Editing Middle Ages (section)

=== Art and architecture ===
{{Main|Medieval art|Medieval architecture}}
{{See also|Migration Period art|Pre-Romanesque art and architecture|Carolingian art}}

[[File:KellsFol032vChristEnthroned.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A page from the [[Book of Kells]], an [[illuminated manuscript]] created in the British Isles in the late 8th or early 9th century<ref name=Nees145>Nees ''Early Medieval Art'' p. 145</ref>]]

Few large stone buildings were constructed between the Constantinian [[basilica]]s of the 4th and 8th centuries, although many smaller ones were built during the 6th and 7th centuries. By the beginning of the 8th century, the Carolingian Empire revived the basilica form of architecture.<ref name=Stalley29>Stalley ''Early Medieval Architecture'' pp. 29–35</ref> One feature of the basilica is the use of a [[transept]],<ref name=Stalley43>Stalley ''Early Medieval Architecture'' pp. 43–44</ref> or the "arms" of a cross-shaped building that are perpendicular to the long [[nave]].<ref name=Cosman247>Cosman ''Medieval Wordbook'' p. 247</ref> Other new features of religious architecture include the [[crossing tower]] and a monumental [[Architecture of cathedrals and great churches#Façade|entrance to the church]], usually at the west end of the building.<ref name=Stalley49>Stalley ''Early Medieval Architecture'' pp. 45, 49</ref>

[[Carolingian art]] was produced for a small group of figures around the court and the monasteries and churches they supported. It was dominated by efforts to regain the dignity and classicism of imperial Roman and [[Byzantine art]] but was also influenced by the [[Insular art]] of the British Isles. Insular art integrated the energy of [[Celtic art|Irish Celtic]] and [[Anglo-Saxon art|Anglo-Saxon Germanic]] styles of ornament with Mediterranean forms such as the book, and established many characteristics of art for the rest of the medieval period. Surviving religious works from the Early Middle Ages are mostly [[illuminated manuscript]]s and carved [[Ivory carving#Antiquity and the Early Medieval period|ivories]], originally made for metalwork that has since been melted down.<ref name=Kitzinger36>Kitzinger ''Early Medieval Art'' pp. 36–53, 61–64</ref><ref name=Henderson18>Henderson ''Early Medieval'' pp. 18–21, 63–71</ref> Objects in precious metals were the most prestigious form of art, but almost all are lost except for a few crosses such as the [[Cross of Lothair]], several [[reliquaries]], and finds such as the Anglo-Saxon burial at [[Sutton Hoo]] and the [[hoard]]s of [[Treasure of Gourdon|Gourdon]] from Merovingian France, [[Guarrazar]] from Visigothic Spain and [[Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós|Nagyszentmiklós]] near Byzantine territory. There are survivals from the large [[brooch]]es in [[Fibula (brooch)|fibula]] or [[Celtic brooch|penannular]] form that were key pieces of personal adornment for elites, including the Irish [[Tara Brooch]].<ref name=Henderson36>Henderson ''Early Medieval'' pp. 36–42, 49–55, 103, 143, 204–208</ref> Highly decorated books were mostly [[Gospel Book]]s and these have survived in [[List of illuminated manuscripts|larger numbers]], including the Insular [[Book of Kells]], the [[Book of Lindisfarne]], and the imperial [[Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram]], which is one of the few to retain its "[[treasure binding]]" of gold encrusted with jewels.<ref name=Benton41>Benton ''Art of the Middle Ages'' pp. 41–49</ref> Charlemagne's court seems to have been responsible for the acceptance of figurative [[monumental sculpture]] in [[Christian art]],<ref name=Lasko16>Lasko ''Ars Sacra'' pp. 16–18</ref> and by the end of the period near life-sized figures such as the [[Gero Cross]] were common in important churches.<ref name=Henderson233>Henderson ''Early Medieval'' pp. 233–238</ref>