2012 Theses Doctoral

Building Across the Sacred Landscape: The Romanesque Churches of Verona in their Urban Context

Fluke, Meredith Ellen

This project explores the intersection of art, religion, and community within the historical context of the Middle Ages, where architecture acts as an expression of the experience of urban life, as well as an affecting locus of social interaction. It focuses on medieval Verona, where the immense architectural renovations of the eleventh and twelfth centuries were an integral response to a period of intense social and religious transformation. Here, the churches are examined as an ensemble, as a network of interconnected buildings that were produced under similar social circumstances. Instead of focusing on defining a Veronese architectural style through a number of decorative features, however, this dissertation explores difference as being an important factor in defining the look of each Veronese church, focusing on the Romanesque churches' relationships to the city, floorplans, and elevations as evocations of a period of considerable creativity. This variation is considered in terms of the experiences of the communities and individuals who commissioned them, and how the buildings' historical and cultic associations were identified within the larger urban context.