Roman-like about Romanesque architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Roman-like about Romanesque architecture - Essay Example Medieval Christian basilicas incorporated many new inventions, however, including â€Å"the outstanding engineering achievement of the stone vault† (Stalley: 1999, p. 130). The Romans and early Christian architects had managed to construct groin and barrel vaulting, but they were usually very small. They had used wood to cover the vast basilica spaces. Romanesque masons worked out techniques to apply this feature to huge stone buildings. Romanesque vaults were made of â€Å"rubble or roughly dressed masonry, which called for a liberal supply of mortar.† (Stalley, 1999, p. 130) This material was both thick and heavy, and was held together by compression. The forces involved in this caused the walls to buckle, and so builders had to make the walls very thick and strong, and support them with the use of external buttresses. In Italy there was a tendency to construct basilicas with a lot of columns, largely due to the availability of antique Roman columns (Clapham: 1946, p. 30). Better engineering techniques allowed the addition of windows in areas not subject to stress, and in Germany the basic basilica form was enhanced with, arches, side rooms, and towers and turrets as well to accommodate various kinds of smaller scale Christian activity alongside the massive public space for high festivals.