Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

ambulatory around the choir and three semicircular chapels opening

onto it. These radiating chapels probably housed the church’s relics,

which the faithful could view without having to enter the choir where

the main altar stood.

Saint-Étienne is also an early example of the introduction of stone

sculpture into Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture, one of the pe-

riod’s defining features. At Vignory, however, the only sculpture is the

relief decoration of the capitals of the ambulatory and false tribunes

where abstract and vegetal ornament, lions, and other quadrupeds are

the exclusive motifs.

SAINT-SERNIN, TOULOUSEOne of the earliest Roman-

esque examples of stone vaulting is the church of Saint-Sernin (Saint

Saturninus;FIGS. 17-4to 17-6) at Toulouse. Construction began

17-4Aerial view (looking

northwest) of Saint-Sernin,

Toulouse, France,

ca. 1070–1120.

Pilgrimages were a major

economic catalyst for the art

and architecture of the Roman-

esque period. The clergy vied

with one another to provide

magnificent settings for the

display of holy relics.

17-5Plan of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, ca. 1070–1120 (after

Kenneth John Conant).

Increased traffic led to changes in church design. “Pilgrimage churches”

such as Saint-Sernin have longer and wider naves and aisles, as well

as transepts and ambulatories with radiating chapels for viewing relics.

N

0 50 1 00 feet

0 10 20 30 meters

Radiating

chapels

17-6Interior of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, ca. 1070–1120.

Saint-Sernin’s groin-vaulted tribune galleries housed overflow crowds

and buttressed the stone barrel vault over the nave. The transverse

arches continue the lines of the compound piers.

434 Chapter 17 ROMANESQUE EUROPE

17-4A Sainte-
Foy, Conques,
mid-11th to
early 12th
century.