The first artistic style to influence Europe from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, Romanesque Art thrived from roughly 1000 A.D. to the thirteenth century. Romanesque Art also encompasses influences from Byzantine art and the Insular art of Northern Europe. It retained many features of Roman architectural style. Some of most famous examples of Romanesque architecture include its famous cathedrals and churches. Romanesque architecture is known by its massive quality, thick walls, round arches, sturdy piers, groin vaults, large towers, and regular, symmetrical plans, most notably round-headed arches, but also barrel vaults, apses, and acanthus-leaf decoration, but had also developed many very different characteristics. Romanesque compositions
