Among the other more prominent characteristics of this style, which are all that we can hero touch upon, it should be noticed, that whether forming actual porticos and galleries, or closed up and applied merely as decoration, the arcades were generally small in proportion to the building itself, and instead of occupying the entire width of the front, or other elevation, were mostly inserted into distinct compart ments of it, slightly recessed within the general face of the wall, so that the plain spaces between them assumed the appearance of but tresses, or, when narrow, of plain pilasters continued up to the cornice of the gable or roof, and cutting through whatever string-courses, or other horizontal mouldings (if there were any), divided the different stories or stages of the edifice. Such buttress-like surfaces—for buttresses they cannot properly bo termed—were occasionally more or less enriched; sometimes so much so, as to produce vertical lines of ornament continued the entire height of the building, as in the front of San Michele at Pavia. When, as was frequently done, these surfaces were made wider at the angles of the front than elsewhere, they gave an expression of repose and of great solidity to it, serving as it were as a frame to the architectural decoration.
Pinnacles are of rare occurrence, and when introduced have the look of being set on the part they rise above, being separated from it by horizontal mouldings; besides which they are generally low, and some what resemble pedestals. Pinnacles of this description may be found surmounting pilaster-breaks, and cutting through either an horizontal cornice or the sloping cornices of a gable, as in the front of the cathedral at 3lonza.
Windows, as we have said, were for the most part sparingly intro uced, and of small dimensions, so that they rarely contributed much towards embellishment ; circular or wheel windows are, however, not unfrequently introduced in gables, and often with considerable effect. Doorways were generally made very important features, the chief ornament being lavished upon them. The aperture itself indeed was generally plain, and also square-headed, but it was enclosed in a recess formed by a series of arches one within another and resting upon columns; and so deep was this outer casing as to be frequently very nearly as wide as the actual doorway. Sometimes the tympanum was
filled with sculpture, and the arches and capitals were very richly carved.
Vaulting is another important characteristic of the style. At first the ordivary Roman semi-cylindrical or waggon vaulting prevailed; but the awkward appearance of continuous vaulting supported by dis connected eoluums scents to have soon arrested attention, and the Roman quadripartite vaulting was introduced. This was succeeded by sexpartite, which met most of the immediate requirements of the case, but led to other innovations which in turn introduced new changes. Indeed, as Mr. 'Whewell, Mr. Scott, and other distinguished authorities have suggested, and as appears highly probable, it may have been the unceasing efforts of the builders to improve the system of vaulting which led to the use of the pointed arch, and ultimately to the adoption of the pointed style.
There are other points on which we might dwell, as the general employment of the apsidal termination, and the use of the triforium and the clerestory, but for these features it must suffice to refer to the articles Arms, CLERESTORY, and TRIFORIUM; and again for the illus. trationa of details omitted here to NORMAN ARCHITECTURE. We v however, just add a word or two on Totters, a new and important in this style of architecture. In Italy, towers only occur as detached buildings [Cestreertes], but in the Romanesque churches of Germany, France, and England, they are an essential and very characteristic portion. As the rule they are square in plan ; massive in structure; pierced with a few narrow, round-arched windows, which are often coupled and enclosed with a larger arch; the surface is often orna tnented with arcades; and they are surmounted occasionally with a low pyramidal spire. (Nonstax .Aecurreceree; Smell Occasionally round, and more rarely octagonal, towers are met with. In some towers circular windows are eeen.
Cnpolas occur in many Italian and some French churches of this date ; but these may be regarded as evidence of a more or less direct Byzantine influence.