ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE The evolution of western architecture from the end of the Roman empire in the West (A.D. 475) to the Renaissance is so intimately related to that of the Christian Church that discussion of it belongs more properly to a study of the progress of the Church than to its particular manifestations in special countries. The early Christians, a persecuted people worshipping in secret, left little architecture ; but where they were able to gather a fol lowing large enough to erect churches we find a most interesting combination of great religious fervour and ignorance of the build ing art as it had been evolved by Greece and Rome.
Throughout the dark ages the problem of the Christian Church was to tell the story of religion to a people unable to read and unacquainted with architecture, painting or sculpture. The Church was the poor man's only recourse ; the struggle for existence had again become harsh and man again, as in Egypt, placed his hopes of happiness in life after death; the symbolism of the Church, the enshrined saints and the carved reliefs, all brought his goal of future happiness nearer. Symbolism and conventionalization of ornament became evident in all manner of embellishments. Sculpture became a more coherent part of buildings than it had been in Rome where niches, pediments and pedestals were pre pared to receive works of sculpture that might or might not be specially designed. Eventually spiritual conceptions were carried outside the Church and appeared as elements in more elaborate exterior designs. As Christianity became more general churches became outstanding architectural monuments in each community.
The style of architecture known as Romanesque which devel oped during this early period in the countries of Western Europe that had belonged to Rome, varied somewhat with the localities in which it appeared, yet was always dominated by Roman ideas, parts of Roman buildings being frequently installed in the new structures. The masonry arch was the structural form most used but understanding knowledge of its structural possibilities was limited. Attempts at great spans were few, and the compositions were essentially low and heavy. Used as a pier to support arches the column was stocky, robust, not graceful. Italian Romanesque, being nearer to the source and containing more columns and other motives taken from Roman buildings, was more graceful in pro portion but lacked individual character and distinction ; it has, therefore, been less influential in present-day design than French and German.
In plan, the addition of transepts and the prolongation of the sanctuary or chancel turned the Roman basilica, which was the model for early Christian churches, into a well defined cross. Walls were roughly built with external buttresses, massive and of great weight. Round arches supported on columns carried the wall of the clerestory in which small openings with semicircular arches occurred singly, in pairs or sometimes groups of three. One is im pressed by the great amount of masonry used and the small pro portion of the openings to the walled surface. Columns of stumpy proportion, with widespreading capitals in variations of the Corin thian or Ionic orders, gave to these structures a sense of stability and permanence to which time has proved they were entitled.
Among the best examples of the Romanesque style in architec ture are : Pisa Cathedral ; S. Zeno Maggiore, Verona ; the Abbaye aux-Dames, Caen ; St. Trophime, Arles; Church of the Apostles, Cologne; Spires Cathedral; and Romsey Abbey, Hampshire.
(See also BYZANTINE and ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE.)