Illustrated Architecture Dictionary
Illustrated Architecture Dictionary
Norman/Norman Revival
11th-12th centuries / Late 19th century
Term applied to the buildings erected by the Normans in all lands that fell under their dominion. It is used not only in England and Northern France, but also in Southern Italy (Apulia) and in Sicily.
"Norman" is a variation of "Northman," referring to the Scandinavians who conquered Normandy in France; later the mixed (Norman-French) race who, under William the Conqueror, in 1066, conquered England
A High Romanesque style emerged in the early 12th century which involved structural innovations such as the use of rib vaults and pointed arches to take the weight of roofs more effectively.
England, 11th, 12th centuriesThe Romanesque architecture of England, from the Norman Conquest under William the Conqueror in 1066 until the rise of the Gothic around 1180.The greatest activity was in England, where after 1070 the Normans built hundreds of parish churches and commenced most of the great cathedrals. All underwent later restorations.
In both England and Normandy church plans were cruciform. Over the crossing of nave and transepts was a prominent square tower, one of the most effective Norman features.Monasteries, which had been destroyed by the Vikings, were being rebuilt and given huge grants of land by the Dukes of Normandy.
Southern Italy (Apulia) and in Sicily, 11th, 12th centuriesConquering the island after more than two centuries of Arab rule in 1072, early Norman kings adopted and built upon its local Islamic vocabulary in art and architecture.
The austere grandeur of the English and French Norman style was modified in Southern Italy and especially in Sicily by the mingling of Byzantine and Arabic elements. These Byzantine motifs were particularly obvious in the interiors of certain churches that decorated with gilded mosaics, such as that at the cathedral at Monreale.
The "Arab-Norman" style declined with the Norman persecution of local Muslims in the early thirteenth century, and was gradually replaced by Gothic forms favored by the Cisternians.
Features:
- Plain and massive
- Frequent use of round arches
- Grotesque sculptured animal forms
- Sculptured reliefs of the tympanums over doorways.
- Exterior: Blind arcades, sometimes with interlacing arches, were the common adornment for walls
- Moldings carved with the beakhead, zigzag, or chevron, or alternating lozenge
- Exterior: crenelation
- Exterior: towers
- Exterior: square crossing tower
- Interior: plain archways and capitals (cushion capital) devoid of ornament
- Interior: arcades
- Interior: gallery
- Interior: clearstory
- Interior: open timber roof
Norman Revival examples from Buffalo architecture:
