

Islamic Mosques

One building that is particularly important in Islamic practices is the mosque. The mosque is a building in Islamic cultures used for religious prayer. There are two types of mosques, the masjid and the jami, but they share some basic components. Most mosques contain a courtyard known as a sahn (4). In Islamic religion, Muslims pray several times a day, facing Mecca. So, the mosques also have qiblas (1), or prayer walls that face Mecca. This qibla is most often accompanied by a mihrab (2), or niche (recess in the wall). The larger or jami mosques contain a minbar, which is where a religious teacher would teach from. Mosques also usually contain at least one minaret (5). The minarets were tall structures from which a muezzin would call the Muslims to prayer each day. In certain mosques such as the Hagia Sophia, the minarets were built after it was changed from a church. Another feature prominant in Ilamic mosques are the hypostyle halls (3), which are halls supported by rows of columns. An elaborate presentation of the hypostyle halls is present in the Great Mosque. A unique feature that is present in the Great Mosque are the double arches in the hypostyle halls. These arches were colored in a way that gave the look of movement in the small space. In 961 the caliph built an area by the mihrab that was reserved for the caliphs. This area is illustrated by three domed chambers. The lobed arches leading to the dome chambers have mosaics that were inspired by Byzantine. The architects of this building were particularly interested in the geometric structure and patternings present, which became present in Islamic mosques built after the Great Mosque.