Romanesque Basilica Floor Plan

In western ecclesiastical architecture a cathedral diagram is a floor plan showing the sections of walls and piers giving an idea of the profiles of their columns and ribbing.

Romanesque basilica floor plan. Modena cathedral shows a typically italian romanesque plan often architecturally termed a basilica because of its similarity in plan to a roman basilicas. Indeed while marked by a cruciform floor plan the early romanesque saw the overcoming of byzantine models and the abandonment of the formal language of classical antiquity. Romanesque architecture architectural style current in europe from about the mid 11th century to the advent of gothic architecture. Dashed lines show the ribs of the vaulting overhead.

Normally the orientation of the church is such that the altar lies at the east end of the church facing jerusalem. The eight sided bell tower of the basilica of saint sernin soars over toulouse france. By convention ecclesiastical floorplans are shown map fashion with north to the top and the. Light double lines in perimeter walls indicate glazed windows.

The earliest churches were based on the plan of the pagan roman basilica q v or hall of justice the plan generally included a nave q v or hall with a flat timber roof in which the crowd gathered. The nave and aisles are separated by an arcade carried on piers or on columns. This disposition corresponded to other type of building characteristic of the carolingian but that no longer had a basilica floor plan as an example is the church of theodulf in germigny des prés. In section the typical aisled church or cathedral has a nave with a single aisle on either side.

One or two side aisles flanking the nave and separated from it by a row of regularly spaced columns. Floor plan of the romanesque cathedral of santiago de compostela the basic plan of romanesque churches derived from the roman basilica which was adopted by the early christian church in rome. Romanesque church of st climent de taüll 1123 ad catalonia spain. But the most important works of the german romanesque architecture are the three rhenish cathedrals of speyer mainz and worms.

Xavi gomez cover getty images cropped although certain characteristics are associated with what we call romanesque art and architecture the look of individual buildings can vary widely from century to century from a building s purpose e g church or fortress and from region to region. A fusion of roman carolingian and ottonian byzantine and local germanic traditions it was a product of the great expansion of monasticism in the 10th 11th century.