Architect Jong Soung Kimm’s Romanesque Architecture

The present volume is Jong Soung Kimm’s fourth photo essay in the traversal of Romanesque architecture in Europe captured through an architect’s eyes. The journey now focuses on the western portion of the post-Carolingian world: France. From among the more than four or five thousand Romanesque churches which dot the French landscape, a mere handful of monuments of architectural merit, large and small, have been selected to be discussed in the present survey.
Unquestionable masterpieces of Romanesque architecture such as La Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Vézelay, L’église abbatiale Saint-Étienne in Caen, or La Basilique Saint-Sernin in Toulouse are given due respect. Lesser-known monuments such as L’Abbaye de Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, L’Abbaye de Saint-Philibert in Tournus, or La collégiale Saint-Étienne in Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre are highlighted for their innovations, the first two for their vaulting techniques and Saint-Étienne for its unusual spatial organization. L’Abbaye du Thoronet is discussed as one of the most important examples of Cistercian architecture and for the appeal it garnered in the 20^th century among contemporary architects including Le Corbusier. Two Catalan Romanesque churches, Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa and Saint-Martin-du-Canigou, serve as the endnote because of their importance in the development of Romanesque architecture in the Pyrenees.