lier, the abbey church of Cluny II was vaulted throughout. Such churches reflected the
wealth amassed and sometimes flaunted by the monastic order of Cluny. The abbey
church at Vézelay, more modest in architectural scope, offered a luxury of sculptural
decoration that was the only equal to Cluny.
A special type of Romanesque architecture prevailed in the southwest of France, the
cupola church. The cathedral of Périgueux is an outstanding though abusively re stored
example of this architectural type. What is so exceptional about this cupola church is that
the walls are not articulated by engaged half-columns, which are the rule in French
Romanesque architecture. Rather, they are flat in the Byzantine manner, and the filiation
from Byzantium via Venice is certain. The nearby cathedral of Angoulême is much more
“Gallicized” in this regard.
Another important Romanesque substyle is that associated with the Cistercian order.
In contrast with that
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1538