Romanesque, and others, architecture on the camino

[dick bird]

Possibly self indulgent, I´ve been playing around with basic software and old photos. Romanesque art tends to be overlooked and under-valued, as if the whole of western Europe was blundering about in a superstitious fog punctuated with infighting, epidemics and the occasional famine until the Renaissance came along. The reality is that a lot of people were getting on with their lives and spending a lot of time being creative and productive. I have deliberately not put names and places on this video, but a lot of you will recognise a lot of them. And some of you will spot that some of the photos are actually pre-Romanesque. But anyway, it´s something to look at while you are on the treadmill.
View attachment ROMANESQUE ETC.mp4

 

[Michelle Menhennet]

Absolutely stunning! You have a great camera eye. Thank you for putting this together.

 

[TaijiPilgrim]

Bravo. So wonderful that you took the time to see the detail and had the photographeric eye to capture it. In 2019 I met a pilgrim who made a point of seeking out the Romanesque churches along the chemin. Thank you.

 

[C clearly]

Thanks, Dick! If anyone is intrigued by these images and wants to learn more, have a look at our thread on Romanesque architecture for beginners.

 

[jungleboy]

Romanesque art tends to be overlooked and under-valued, as if the whole of western Europe was blundering about in a superstitious fog punctuated with infighting, epidemics and the occasional famine until the Renaissance came along.

Not to hijack the thread but maybe it's worth explaining this a little better. I love Romanesque visually, but the main reason that it is overlooked/undervalued is because the style that came after it, Gothic, while still medieval/pre-Renaissance, is objectively a significantly more advanced form of architecture. Gothic innovations such as rib-vaulted ceilings and flying buttresses allowed for buildings/churches to have higher ceilings and more windows, which allowed for more light, because they did not require the thick, load-bearing walls (which couldn't have many windows) and low barrel-vaulted ceilings that Romanesque buildings did.

 

[Mrs. Bloem]

Thank you Dick! Lovely.

 

[dick bird]

he main reason that it is overlooked/undervalued is because the style that came after it, Gothic, while still medieval/pre-Renaissance, is objectively a significantly more advanced form of architecture

Hijack away. I agree, and I love Gothic architecture, in particular the perpendicular style of the so-called ´wool churches´ in East Anglia like Blythburgh church (either beautifully restored or miraculously intact, not sure but it´s a stunner), and one of the joys of standing in a Gothic cathedral is just marvelling at their technical expertise. People in the Middle Ages were clever, very clever. But given their limited repertoire, Romanesque builders created huge spaces with powerful, almost theatrical patterns of dark and light. It is different, not necessarily inferior. Look at it this way, the Parthenon is reckoned one of the jewels of western art. It was built using essentially the same technical principles as Stonehenge.

I only really started learning about Romanesque building during Covid lockdown - I had nothing much to do except read (it´s an ill wind as they say). The other discovery was Romanesque sculpture, again often dismissed as inferior or technically less accomplished. That is definitely a misunderstanding. Romanesque sculpture is expressive and subtle in a way we don´t really understand when we set it up against classical or renaissance sculpture, but look at some of the sculptures in my video and think of them as modern or contemporary. Many of them are hauntingly beautiful.

There is also a kind of feeling I can´t describe, German probably has a very long word for it, but it´s the feeling of knowing a secret or belonging to a kind of secret club, added to which there is the thrill of the hunt simply because a lot of Romanesque architecture is either buried under later work (e,g, Santiago cathedral) or in remote locations.

Lecture over. Really, thanks for the response.

I am also working on a similar video of Moorish, Mudéjar and Sephardic buildings, but I shall wait before imposing it on an unwitting public.

Cheers.

 

[KayfromUK]

Very interesting. I also love the BGM I am especially interested in rather primitive carvings. Sometimes I found different styles between the top statue and the one below on a cross. I am always attracted to the primitive one.