A

Usually square uppermost part of capital.

A thistle-like Mediterranean plant, whose serrated leaves were the model for Corinthian capitals, and is often modified and used as a decorative motif on Romanesque capitals.

The side of a nave (q.v.) separated from the nave proper by a colonnade; by extension, a similar feature in the transept (q.v.) or choir (q.v.).

Passageway around the choir, often a continuation of the side aisles of the nave. Cf. Radiating chapels.

Or altar frontal, ornamental covering for the front of an altar, originally made of fabric; later produced in stone, wood, precious metals or enamel; often contains figurative or symbolic pictures.

Object, picture or symbol used primarily in folk art to ward off evil; important feature of representations of animals and demons in Romanesque art.

B

Semi-cylindrical vault with parallel abutments and of constant cross-section.

In the architectural sense use in this sites, a rectangular building with a definite orientation (i.e. symmetrical about the longitudinal axis only), consisting of a central nave (q.v.) and side aisles (q.v.) separated by colonnades, with or without a transept (q.v.). Cf. Central plan.

Bay

Blind

(arch, arcade)

C

Building symmetrical about its central point; a Central-plan building may be round, square, polygonal or cross-shaped. Cf. Basilica.

Underground chamber beneath the altar in a church, usually containing a saint´s relics. Though the chamber is underneath the choir, it can some times extend as far as the crossing. It is not always completely underground, so that the choir and altar are sometimes considerably higher than the nave and aisles; as a result, very impressive flights of steps were some times built to connect nave and choir.

D

Tree-ring dating, method of dating the age of trees by the number of rings. The varying tree growth in dry and wet years causes uneven yearly rings; because of this, it is possible to use trees grown over a period of time in the same climate to produce a sequence of tree-rings. This is turn makes it possible to date the wood used in buildings precisely.

A dome-like vault with diagonal and transverse ridge ribs, used mainly in the Late Romanesque architecture of south-west France and Westphalia.

Central tall, strong tower in French castles which, unlike the keep, was designed for permanent habitation.

The room where monks slept in monasteries, and later, when individual cells were introduced, the term was applied to the building or floor which contained the cells.

A low exterior passage lit by an equally low arcade, just below the roof of a building and usually in the apse of a church.

E

Evangeliary,

or gospel book

A liturgical book (handwritten in the Middle Ages, printed later) containing the complete text of the Gospels. Evangeliaries are among the most impressive examples of medieval book illumination.

F

Wall painting done with pigments suspended in water, which are painted onto wet plaster; the pigments are united permanently with the plaster as they dry.

G

A chapel or porch at the entrance to a church.

An upper storey, similar to a tribune, running along the side of a building and open on one side to the interior; in a church (basilica) above the side aisles, over the ambulatory (central-plan building) and also over the west end. The gallery was used to keep certain groups of worshippers apart (women, noblemen).

Type of vaulting caused by two equally large barrel vaults (q.v.) crossing at right angles; the angle formed by the intersecting vaults in the groin, hence the term.

H

I

K