Editing Romanesque architecture (section)

===Arcades===
An arcade is a row of arches, supported on piers or columns. They occur in the interior of large churches, separating the nave from the aisles, and in large secular interiors spaces, such as the great hall of a castle, supporting the timbers of a roof or upper floor. Arcades also occur in cloisters and atriums, enclosing an open space.

Arcades can occur in storeys or stages. While the arcade of a cloister is typically of a single stage, the arcade that divides the nave and aisles in a church is typically of two stages, with a third stage of window openings known as the [[clerestory]] rising above them. Arcading on a large scale generally fulfils a structural purpose, but it is also used, generally on a smaller scale, as a decorative feature, both internally and externally where it is frequently "[[Blind arcade|blind arcading]]" with only a wall or a narrow passage behind it.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="240" caption="Openings and arcades">
File:Sant'Ambrogio (Milan) - Atrium.jpg|alt=The façade and forecourt of a redbrick church are composed of simple arcades. A brick tower rises up to one side.|The atrium and arcaded narthex of [[Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio|Sant'Ambrogio]], Milan, Italy, is a harmonious composition of similar arches.
File:Le Puy en Velay 03.jpg|alt=A highly ornamental church façade built in alternating courses of red and white stone.|The façade of [[Le Puy Cathedral|Notre Dame du Puy]], le Puy en Velay, France, has a more complex arrangement of diversified arches: Doors of varying widths, blind arcading, windows and open arcades.
File:Nivelles JPG00 (5) lighter sky.JPG|alt=A tall rectangular structure of grey stone and stern appearance with a jutting apse and a small octagonal belfry.|[[Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude, Nivelles]], Belgium, uses fine shafts of Belgian marble to define alternating blind openings and windows. Upper windows are similarly separated into two openings by colonettes.
File:Detall de la Catedral de Worms sky adj.JPG|alt=The apsidal end of a tall red stone church framed by circular towers.|[[Worms Cathedral]], Germany, displays a great variety of openings and arcades including wheel and rose windows, many small simple windows, galleries and Lombard courses.
File:Abadia de Saint-Pierre de Moissac - Portalada sud.JPG|alt=A very large porch of yellowish stone, with a single enormous, slightly pointed archway, juts from the side of a building.|The south portal of the [[Abbey of Saint-Pierre, Moissac]], France, has a square door divided by an ornate doorpost, surmounted by a carved tympanum and set within a vast arched porch.
</gallery>