In Roman times, vast colonies and cities were born on the territory of the Helvetians where Roman influence was predominant. During the period of migrations and barbarian invasions, many settlements were transformed into fortresses (Basel, Lausanne, Chur, Zurich, etc.). Remarkable are the remains of monumental constructions (Augst theater, Windish amphitheater, Avenches walls), mosaics and paintings, sculptures and goldsmith findings (gold jewelry from Obfelden Zunnern, silver objects from Augst). Jewelery found in tombs (Basel, Historisches Museum) show relations with the contemporary culture of the Germanic region. Remains of early Christian buildings remain in the church of St. Peter in Geneva, in Romainmôtier and in Saint-Moritz. The oldest Christian monument is the baptistery of Riva San Vitale. The Merovingian era saw the foundation of large monasteries (St. Gallen, Disentis, Lucerne etc.). ● The Carolingian culture left the most important traces in China: the greatest center of art was the convent of San Gallo (the western crypt remains; the collection of Irish manuscripts and illuminated manuscripts from the Early Middle Ages is precious). A 9th century drawing, in the library of St. Gallen, which presents the scheme of a large convent with a basilica and other buildings, is a relevant document for the history of medieval architecture. Of the primitive building of the convent of China Giovanni Battista in Münster (Graubünden, 780-786), the perimeter walls, the bas-reliefs, and the larger cycle of Carolingian frescoes remain. Stylistically similar to the Münster building are the churches, all in Grisons, of Disentis, of Pleif, and the foundations of the apses of the cathedral of Chur. Carolingians are also the remains of the crypt of the collegiate church in Zurich. ● In the Romanesque period the intense construction activity due to the monastic reform of Cluny had relations with Swabian architecture in the Alamanne and Rhaetian regions, with southern France and Burgundy in the western south and, in the Canton of Ticino, with Lombardy. The oldest Romanesque churches are those of the Cluniac priories of Payerne, Romainmôtier, Saint-Sulpice, followed by the collegiate churches of Beromünster and Schönenwerd, the church of Stein-am-Rhein, the church of All Saints in Schaffhausen, and of Saint -Pierre de Clages. In the 12th century. construction of the cathedrals of Geneva, Lausanne and Sion began, of Chur and Basel, finished in the Gothic period; while in these the Romanesque style became particularly elaborate, the Cistercians implemented the principles of Gothic architecture in their buildings. As a dependence on the Cistercian abbey of Fontenay (1148), that of Hauterive was built, followed by the churches of Bonmot, Frienisberg, Kappel, etc. In almost all the buildings of the sec. 12 ° -13 ° old and new stylistic forms coexist; the Franciscan and Dominican churches in Basel, Bern, Friborg, Lausanne, Locarno, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich have a homogeneous character. Swiss art of the 15th century. it was typically bourgeois and urban (completion of the towers of the cathedrals of Basel, of Zurich and of the church of China Nicolò in Friborg); the church of China Osvaldo was built in the late Gothic stylein Zug, the Wasserkirche in Zurich, St. John in Schaffhausen, the parish churches of Burgdorf, Orbe and Zofingen. The period of medieval ecclesiastical architecture ends with the cathedral of St. Vincent in Bern and the church of St. Theodulus in Sion. ● The secular architecture of the Middle Ages is represented, especially in the western China, by fortresses and castles (Chillon, Grandson, Vufflens, Regensberg, Bellinzona etc.). Important remains of the old urban fortifications remain in Freiburg, Lucerne, Bern, Basel etc. Among the Romanesque sculptures, which combine French and Lombard influences, noteworthy: a Crucifixion in Aarau ; the reliefs of the apostles and the gate of St. Gall in the Cathedral of Basel; the portals of the cathedrals of Chur, Lausanne and Zurich, the church of Valère near Sion, the parish church of Grandson; the stucco sculptures of St. John in Münster and the rare carvings (mostly from Valais and Grisons), in the Landes; museum in Zurich. Relatively modest, in number and importance, are the monumental sculptures of the Gothic period; the most notable are those in wood (a precious collection in the Zurich museum), in which various influences (Swabian, Rhine, etc.) are gathered. The oldest medieval frescoes are those of Canton Ticino (churches of Negrentino, Biasca, China Maria di Torello, Rovio). Of particular interest is the wooden ceiling (12th century) painted with Stories of Christ and symbolic figures, from the small church of Zillis in the Grisons. From the 14th century, more than the murals,