Romanesque

On this cast

• Massive wallThick masonry walls carry the stone or timber roof, so openings stay small. The whole front reads as weight.
• Lombard bandA row of little blind arches hanging under the eaves and gable, a signature of masons from Lombardy.
• LeseneA pilaster strip without base or capital. It divides the wall into bays and shows the nave and aisles behind.
• Dwarf galleryA tiny arcade on colonnettes running across the front, often a real passage inside the wall.
• Wheel windowA round window with spokes, the ancestor of the Gothic rose.
• Round-headed windowA small window with a semicircular top, set in a deep splay so light spreads inside a thick wall.
• Recessed portalThe doorway steps back in several orders, each a smaller round arch inside the last.
• Shafts and cushion capitalsEach order rests on its own slim shaft. The capital is a cube with its lower corners rounded off.
• Chevron mouldingA zigzag carved round the outer arch. Especially loved in Norman England.
• TympanumThe half-moon panel over the door, carved with Christ in majesty inside an almond-shaped mandorla.
• Gable crossThe cross on the apex marks the nave gable, the highest and most central part of the front.

How to spot it from the street

1. Round arches over doors and windows
2. Massive walls, small deep-set windows
3. Little blind arcades under the eaves
4. A carved tympanum over the main door

Where it came from

After the year 1000 Europe built churches in stone again on a huge scale. Without the Romans' concrete, masons relied on mass: thick walls carry heavy stone vaults, so windows stay small and set in deep splays. The round arch is everywhere, from portals to the little blind arcades under the eaves.

The name is modern. In 1818 the French antiquary Charles de Gerville called it 'roman' because it looked like a debased Roman architecture. Look at the portals: the doorway steps in through several round orders, and the half-moon tympanum above it was the medieval billboard, carved with Christ in judgement.