The Romans and their architecture

Roman Britain can refer to thoseportions of island of 'Great Britain' ruled by the 'Roman Empire’ during the fourth century AD. This province was called 'Britannia' by the Romans. Before the invasion of the Roman Empire, 'Iron Age Britain' had eсоnоmic and cultural links with 'Continental Europe’. Novel developments in urbanization, agriculture, architecture and industry were introduced by the invaders. They had left behinds a legacy which is prevalent till date.

The architecture of the Roman occupation of Britain (AD 43 around 410): excluding primitive hut dwellings, and such prehistoric monuments as Stonehengc and Maiden Castle, the oldest buildings in England were erected during this period. Features were similar to Roman architecture in other provinces of the Empire, being less ambitious and elaborate than those of the city of Rome.

Most examples are to be found in certain of the larger Roman towns. Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St. Albans), Aquae Sulis (Hath). Callcva Atrebatum (Silchester), Viroconium (Wroxeter). and Isca Silurum (Caerwent). Other important towns such as Londinium (London), Eboracum (York), Ratae (Leicester). Lindum (Lincoln), Glevum (Gloucester), and Corinium (Cirencester) have yielded comparatively few remains; usually because later building has smothered or destroyed the Roman work, or because they have not yet been thoroughly excavated.

Public buildings were generally grouped round the forum or market place, as at St Albans. Notable remains include the amphitheatre at Caerwent; the theatre at St. Albans.

Domestic town houses are best studied at St. Albans, where the streets form a chess board pattern; the houses were centrally heated by hot air, equipped with baths, and provided with mosaic floors. Larger dwellings include palaces, such as Fishboume near Chichester, and villas or country houses from which farming was carried on, some of them having over 50 rooms. Roman Architecture was responsible for the development of:

1) Basilicas

2) Baths

3) Amphitheaters

4) Triumphal arches

5) Villas

6) Roman Temples

7) Roman Roads

8) Roman Towns and Stockades

9) Roman Towns like Londinium

10) Aquaducts

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES

Art in the Middle ages was inseparable from religion. Ii was infused with spiritual symbolism and meaning. The purpose оf art was to awe and inspire the viewer with the grandeur of God. It also served to symbolize what people believed. Pope Gregory the Great, he of the Gregorian chants, said, "painting can do for the illiterate what writing does for those who read." He might have added that sculpture could serve the same purpose. Architecture is about evolution, not revolution. It used to be thought that once the Romans pulled out of Britain in the fifth century, their elegant villas, carefully- planned towns and engineering marvels like Hadrian's Wall simply fell into decay as British culture was plunged into the Dark Ages. It took the Norman Conquest of 1066 to bring back the light, and the Gothic cathedral-builders of the Middle Ages played an important part in the revival of British culture.

Style of architecture used in England in the 11th and 12th centuries, also known as

Romanesque. Norman buildings are massive, with round arches (although trefoil arches are sometimes used for small openings). Buttresses are of slight projection, and vaults are barrel roofed. Examples in England include the Keep of the tower of London and parts of the cathedrals of Chichester, Gloucester, and Ely.

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