Jennifer Hughes
May 13, 2008
Discussion Paper 3
Question 1. You are a Romanesque church builder and you have been hired to construct a church on
the pilgrimage route to Santiagode de Compostela. Describe the plan and elevation of your new church.
Explain how the Pilgrimage function affected your building.
As a church builder during the Romanesque period, my design is based upon the linear pattern
of Hibarno-Saxon art and includes the influences of Byzantine and Islamic traditions. Round arches,
stone vaults, thick walls and relief sculptures on the exterior would be incorporated into the overall
design. The church would be decorated with sculptures, painting, wall hangings which would all pilgrims
to ready the images and stories of Christ. Since the church plays a large role in the social and economic
function of secular life and religious vitality is of great influence to life, the site, design, size and location
of the church would be extremely important. The size of the church would be based upon, which of
the four routes it was located. If it was located along a single route its size would be smaller than that of
a church located at the point of intersection of the routes, the number of the pilgrims and what relics
were at the site and how the relics could be accessed. A site would be selected where of previously
built church or temple had been destroyed in order to draw upon the relics (such as tomb of a saint) and
history of Christ to strengthen the power of the Christianity.
Since relics of Christ represent the power of Christianity, the function of the building and where
it was to be located was extremely important. The site would need to be located where an important
religious event occurred or where religious relics (remains of saints, remnants of their clothing or
objects associated with the saint) were located. The believers of these pilgrimages believed that they
would benefit from the travel to the church; and they had to see it and had to feel the relics. If the
pilgrims were unable feel the relics of Christ, then a reliquary(s) (container of relics) would have to be
provided. This further influences the size and design. There was also a need to design the church with
the need to separate the public from the clergy. This would allow the clergy to carryout daily activities
and allow the public access to the relics or reliquary, alters, open courtyard, interior holy area, and inner
sanctuary.
I would select my site of the church at the intersection of the pilgrimage routes at Roncevaux or
at a location nearby where a previous religious site that had been destroyed, but the history and the
power of Christ remained. In particular, I would look for site that contained the relics of Christ or a
Saint. This site would have to be very large, as this is the confluence of four routes to Santiagode de
Compostela, and the number of pilgrims would be large at this point. The building would be very large
and would be laid out in the patterns of the Latin cross basilica. It would contain side aisles to add to
the size and accommodate the large number of pilgrims to move freely within the church, but not
impact the clergy. The structure would be built of stone, to reduce the potential for fire and approve
acoustics. Vaulting, columns, second story galleries and arches would be used to add to the space and
create additional illumination within the interior of the church. The interior would be decorated with
animated surfaces and tapestries illustrated with Bible stories and saint lives. The outside of the church
will include the use of reliefs at the main entrances to attract pilgrims. These reliefs are rather large
and tell numerous stories of Christ in his glory.
Question 2. What features of the plan of Old St. Peter’s survive in Romanesque and Gothic church
plans. Briefly describe the structural innovations that permitted Gothic cathedrals to achieve a feeling
of spiritual escape to another world.
The plan of Old St. Peter’s was modeled after the design of the Roman basilica. This serves as
the basic building model for the Romanesque and Gothic church plans. The building’s design was made
to accommodate the large growth of Christianity. Its structure was a simple design that allowed crowds
to gather to worship. The church’s length was long at 368 feet to allow the public and the clergy to
move freely without interference to each other, and was built over the grave (relic) of St. Peter. The
church had 6 parts – apse, transept, nave, aisle, narthex, and atrium and a wooden gabled roof. This
model was expanded to include additional features to further separate the public from the clergy and to
allow the public better access to the relics or reliquary and to add to the illumination within the later
churches.
Images of Christ and the stories of Christ were used in relief or on mosaics, frescoes and
columns. Vines of Dionysos, which represented drunken orgies in the period of St. Peter, are
transformed to become the True Vines of Christ, symbolizing the Church body; and were used in relief
and other art forms in the later churches. The wooden beams that formed the height of the structure
of St. Peter’s were replaced in later designs with coffers, vast spaces, wider naves, additional aisles,
clerestory windows and arches supported by columns. These changes helped to increase the power of
the Christianity in the later churches.
Using the basic church designs from St. Peters and Romanesque changes of that basic, the
Gothic cathedrals were able to achieve a feeling of spiritual escape to a another world. Barreled vaults
were replaced with ribbed vaults changing the need for buttressing. This allowed for the addition of the
narthex, twin towers and three portals. The ribbed vault allowed for more free space to be used for
windows and provide for more illumination. The supports of the new structure while becoming more
complex in design allowed for the addition of compound piers the provided for more height to the
structure. The ribs of the vaults formed series of lines and those lines continued to the floor through the
construction of colonnettes. The created vertical unity within the entire structure allows the eyes to be
drawn to windows. Romanesque architecture had thick walls to provide buttress and limited light. With
the creation of flying buttress, half arches were created on the exterior of the structure. With the
combination of architecture: increased height, larger windows, more open wall space and more light,
the Gothic plan allowed the pilgrims to be drawn into the feeling of spiritual escape.