corners of the groin vaults. Speyer’s interior shows the same striving
for height and the same compartmentalized effect seen in Saint-
Sernin (FIG. 17-6), but by virtue of the alternate-support system, the
rhythm of the Speyer nave is more complex. Because each compart-
ment is individually vaulted, the effect of a sequence of vertical spa-
tial blocks is even more convincing.
SANT’AMBROGIO, MILAN After Charlemagne crushed the
Lombards in 773, German kings held sway over Lombardy, and the
Rhineland and northern Italy cross-fertilized each other artistically.
No agreement exists as to which source of artistic influence was
dominant in the Romanesque age, the northern or the southern.
The question, no doubt, will remain the subject of controversy until
the construction date of Sant’Ambrogio (FIG. 17-20) in Milan can
be established unequivocally. The church, erected in honor of Saint
Ambrose, Milan’s first bishop (d. 397), is the central monument of
Lombard Romanesque architecture. Some scholars think the church
was a prototype for Speyer Cathedral, but Sant’Ambrogio is a re-
markable structure even if it wasn’t a model for Speyer’s builders.
The Milanese church has an atrium in the Early Christian tradition
(FIG. 11-9)—one of the last to be built—and a two-story narthex
pierced by arches on both levels. Two bell towers (campaniles) join
the building on the west. The shorter one dates to the 10th century,
and the taller north campanile is a 12th-century addition. Over the
nave’s east end is an octagonal tower that recalls the crossing towers
of Ottonian churches (FIG. 16-22).
Sant’Ambrogio has a nave (FIG. 17-21) and two aisles but no
transept. Each bay consists of a full square in the nave flanked by two
small squares in each aisle, all covered with groin vaults. The main
vaults are slightly domical, rising higher than the transverse arches.
The windows in the octagonal dome over the last bay—probably here,
as elsewhere, a reference to the Dome of Heaven—provide the major
light source (the building lacks a clerestory) for the otherwise rather
dark interior. The emphatic alternate-support system perfectly reflects
the geometric regularity of the plan. The lightest pier moldings are in-
terrupted at the gallery level, and the heavier ones rise to support the
main vaults. At Sant’Ambrogio, the compound piers even continue
into the ponderous vaults, which have supporting arches, or ribs,
along their groins. This is one of the first instances of rib vaulting, a
salient characteristic of mature Romanesque and of later Gothic ar-
chitecture (see “The Gothic Rib Vault,” Chapter 18, page 464).
The regional diversity of Romanesque architecture becomes evi-
dent by comparing the proportions of Sant’Ambrogio with those of
both Speyer Cathedral (FIG. 17-19) and Saint-Sernin (FIGS. 17-4to
17-6) at Toulouse. The Milanese building does not aspire to the soar-
ing height of the French and German churches. Save for the later of
the two towers, Sant’Ambrogio’s proportions are low and broad and
remain close to those of Early Christian basilicas. Italian architects,
even those working within the orbit of the Holy Roman Empire, had
firm roots in the venerable Early Christian style and never accepted
the verticality found in northern architecture, not even during the
Gothic period.Holy Roman Empire 44717-21Interior of Sant’Ambrogio, Milan, Italy, late 11th to early 12th century.
Sant’Ambrogio’s nave reveals the northern character of Lombard architecture. Each groin-vaulted nave bay corresponds to two aisle bays.
The alternate-support system complements this modular plan.