The Normans Arqitecture

Architecture.
Norman architecture was plain and simple, but provided large amounts of functional space inside. The style is known as Romanesque. The name of this style of architecture leads to some confusion - the immediate association with this style of architecture is with the Roman Empire. The reason for this association is the similarities with Roman Architecture. Many medieval Knights hadtravelled to the Holy Land on Crusades. They had seen the magnificent solid fortresses of the Byzantine Empire and these massive buildings influenced and revolutionised castle building ideas, engineering and architecture of the Romanesque period.
Norman architecture tends to be dominated by a round shape style. In Medieval England, the Normans used barely skilled Saxons as labourers and the toolsthey used were limited – axes, chisels etc. The churches and cathedrals built by the Normans tended to use large stones.
The wooden Motte and Bailey castles were used by the Normans at first were then designed and built in stone – Norman Romanesque architecture.
During the 14th century, the Romanesque style was replaced by the gothic.
CHURCHES
In Norman times, people celebrated theirdevotion to Christ by building solid stone churches and cathedrals because they thought that building a church was a way to praise God. The churches were built to last because religion was very important to medieval people and Church leaders had a lot of money to pay for stone buildings.
The church would be the best building in most villages. The inside of the church was covered with colorful wallpaintings and statues. Ordinary people could not read and write but they could see the teaching of the Church in these painting and statues. The sun would shine trough stained-glass (cristal de colores) windows to show pictures from Bible stories.
The Anglo-Saxon Church was dismantled and rebuilt from scratch in 1079. Within 50 years of the conquest, all English cathedrals and most of themonasteries were rebuilt, and only a few smaller churches remained as they once were.

The key element in the early Norman church-building programme was the expression of power through architecture. The more elaborate and impressive the churches were the better. Winchester Cathedral provides a good example of this. Winchester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Winchester, Hampshire, England.It is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and greatest overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe.
Churches had rounded arches (a structure with a curved top that supports the weight of a bridge or building), massive stone piers (a thick stone, wooden, or metal post that is used to support something), simple nave  vaults (a roof or ceiling that consists of severalarches that are joined together, especially in a church), with high windows reaching the upper walls (clerestory), a lower arcade (a covered passage at the side of a row of buildings with pillars and arches supporting it on one side), a transverse aisle (a long passage between rows of seats in a church, plane, theatre etc, or between rows of shelves in a shop) crossing the nave, and a facade (thefront of a building, especially a large and important one) completed by two towers. 
There was a generously sized choir for the monks, and a crypt for the shrine (a place that people visit for religious reasons or because it is connected with a special event or person) so that pilgrims could come and go.
Arch pier nave vault

Clerestory arcade

Aisle
FacadeWinchester Cathedral

Nave


Archers: The "Norman arch" is the round arch. Norman mouldings (molduras) are carved or incised with geometric ornament, frequently termed "zig-zag mouldings", around arches.
A Norman arch with zig-zag mouldings above the church doorway at Guiting Power, Gloucestershire.
CASTLES
The Normans invaded...