Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: crossing tower

The Romans conquered the place in 57 BC. BC and expanded it into a walled city. The city gained importance because it was at the intersection of several important transport routes. During the barbarian invasions, Évora came under the rule of the Visigothic king Leovigild in 584. In 715, the city was conquered by the Moors. During the Moorish rule (715–1165), the town slowly began to prosper again and developed into an agricultural center with a fortress and a mosque. Évora was wrested from the Moors through an attack by Geraldo Sem Pavor ("Gerald the Fearless") in 1165. The town came under the rule of the Portuguese king Afonso I in 1166. It then flourished during the Middle Ages, especially in the 15th century. Construction of a cathedral began in 1186. The consecration took place already in 1204. The building has Romanesque and Gothic features. The pointed barrels over the central nave and transept and the pointed arched cross vaults of the side aisles correspond to the pattern of Cluny III and Paray-le-Monial. The tracery above the main portal is High Gothic. Between 1317 and 1340 the cloister was added in the Gothic style. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the choir, pulpit, baptistery and the chapel of Our Lady of Mercy followed in Manueline style. The main chapel was replaced in the Baroque style in the first half of the 18th century. The cathedral has a cruciform floor plan and is 70 meters long. This is the largest cathedral in Portugal. The crossing tower

The town of Toro lies on a plateau above the Duero River about 40 km east of Zamora. In medieval times Toro had some importance. Ferdinand III of Castile was crowned king in Toro in 1230, his wife Elisabeth of Swabia died here five years later. The large collegiate church Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, whose construction began in 1160 under Alfonso VII, but lasted possibly even until the end of the 13th century. During the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, it was elevated to a collegiate church. The architectural highlight of the church building is the two-story crossing tower (“cimborrio”) with its sixteen-sided floor plan, with four sides being particularly highlighted by round corner towers, which serve both for architectural decoration and for static stabilization. While the corner towers in the lower part hardly have any architectural decoration, the two levels of the central tower with their windows - accompanied by small columns and ending in oriental-looking multi-aisle arches - are designed in exactly the same way. The Zamora Cathedral may have inspired the architects here. Similar crossing towers can also be found in Salamanca and Plasencia.

The town of Toro lies on a plateau above the Duero River about 40 km east of Zamora. In medieval times Toro had some importance. Ferdinand III of Castile was crowned king in Toro in 1230, his wife Elisabeth of Swabia died here five years later. The large collegiate church Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, whose construction began in 1160 under Alfonso VII, but lasted possibly even until the end of the 13th century. During the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, it was elevated to a collegiate church. The architectural highlight of the church building is the two-story crossing tower (“cimborrio”) with its sixteen-sided floor plan, with four sides being particularly highlighted by round corner towers, which serve both for architectural decoration and for static stabilization. While the corner towers in the lower part hardly have any architectural decoration, the two levels of the central tower with their windows - accompanied by small columns and ending in oriental-looking multi-aisle arches - are designed in exactly the same way. The Zamora Cathedral may have inspired the architects here. Similar crossing towers can also be found in Salamanca and Plasencia.

The monastery was founded after the death of King Heinrich I (Henry the Fowler) in 936 by Siegfried of Merseburg, brother of Margrave Gero the Great, and his second wife Guthia. The first Benedictine monks were sent from Corvey (Westphalia), whose priory was Groningen. From 1247 the bishops of Halberstadt were bailiffs of the monastery, which was dissolved after the Reformation in 1550. The monastery church of St. Vitus was consecrated in 940 by Abbot Volkmar I from Corvey, but this church does not exist anymore. From the beginning to about the middle of the 12th century, the present church was rebuilt as a Romanesque three-nave flat-roofed basilica. After the abolition of the monastery, the church fell into disrepair. As a result, in the 16th century the southern aisle and in 1606 the two choir aisles were demolished. Between 1819 and 1831 the northern aisle was removed and the originally square choir was shortened.

Saint Pirmin, whom we met as the founder of monasteries already in Murbach, Wissembourg and Marmoutier worked here as well, according to his "Vita", written within the 9th century. It is proven, that a monastery existed in "Suarzaha" (= Schwarzach) in 826 near a Roman road running parallel to the Rhine. Secularisation ended the long and colourful history of the Benedictian monastery in 1802/1803. At that time the condition of the buildings was bad. Most were not that old, as the monastery was rebuilt in baroque style after it ruined during the Nine Years' War. They were used as a quarry and only a few can still be found today. One is the course the church, constructed around 1220/1225, now the parish church of the village. Due to "heavy" restauration, the church is in a mint condition, but a lot of parts are new - so here the original romanesque church got "reconstructed" in a neo-romanesque way. Excavations and research undertaken in the 1960s proved, that the first church here was built within the first half of the 8th century. This could be - somewhere in Burgundy. That was my first impression, when I approached the church from the east. A perfect romanesque blueprint. The crossing tower is a little younger than the rest of the structure, as the original one collapsed after a blaze in 1299. It took only three years, to rebuild it. During the first renovation 1888/97 the baroque sacristy and some other (non romanesque) parts were demolished. Where the garden is now, was the cloister once.

Augustodunum (today Autun) was founded during the reign of Augustus, after whom it was named. It was an important settlement, the Roman theather, partly unearthed, could seat about 15.000 people, there is a Roman temple, walls... But it is the Cathédrale Saint-Lazare and the wonderful carvings, that made me return to Autun again and again. There had been a church here earlier, that was just too small, when Autun became a center of pilgrimage, after relics of St. Lazarus were kept here since about 970. Just like Vezelay, 90kms north, where the relics of St. Lazarus´ sister St. Maria Magdalena were kept at that time. In 1120 it was decided to construct this larger and more suitable cathedral. At that time this construction was influenced by Cluny III, that was a little older. The cathedral ("Latin Cross") was completed in 1146, only the porch which was added some years later After severe damage in 1376, during the Hundred Years' War, rebuilding and remodeling the romanesque structure started within the 15th century. At that time Gothic chapels were added and the massive crossing tower was built.

The construction of the "Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens" started in 1220, after a predecessor Romanesque church burnt down two years earlier. Unusual for medieval structures, the first architects are known here. Robert de Luzarches was the architect until 1228. He was followed by Thomas de Cormont until 1258. His son, Renaud de Cormont, acted as the architect until 1288. Today Amiens Cathedral is the largest existing Gothic cathedral in France. There was a lot of competition between the cities and towns about the largest nave, the highest vaults. The long and relatively peaceful reign of Louis IX (aka "Saint Louis") brought prosperity to the region, so that Amiens could afford such a structure. The cathedral is 145m long (interior length 133,50m). The volume of the structure is about 200.000m³, Notre Dame de Paris has only about 100.000m³ The choir, a flock of gargoyles and the crossing tower, that was added within the 16th century. It is 112m high!