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The name Romanesque, like many other stylistic designations, was not a term contemporary with the art it describes but an invention of modern scholarship to categorize a period. The term "Romanesque" attempts to link the architecture, especially, of the 11th and 12th centuries in medieval Europe to Roman Architecture based on similarities of forms and materials. Romanesque is characterized by a use of round or slightly pointed arches, barrel vaults, cruciform piers supporting vaults, and groin vaults. The great carved portals of 12th century church facades parallel the architectural novelty of the period—monumental stone sculpture seems reborn in the Romanesque.
Romanesque seems to have been the first pan-European style since Roman Imperial Architecture and examples are found in every part of the continent. One important fact pointed out by the stylistic similarity of buildings across Europe is the relative mobility of medieval people. Contrary to many modern ideas of life before the Industrial Revolution, merchants, nobles, knights, artisans, and peasants crossed Europe and the Mediterranean world for business, war, and religious pilgrimages, carrying their knowledge of what buildings in different places looked like. The important pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, modern north east Spain, may have generated as well as spread some aspects of the Romanesque style.
Surviving Romanesque buildings Listed below are examples of surviving Romanesque buildings in modern France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Italy, England, Netherlands, Scandinavia and Central Europe.
France  Interior of the Saint-Saturnin church - Saint-Foy, Conques
- Saint-Sernin, Toulouse
- Saint-Bénigne, Dijon
- Notre-Dame-du-Port, Clermont-Ferrand
- Saint-Austremoine, Issoire
- Notre-Dame, Orcival
- Saint-Nectaire
- Saint-Saturnin
- Saint-Pierre, Angoulême
- Saint-Trophime, Arles
- Sainte-Madeleine, Vezelay
- Sainte-Croix, Bordeaux
 Romanesque abbey church of Jumièges, Normandy - Paray-le-Monial
- Saint-Front, Perigueux
- Notre-Dame-la-Grande, Poitiers
- Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe
- abbey church, Cluny
- Chapaize
- Abbatiale de Cruas
- Abbey of Vigeois, Limousin
- Tour Fenestrelle, Uzès
- Fontevrault
- Normandy :
- abbey church, Jumièges, Seine-Maritime
- abbey church of Saint-Georges-de-Boscherville, Seine-Maritime
- Saint-Étienne, Caen, Calvados
- Sainte-Trinité, Caen, Calvados
- Cerisy-la-Forêt, Manche
- Lessay, Manche
Germany
Spain
Ireland - Cormac's Chapel, Cashel (1127-1134)
- Aghadoe, County Kerry (1158)
- Nuns' Church, Clonmacnoise (1167)
- Tuam Cathedral and Crosses (c. 1184)
- Ardmore Church and Round Tower, County Waterford
- Baltinglass Cistercian Abbey, County Wicklow
- Boyle Cistercian Abbey, County Roscommon
- Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin
- Clonfert Cathedral, County Galway
- Cong Abbey, County Galway
- Devenish Round Tower and Churches, County Fermanagh
- Dysert O'Dea Church and Round Tower, County Clare
- Freshford, County Kilkenny
- Jerpoint Cistercian Abbey, County Kilkenny
- Killeshin, County Laois
- Maghera, County Derry
- Monaincha Abbey and Cross, County Tipperary
- Rahan Church of Ireland Church, County Offaly
- Timahoe Round Tower, County Laois
- St. Saviour's, Glendalough
Italy
England In England, Romanesque architecture is often termed 'Norman architecture'.
Netherlands - Sint Servaas, Maastricht
- Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe, Maastricht
- Munsterkerk, Roermond
- Janskerk, Utrecht
- Pieterskerk, Utrecht
- St. Plechelmus, Oldenzaal
- Chapel, Lemiers
- Reformed church, Oirschot
Belgium
Scandinavia
Central Europe
See also
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