See also Architecture of Normandy.

Norman architecture is a term still applied by writers in English to the particular forms of Romanesque architecture shown by buildings erected by the Normans, in the various lands that fell under their dominion in the 10th and 11th centuries;

In England, "Norman architecture" represents most of the surviving English Romanesque, although late Anglo-Saxon architecture was also Romanesque. The pre-Gothic churches of Normandy are often simply called "Romanesque".

Norman architecture in England

Winchester Cathedral, an example of Norman architecture in England

In England, the main examples of Norman architecture introduced after the Conquest of 1066 are churches and abbeys, and fortifications (see Norman keeps), which show massive proportions in simple geometries, the masonry with small bands of sculpture, perhaps as blind arcading , and concentrated spaces of capitals and round doorways and in the tympanum under an arch. The "Norman arch" is the round arch. Norman moldings are carved or incised with geometric ornament. The cruciform churches often had deep chancels and a square crossing tower which has remained a feature of English ecclesiastical architecture . There was a burst of building activity in England following 1066, but the projects of Henry III brought in the new Gothic architecture, and Norman became increasingly a modest style of provincial building in the second half of the 12th century. Hundreds of parish churches were built and the foundation of most of the great English cathedrals were laid.

Religious architecture

• St John's Chapel (ca 1087), Tower of London
• Durham Cathedral (from 1093) was the first to employ a ribbed vault system with pointed arches
• Winchester Cathedral (from 1079)
• Ely Cathedral (1083–1109)
• Peterborough Cathedral (from 1118)
• Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire
• Southwell Cathedral

Domestic architecture

• Jew's House , Lincoln
• Boothby Pagnell Manor , Lincolnshire

Norman buildings in Sicily

In the Norman lands of Apulia and Sicily, Norman architecture is part of the world of Byzantine architecture, with strong Islamic influences from the emirs who had controlled Sicily.

• Cefalu Cathedral
• Monreale Cathedral and Benedictine cloister
• Palermo's Norman palace with its Capella Palatine
• San Giovanni degli Eremiti in Palermo
• Messina Norman cathedral

External link

• Norman Romanesque Architecture: detailed analysis, illustrations