The
first churches in The Netherlands were mostly built of wood and were
often constructed on the location of former pagan temples from the
Roman period. Of these churches nothing remains today. The oldest
surviving churches all date from the 11th century, although older
fragments have been preserved in several churches. The oldest type of
church is that of the simple rectangular space with a ditto choir. This
type of church is preserved in the old church of Lemiers (L). The style
is often called Carolingian, but it is better to speak of
early-Romanesque. Thick walls, small windows
and round arches and apses are some of the major characteristics of the
Romanesque style. The name Romanesque, which is far more recent than
the style itself, suggests a continuing of Roman building techniques.
This seems to be a fact, although there was a decrease of knowledge
after the fall of the Roman empire, like the method of making bricks.
Charlemagne reintroduced many techniques preserved in the northern part
of Italy to the rest of his empire. Two basic Roman shapes of buildings
were used for religious buildings; the basilica and the centralized
building. An example of the latter is the St.
Nicolaaskapel in Nijmegen (G), which in several ways is a
scaled down copy of Charlemagne's chapel in Aachen, Germany. By the
time it was built the Carolingian empire had ceased to exist. Most of
the current Netherlands had become part of the German empire, and was
divided over the two dioceses of Utrecht and Liège.
Romanesque was a style with limits. Gothic
allowed for much higher buildings, with much larger windows being
possible than before. It was only logical that many Romanesque churches
were either partly or completely replaced by Gothic structures. Others
followed later. In large parts of the country little to nothing is left
in a more or less complete form. Much of what remains are simple
village churches which in most cases can hardly be filed under any
category. Of other churches only the tower has survived. Only the
relatively few surviving bigger Romanesque churches, often founded by
bishops, give us some idea of the various different styles in the
Netherlands.
The following categories are usually mentioned in the literature. For
lack of good English terms, improvised translations are used.
1.
The Utrecht group
The
Utrecht group contains several early-Romanesque churches, the most
important of which are no longer there. What remains are a few much
altered churches that however are still recognizable as originally
Romanesque churches, thanks to several important well-preserved parts.
Part of this category is the Bernulfus- or Bernoldus-group, after the
bishop that was its instigator. All these churches were built shortly
after 1040. The St.
Pieter in Utrecht (U) (left) is regarded as the best
preserved church of this group. With four other churches it formed a
cross of churches in this city, with the cathedral in the centre. Of
these five the St.
Jan is the only other survivor. The St.
Lebuïnus in Deventer (Ov) and the St. Martinus in Emmerich
(Germany) also belonged to this group. The St.
Plechelmus in Oldenzaal (Ov) dates from the 12th century but
is often ranked under Utrecht Romanesque as well.
2.
The Maasland or Mosan group
For a long time it has been
assumed that the territory of the Liège diocese had its own style of
Romanesque. Although many attributes of this style are found inside
this territory, which includes large parts of Belgium besides the
southern part of the province of Limburg, there are too many exceptions
to speak of a true regional style. However, the Romanesque churches of
this area are different in many ways from those in other parts of the
country which belonged to the diocese of Utrecht. They are mostly built
out of natural stone. Larger churches have a westwork, an almost
fortress-like tower, inside of which is a choir. The Church
of Our Lady in Maastricht (L) shows a westwork of the
earliest type (left). This type consists of a massive looking tower
flanked by either round or square stair-turrets. The St.
Servaas in the same city was the first example of a more
artistically refined type. This type has a more decorated lower
tower-segment. Another characteristic found in this area is transepts
that are lower than the nave, as also see on Maastricht's Church of Our
Lady and the churches of Rolduc. Other churches belonging to this group
are those of Susteren
and St.
Odiliënberg, although the latter is essentially a post-war
reconstruction.
3.
The Lower Rhine group
Besides
in parts of Germany, the late-Romanesque style of the Lower Rhine is
also found in Limburg, where it partly replaced the previous Mosan
style. Typical for this style are the cloverleaf-shaped eastern parts
of the church, with semi-circular or polygonal apses with
dwarfgalleries. The choir of the St.
Servaas in Maastricht probably was the prototype for this
type of apse, but the Minster
in Roermond (left) is the only church in the Netherlands with
a completely surviving eastern part in this style. Furthermore,
Romanesque is often combined with elements of Gothicism, reason why
this style is often called Romano-Gothic.
4.
The North-Eastern group
Unlike the other groups, the
North-Eastern category mostly consists of smaller village-churches, as
most of the bigger churches of the group have been replaced or rebuilt.
Churches of this group are found in the provinces of Friesland,
Groningen and Drenthe, with a few examples in Overijssel as well.
Typical for this group is the tower with saddle-roof, an attribute that
continued to be used in this region for Gothic churches later, and the
semi-circular choir that in many cases has been replaced. Some churches
originally had a rectangular choir though. The picture shows the church
of Marsum (Gr). In this region Romano-Gothic
gradually replaced Romanesque before further developing into Gothicism.
5.
Others
Because
there are few complete survivors many other Romanesque churches cannot
be filed under any of the above categories. There are however many
churches left in which the Romanesque origins are clearly recognizable.