Pre-Romanesque architecture

Pre-Roman architecture includes building monuments of the early Middle Ages (about 500-1000) from southern and western Europe. At this time, the Germanic tribes settled, accepted Christianity and assimilated Roman culture. Architecture switched from wooden to stone buildings, mostly Christian churches. Initially, very diverse construction types and procedures began to converge under the reign of Charles the Great († 814), thus preparing for the rise of Roman art.

History
The pre-Romanesque architecture covers the period of great prosperity of Byzantine architecture in the East. Her influence was strongly reflected in King Theodoric’s († 526) buildings at his headquarters in Ravenna , Italy, but these great performances could not be made by the Western builders. Buildings with a strong Byzantine influence (such as the Basilica of Saint Mark in Venice) are not pre-Romanesque architecture.

After the collapse of the central Roman administration, cultural and social life in the West has long been governed by Roman customs and local (urban) institutions. German conquerors accepted Roman culture and language in varying degrees and differently fast. For example, on the Iberian Island, the Roman influence was much stronger than in Central Europe, which was largely beyond the Roman Empire. Buildings from 6 to 8. the centuries are therefore more advanced in the Pyrenean Island or southern France than the poor and primitive structures of central and northern Europe.

During this period, two significant attempts were made to restore the Empire: the unification of the Franconian (Merovo) Empire for Chlodvík I († 511) and the new establishment of the Karlovci Empire, culminating in the crowning Emperor Charles the Great in the year 800. Accordingly, Carolinian and Carolinian (Carlsbad).

Pre – Caroline Architecture
In the pre-Carlsbad era, various building schools and styles were built in different parts of Europe, often of local significance. The most important were the Merovian culture in France, Lombard in northern Italy, Vizigot on the Iberian Peninsula, otherwise it was built in the British Isles. Monumental, mostly church stone buildings were built almost entirely on the territory of the former Empire. Of the more than 1,200 documented buildings before 768 in France, northern Italy, the Rhine and the Upper Danube, there were 285 cathedrals and over 800 monasteries. The cathedrals were built in large resorts ( Tours , Reims , Paris ), mostly as a three-nave pillar basilica without a transverse ship with one apse and probably emporium. All of them were later rebuilt, so only the remnants of the Viennese (Isère) cathedral, several circular (central) baptisteries, and several church churches ( Regensburg , Lorsch ) were preserved in the eastern part of the empire.

On the Iberian peninsula, which Vizigóti temporarily unified in the 5th century, three-nave basilicas with a wooden roof, high arcades and horseshoe arches were built, under the strong Byzantine influence. A remarkable preserved monument is the Church of the Virgin Mary in Naranco near Oviedo from the 8th century. The Church of St. Jan in Escombe near Durham in central England, also from the 8th century.

Karolinian architecture
Karel the Great was well aware of Western Europe’s underdevelopment of Byzantium and made great efforts to balance this handicap. In his realm, not only monasteries, schools, and more monumental churches and temples began to emerge, as well as stone palaces that admired and encouraged to follow. Thus, at least on the European continent, it is possible to speak of Carolinian style with a certain entitlement. The focus of construction activity shifted eastwards, to the Rhineland and to the lower reaches of the Elbe.

Representative religious structures of a more or less uniform style also had political significance: Charles first confirmed his claim to the heritage of the West Roman Empire, and increased his authority and prestige. The famous palace chapel in Aachen is a central building with a dome, an octagonal center and a sixteen-foot gallery. Similarity and decoration follows the Temple of God in Jerusalem and Theodorich’s buildings in Ravenna. However, the typical building of the Carolinian period is a three-nave vaulted basilica with a transverse ship and one or more apses. The ancient confessio under the altar developed into a crypt , either a hall with an elevated chora or, on the contrary, a galley, fully underground. In the imperial basilicas, the so-called Westwerk , a symmetrical choir for the emperor and his companions, was formed on the opposite side of the ship. The monasteries are of great importance as mission facilities in the less-populated regions and their specific architecture around the courtyard with the cross-passage.

Major buildings include S. Maria in Cosmedin in Rome , Einhard Basilica in Steinbach near Darmstadt , Werden Monasteries near Essen , Corvey (about 50km east of Paderborn ), Reichenau on Lake Constance , Emeram in Regensburg etc. Extremely well preserved is the central church of St. Donata in Zadar, Croatia.

Otonian Architecture
During the reign of the next Ottoman dynasty (919-1024), a large wave of monumental construction work in a rather prominent Otonian style, sometimes referred to as pre-Roman art, more often to Romanes, originates in Germany.

In the Czech Lands
The oldest medieval stone buildings on the Czech territory are documented from the period of the Great Moravian Empire . Archaeological traces of stone churches of various types have revealed research in the Old Town , Mikulčice , in Modrá and other localities. The form of unprotected buildings, their origin and relationship to the Cyril and Methodius mission is the subject of scientific research and hypotheses.

With the time of the oldest Přemyslids, the churches of St. Kliment on the Left Hradec , the Virgin Mary in Prague and the oldest standing Czech building, the rotunda in Budch . A little younger were St. Basil’s. Jiří a rotunda sv. Welcome to the Prague Castle. The churches in the castle system built by Boleslav I illustrate the well-preserved rotunda of St. Petra in Old Plzeň. The Stone Otonian Church also built the Slavnicci in their fortified settlement in Libice , it was demolished in 995 when they were slaughtered.

Source From Wikipedia