Are you afraid of vampires?

Not.

I also stopped being afraid after visiting one of Count Dracula's castles in Budapest.
Today I will tell you about the Romanesque or Norman style, in which the medieval castle of Count Dracula was built.

It is believed that the prototype of Dracula was a real historical figure - Vlad III the Impaler, a popular nickname - ("the planter on the stake"), also Dracula, from rum. Dracul - "dragon, devil" (a nickname inherited from his father), ruler of the medieval principality of Wallachia.

Many lovers of savoring details from the life and life of vampires do not even imagine how surprised the actually existing Wallachian prince Vlad III Tepes would be if he somehow found out that several centuries later he would be ranked among the insignificant blood-sucking reptiles.

Of course, this historically reliable despot shed a lot of blood in his lifetime, but it was not included in his menu at all, and we know this today from the most authoritative sources of those years - the monastic chronicles.

The era of the Romanesque (Norman style):

In the 10th-12th centuries, the beginning of the revival of the architectural traditions of Ancient Rome under the strong influence of Byzantine art.

The creators of the Romanesque style are sculptors, architects, painters of that time. They wanted one thing: the embodiment in their creations of beauty and a sense of the significance of the Christian world.

Natural, calm colors. The decoration uses stone, metal, bronze, enamel, wood.
The Romanesque style is characterized by massiveness, severity and lack of frills, as well as the severity of the external appearance. Romanesque architecture is famous for heavy castles and temples, rather reminiscent of an impregnable fortress in the spirit of the Middle Ages. The main buildings during this period were the temple-fortress and the castle-fortress. The main element of the composition of a monastery or castle is the dongjon tower. Around it were the rest of the buildings, made up of simple geometric shapes - cubes, prisms, cylinders.

The Romanesque style is dominated by powerful walls, massive semicircular doors, thick columns, cruciform or barrel vaults, apses and acanthus, semicircular or round windows.

The Romanesque buildings are characterized by powerful walls and columns due to heavy vaults. The main motif of the interior is semicircular arches.

Sculptural reliefs were mainly used in the external decoration of cathedrals and were located around portals or placed on the surface of the facade, on archivolts and capitals. The pieces in the middle of the tympanum were supposed to be larger than the corner pieces. In the friezes, they acquired squat proportions, on the supporting pillars and columns - elongated.

The main task was to create a symbolic image of the universe in all its grandeur. Also, the reliefs of Romanesque sculpture carried the task of reminding believers of God, the sculptural decoration amazes with the abundance of fantastic creatures, differs from the echoes of pagan ideas.

In the interior of the Romanesque style, it is also more power than grace. All interior elements produce a feeling of simplicity and heaviness, almost no decorative decoration of the rooms. Public order was not directed towards the development of style. For about 400 years of existence, the Romanesque style did not receive any development or a leap in technology in production.

Romanesque interior.

Floor - marble, patterned tiles. For laying the floor in an old Romanesque interior, ceramic tiles are most often used, imitating a stone, or the floor is tiled with mosaics. Mosaic floors use ornament themes such as zodiac signs, geometric patterns, stars, repeating geometric or leaf designs.

All these elements are located symmetrically to the axis of fantastic creatures, centaurs, griffins, pelicans.

Mirrors - chiffon bronze. Walls - Venetian plaster. Painting (religious motives).
The furniture is also characterized by squat proportions, some ponderousness and gloomy solidity. Only the minimum necessary for life - beds, mostly with canopies, rough chairs, made of wood and with a high back, chests fastened with metal overlays and no upholstered furniture.

Taking a bathroom by candlelight is a delight entirely in the spirit of the Romanesque style. The tallest candlesticks look proud and sophisticated. Stone plastic also works as accessories that dilute the laconicism of the room. A spacious room is suitable for a bathroom.

Mirrors are considered an obligatory attribute of the bathroom. For their design catchy chiffon bronze is used. A demanding and powerful frame emphasizes the representativeness of the Romanesque style. The effect of antiquity will be reflected by bathroom accessories - stone resemblances of such products as a soap dish or dispenser for liquid soap, coasters and bowls for toiletries

A torch-bulb can be used as an element, clearly characterizing the full-bodied Romanesque style. Forged parts will add the necessary consistency and rigidity.
As interior decorations in the Romanesque style, there are all kinds of decorative boxes and boxes into which jewelry and costume jewelry can be folded, as well as candlesticks with candles, which must be in harmony with the overall interior.

Today, few people manage to completely decorate the interior in the old Romanesque style, but some of its elements fit quite well into a more modern design, so do not be surprised that in the photos presented for review in this part, you do not see interiors with high vaults and arches.

The continuation of the review on interior styles follows ...

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The continuation of the review on interior styles follows ...


Thanks to me and the sources for the information.
Sincerely yours, Tatiana Antonchenko