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The Gernrode Stiftskirche (p.8–9) in modern-day Saxony-Anhalt built from 959 A.D. is one of the many structures pre-formed by the Carolingian monastic churches, which were built with two choirs and two transepts. It also retained its overall original character in all other parts, so that it can be gauged from this structure the extent to which Romanesque architecture had already blossomed in Germany in the tenth century, in both the spatial effects of the interior and the monumentality of the exterior appearance.

The church owes its name to St Cyriacus. Margrave Gero, founder of this church, had brought back a relic of the saint from his pilgrimage to Rome in 963 A.D., during which he also obtained a papal blessing for this building. One feature of the Stiftskirche is the reconstruction of the Holy Sepulchre dating from the eleventh century.

The addition of a second choir at the west end, which generally corresponded exactly to the eastern one, occured wherever two patron saints were honoured. The western choir is not always paired with a transept. In this Stiftskirche, it is demonstrated that the western basilica form is also the foundation of the new system, but in many ways expanded and enriched by new forms. The main old elements – choir, nave and transept – were retained. The choir, however, was gradually enlarged by the insertion of a rectangular space between it and the transept, whose size corresponds to that of the square resulting from the intersection of the centre nave and transept; the crossing.

View of the chevet, Church of St Maria in the Capitol, Cologne (Germany), 1049–1065.

North-east exterior view, St Clemens Church, Büsum (Germany), 1434–1442.

Thus, the floor plan shape of the Latin cross was created already in the monastic plan of St Gall, which replaced the T-shaped floor plan and remained dominant throughout the Middle Ages. But after this type of twin-choir church had reached its climax in the twelfth, or possibly even the eleventh century, the two evenly developed cross-sections had a characteristic exterior appearance. In the most perfectly formed structure of this kind, the Michaeliskirche (St Michael’s Church) in Hildesheim, it was even further accentuated by four towers attached to the gables of the transepts.

Bamberg Cathedral, Bamberg (Germany), 1004–1012 (burned down in 1087), rebuilt from 1111 to the 13^th century.

The central nave of the Stiftskirche rises to quite considerable height above the aisles, above which a triforium is installed, which was originally connected by a gallery on the west side. They were probably used by nuns, who, separate from the lay world, were able to participate in the service in those rooms. The arcades of the central nave were alternately supported by pillars and columns, a form of construction that was presumably first implemented in the Wipertikirche’s crypt.