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.