Masterpieces of Roman and Romanesque Architecture and Art
Maison Carrée
This is a Corinthian temple, high on a podium, *hemipteriptero* (half surrounded by columns) with a ladder, one nave, and columns attached to the cella as a peristyle. In the pediment, there is no sculptural decoration; it has probably been lost. The frieze features floral designs reminiscent of the decoration of the Ara Pacis. These features were very common in the Roman provinces in the time of Augustus.
The temple was built by Agrippa, Augustus’s nephew and superior legacy of Gaul, and dedicated to his two sons, Caius and Lucius, heirs of Augustus who died very young.
Pantheon
It was built by Apollodorus of Damascus, the great architect of the second century, who made this temple one of the first composite plant projects. In the picture, we see the inside of the circular structure. The rotunda measures 43.30 meters in diameter, the same as its height to the dome. The dome of the temple is covered with coffers, emptied in stages, giving it an aesthetic value in addition to the structural. An overhead oculus of 8.82 meters in diameter allows the entry of light. The hard cap rests on a cylindrical wall, which in turn rests on a foundation ring. The load distribution allows eight niches to open in the round. The pavement features squares and circles that refer to the floor of the temple.
Augustus of Prima Porta
This image is an apotheosis of Augustus. The winner appears wearing his military uniform and is barefoot, as the heroes were represented. The shell shows allegorical scenes of the emperor’s military campaigns. In contrast to the tightness and stiffness of the shell, the cloth has a great texture and is very free. This work is a copy of a previous original that was likely made of bronze or gold, and it was the representation of the emperor that his wife, Livia, most appreciated. Therefore, after being widowed and retiring to Prima Porta, a place on the outskirts of Rome, the empress ordered this replica to be made.
Portico of Glory
The works of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela were completed in 1168 with the recruitment by Fernando II of Master Mateo, the architect who designed the crypt on which the final leg of the ships rests, and the gateway between the two towers. The crypt saves the uneven terrain, and on it stands the great western facade, behind which is the famous Portico of Glory. The Portico of Glory is the culmination of Romanesque sculpture in Spain, located at the doorstep of the Gothic. Its construction lasted almost half a century, so Maestro Mateo received an annuity from the hands of King Ferdinand II. The work was completed in 1211, the date of the consecration of the temple. The Gate has a large central door and two smaller side doors. In the tympanum of the large door is the Savior, lifting his hands to show the wounds, accompanied by the Tetramorph; the bottom row is made up of angels carrying instruments of the Passion, while the upper two rows are arranged elected. In the archivolts, the elders of the Apocalypse are represented radially. The 16 statues in the jambs, which take the place of the shaft of the columns, are the prophets and apostles, represented with a naturalness that anticipates later styles. Among the most important sculptures of the whole is the so-called Pillar of the Prophets.
Cloister of Cluny
The structure of the monasteries of the Romanesque period remains the basic scheme shown on the map of Sankt Gallen in the ninth century. Just enter the final codification of the gang of monks, which is installed as the chapter house in the bedroom. The great monasteries of Cluny spread their way around the whole of the Romanesque. Moissac and Silos, as known today, are the first manifestations of the implementation of monumental sculpture in the decoration of its arcades, but there are examples of documentary news above. The Cistercians, who had a great period of glory in full Romanesque, made one of the most monumental medieval cloister factories. Unlike Cluny, its cloisters have no monumental decoration. Approaches are very traditional and conservative, banning pictures of animals and plants in the words of St. Bernard, “not only served to distract the attention of the monks.” This kind of storied programs, the saint went on, were useful in the temples of the secular clergy to teach the unlearned. From the functional point of view, the only Cistercian cloister introduced two minor variations with respect to the Benedictine tradition: the dining halls were arranged perpendicularly to the corresponding panda, and the cilla was organized with the articulation of a closed hall for use by converts. At this time, the monasteries originated, but they did not have the slightest importance in contemporary architecture.
Majestas Domini or Christ in Majesty
This formidable Pantocrator fresco occupied a large part of the apse of the church of San Clemente de Tahull. Emerging from a blue background, Christ holds a book of scripture with his left hand, which reads “Ego sum lux mundi,” and with his right hand, he makes the sign of blessing. The face of Jesus presents his inscrutable features: a stylized nose dividing his face into two symmetrical parts, his black eyes are emphasized by both eyelids and eyebrows, while the curved lip, mustache, heading for the undulations of the beard, repeat the forms of hair. The Pantocrator is registered with the mystical mandorla; the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet (alpha and omega) are a symbol of the beginning and end of all things. The rest of the wall is decorated with a fund structured in three areas: the top, surrounding the mandorla, sits the Tetramorph, the four evangelists embodied in angels to sustain their symbols, accompanied by a seraph and a cherub; in the intermediate zone are five apostles and the Virgin under figured arches; in the lower, remains of ornamental decoration. Along with the tympanum of Vézelay, it is one of the grandest representations of the divine in the Romanesque.