Romanesque

Book excerpt: All over Europe, examples of Romanesque architecture shape our image of the Middle Ages. This volume presents the grand views of cathedrals along with fascinating details drawn from sculpture and painting. The Romanesque was the first epoch of medieval art that encompassed all of Europe. Its origins hearken back to characteristic elements of Roman construction - reflected in the name of the period - and in the course of the High Middle Ages developed into the embodiment of Christian sacred art. Architecture, painting, and sculpture were permeated with the Christian worldview and the spirit of the religion. The book at hand helps us understand and even experience this tight integration and masterfully explains the manifold aspects of Romanesque artistic composition, in which the hopes and fears of the people of the time found their expression. AUTHOR: For this work, editor Rolf Toman gathered contributions from nine renowned authors with profound expertise in the fields of architecture and art history whose competent knowledge clearly elucidates the art of the Romanesque period. SELLING POINTS: Comprehensive contributions which incorporate aspects of culture and the mentality of the times in addition to art historical information An extensive introduction to the forms and shapes of the Romanesque explains the stylistic "tools" of sacred architecture, from round arches to the most varied development of choirs or crypts A separate chapter is devoted to the pictorial realm of Romanesque sculpture Photographs taken specially for this book show the diversity of forms of Romanesque architecture over 750 illustrations