page_title: Romanesque architecture in Spain
section_title: Arches
hierarchical_section_title: Romanesque architecture in Spain / Construction of Romanesque buildings in Spain / Arches
context_page_description: Romanesque architecture in Spain is the architectural style reflective of Romanesque architecture, with peculiar influences both from architectural styles outside the Iberian peninsula via Italy and France as well as traditional architectural patterns from within the peninsula. Romanesque architecture was developed in and propagated throughout Europe for more than two centuries, ranging approximately from the late tenth century until well into the thirteenth century.
  During the eighth century, though Carolingian Renaissance extended its influence to Christian Western Europe, Christian Spain remained attached to the traditional Hispano-Roman and Gothic culture, without being influenced by European cultural movements, until the arrival of the Romanesque.
  Romanesque architecture spread throughout the entire northern half of Spain, reaching as far as the Tagus river, at the height of the Reconquista and Repoblación, movements which greatly favoured the Romanesque development.
context_section_description: In Spain the most used arch was the semicircular although the horseshoe arch and the pointed arch were also used. The arch was used exclusively throughout the eleventh century and first half of the twelfth century. In order to achieve certain heights, the vaults were made quite stilted, as in Sant Joan de les Abadesses. Many arcs were built doubled with the intention that they would be stronger. Later, in the portals, arches were formed with archivolts, i.e. a sequence of concentric arches decorated with simple or decorative plants or geometric mouldings.
  Pointed arches came from the Orient. It is unknown the exact date of their use in Romanesque architecture in Spain, although historians proposed some dates based on buildings containing one or more pointed arches that sometimes spawn an entire vault in some of its parts. There are buildings that correspond to the first quarter of the twelfth century, such as the Lugo and Santa Maria de Terrassa cathedrals. The early use of these arcs became a construction element which provided many advantages. It was an architectural breakthrough that the Cistercian monks were able to see from the beginning.
caption: Romanesque portal with archivolts, San Pedro Church [es], Ávila
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD", "Image Model": "C5050Z", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "v558-78", "Image DateTime": "2004:04:12 18:19:54", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "540", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 20, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2004:04:12 18:19:54", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2004:04:12 18:19:54", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "71/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "768", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1258", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}