Medieval Celtic art is more accurately referred to as medieval Irish or Pictish art. This type of art was characterized by a disregard for empty space and by patterns abstractly depicting animals and, more rarely, plants. Another popular variant of medieval Celtic art consisted of interwoven ribbons that resembled modern art and depicted various Celtic knots. Medieval Celtic art can also be seen in mausoleums and on gravestones. Often these graves feature tall headstones in the shape of a Celtic cross made of stone.
The Early Christian period covers the first five centuries A.D. During part of this time, before the Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Byzantine Empire, Christians worshipped and practiced in secret. Some Early Christian medieval art was displayed in catacombs, depicting images from the New Testament and the gospels on walls and ceilings. Religious imagery in churches depicted mostly Old Testament scenes until around the second century A.D., when the New Testament was canonized into four gospels.
Gothic and Romanesque art consists in large part of sculpture and architecture. The concept behind this architecture is to make things appear larger and taller. The vaults of these buildings are made either of stone or of barrel vaults built at right angles. The earliest example of this kind of architecture is in a church in Paris called Saint-Denis, built from 1140 to 1144. The point of Gothic art is to enable the viewer to seemingly look up to the skies and experience the Christian desire to rise to heaven. Gothic architecture made use of trefoils and arches on metalwork.
Romanesque art flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries and was primarily fueled by expanding interest in monasticism; at the time, new monastic orders such as Cistercian, Cluniac and Carthusian were springing up across Europe. New churches were built of stone to accommodate this growing interest; these churches sported a Roman basilica, a nave with a transept crossing it, long aisles, and an apse at one end. Churches that were built on pilgrimage routes also included an ambulatory, an area that allowed pilgrims to wander around the sanctuary as well as through it.
During the Byzantine period, after Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the empire, the eastern Byzantine church clashed with the western Roman Catholic church over the use of images in Christianity. Byzantine art often consisted of icons of Jesus, Mary and saints in rich colors.