Romanesque

The first universal style of the European Middle Ages Reaching its peak in the 11th and 12th centuries, the Romanesque movement was marked by a peculiar, vivid, and often monumental expressiveness in architecture and fine arts. The main centres were located in Italy, France, the German-language countries, Spain, and England, though the voices of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe expressed themselves only in the genre, which patterned itself on antique and Byzantine art. Despite untold losses, countless Romanesque masterpieces remain preserved today.