Romanesque sculpture had an educational purpose, teaching biblical stories to illiterate people through simple, clear images rather than naturalism. Standard locations included portals, capitals, and cloisters. Portal tympanums typically depicted the Last Judgement with Christ at center, surrounded by the Evangelists. Jambs contained elongated saint sculptures while lintels and trumeaus held less important figures. Capitals told biblical tales. Sculptures adapted to frames through hierarchy and symmetry. Exempt wooden sculptures like the Virgin and Child or Christ on the Cross derived from Byzantine styles and were polychrome.

1. Romanesque Sculpture Revision

5. Parts of a portal

13. Other decorations Images that appear below the roof: they represent monsters and vices

16. Cloisters Biblical Animals Vegetables Satirical

23. Exempt Sculpture Deposition Piety