Monday, April 27, 2009

How does and architecure reflect the times in terms of form, style and content?

The Romanesque period of art and architecture was in many ways known as semi-circular arches and the Gothic period. Romanesque art and architecture show what was happening socially during this period. Because, churches were believed to be the most important architectural structure, most of the architecture from the Romanesque period is seen in the monasteries and churches. They were built to massive and astonishing scale such as high thick walls, a massive support system and began to be built with vaulted stone walls. Also, churches were highly decorated. At the time churches were the social hub of the town. Building churches not only affected the religion on the area, it also affected the economy as well. Churches were built to house the relics of their saints. Each churches architect would build extra spaces to house relics of saints. Building these giant cathedrals became quite a spectacle as well. Because those were the center of town, those had to be protected and stable. These churches were and still today are very treasured.
Also, there are many paintings of god and angels, the interior of the churches had scripture, and paintings of Christ, the important Christian saints and leaders. They didn't have so many sculptures, but as looking at the German sculpture, it has lots of emotional expressions and that makes the art look unrealistic.
So, I can say that Romanesque arts mainly focused on building these churches greatly and painted in an unrealistic way.

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