Romanesque Architecture

In a new addition to the Pelican History of Art series, leading architectural historian Eric Fernie presents a fascinating chronological survey of Romanesque architecture and the political systems that gave rise to the style. It is known for its massive quality, thick walls, round arches, piers, groin vaults, large towers, and decorative arcading, as well as the measured articulation of volumes and surfaces. Romanesque architecture was also, at the time of its greatest popularity in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the first distinctive style to dominate western and central Europe. The book includes an exploration of the gestation of the style in the ninth and tenth centuries and its survival in competition with the Gothic up to the fourteenth century. Notable structures include Speyer Cathedral, Sant' Ambrogio in Milan, the abbeys of Cluny, Vezelay and Caen, San Isidoro in Leon, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Durham Cathedral and St Andrew in Krakow, as well as the castles of Loches and Dover. A superb teaching tool, close to 400 illustrations – full colour-plates, as well as black-and-white photographs of stunning, voluminous interiors plus plans and maps – pack this seminal text describing the design, function and iconography of key church, monastic and secular buildings of a formative era.