College of Environmental Design
Department of Architecture, UC Berkeley
Architecture Slide Library
Architecture 170 - Fall 1996 - Dell Upton - November 19
I. CAROLINGIAN EUROPE. The conscious return to Late Classical and Early Christian architecture as a political and religions symbol. The Frankish empire and the Battle of Tours, 732 or 733. Charlemagne, crowned 771; crowned Holy Roman Emperor, 800.
Charlemagne's palace and capital at Aix-la-Chapelle/Aachen: draws on Byzantine and late classical architecture in palace and chapel for symbolic purposes. Charlemagne's palace, L8C. Note: audience hall, Palatine Chapel - 792, Odo of Metz, architect. (Aachen, Palatine Chapel: Plan; Exterior model; Interior). ... a royal monastery. The "Torhalle", Monastery of St. Nazarius, after 767, a royal monastery at Lorsch, Germany. Torhalle possibly built as a gatehouse; modeled on Roman triumphal arch models. Note: classical decoration, painted interior.
II. THE CAROLINGIAN CHURCH. The importance of the veneration of relics. Exs.: SS. Salvador and Bonifacius, Fulda, Germany, 791-819 (note: similarity to Old St. Peter's); St. Riquier, Centula, France, 799 (note westwork). The Carolingian church: basilican plan with timber roof, westwork, painted decoration, multiple altars/ritual foci. (example: Oberzell, Caroligian church interior).
III. THE MONASTERY IN CAROLINGIAN AND ROMANESQUE EUROPE. The rise of great monastic orders: Cluny, Burgundy, France, 10-11C; the Cistercian order, founded at Citeaux, France, 1098, by Stephen Harding and others, reaches its peak in the 12C under St. Bernard at Clairvaux. The Benedictine monastery takes shape as a building type during the Carolingian era. Note parts: church, cloister, dormitory, refectory, chapter house, storehouse. The plan of St. Gall, Switzerland, ca. 820. (Ideal Cistercian monastery)
IV. ROMANESQUE CHURCHES OF THE PILGRIMAGE ROAD. The pilgrimage brings together roles of relics and monasteries. The pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James the Greater, Compostella, Spain. The 5 great pilgrimage roads, beginning at Chartres, Paris, Vezelay, LePuy, Arles. The five great pilgrimage churches: St. Martin, Tours; St. Martial, Limoges; St. Foy, Conques; St. Sernin, Toulouse; Santiago de Compostella. (Comparison, plans of Pilgrimage Churches). St. Foy, Conques, 12C, as an example. Note: aisle-and-transept plan with apsidal chapels. (Conques, St. Foy: Exterior I; Exterior II; Exterior III; Interior nave). The Romanesque church: basilican plan with transepts, sculptured architectural decoration, groin and barrel vaulting, modular construction, west towers and porch instead of westwork.