Monday, April 27, 2009

The Romanesque Era

After the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity, many ways of living was completely changed;  since Christianity was mostly a religion based on beliefs different from Roman.  Therefore, people changed their customs and culture.  For example, the architecture that was introduced represented the new generation of the theology government.  The new style of architecture was introduced as the Romanesque style.  This new form of architecture brought the old usage of stone instead of masonry  for it was lost after the fall of the Roman Empire.  Furthermore, the creation of these vast churches around the West, gave creation to new and advanced cities and town for the people of the West.

This style was composed mainly on "Roman-like" structure:  Round arches, columns, capitals, pediments, and more.  Instead of building temples to worship Gods or Goddesses, Christians built vast churches for the one God and Christ.  These buildings were think in volume and had wooden roofs, which led to many fires when these churches were built. Moreover, most of the light was obscured when looking at the inside.  Groin vaults were still used for the inside also.
 
Paintings and sculptures were still found inside these buildings.  However, instead of depicting Gods, Christians focused on the depictions of Christ and events in the old and new testament.  These churches gave an overall feeling of the power of the one God and its Christ.
Furthermore, because these buildings were mostly dark in the inside, many of the paintings and sculptures were focused on scenes form the book of Genesis and the Apocalypse.  The portrayal of these events showed what the people of this era believed in.  Since most thought that the second coming of Christ was to happen, many were conscious about the last judgement and the end of the world.

Overall, the Romanesque style portrayed the times of this era; these buildings portrayed exact geometric measurements to personify the power of Christianity and how it was worshipped in the extreme by its followers.

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