Architecture: religious buildings Books

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Book Synopsis''Compelling... fascinating'' Spectator''Abounding with excellent little stories'' Financial TimesThis is the story of one of the most magnificent achievements of the Italian Renaissance, and the architect behind it.Even in an age of soaring skyscrapers and cavernous sports stadiums, the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence still retains a rare power to astonish. Yet the elegance of the building belies the tremendous labour, technical ingenuity and bitter personal strife involved in its creation. For over a century after work on the cathedral began, the proposed dome was regarded as all but impossible to build. The greatest architectural puzzle of its age, when finally completed it was hailed as one of the great wonders of the world.This book tells the extraordinary story of how the cupola was raised and of the dome''s architect, the brilliant and volatile Filippo Brunelleschi. Denounced as a madman at the Trade ReviewCompelling... professional jealousy, committee intrigue, feats of bluff and fascinating scraps of obsolete lore... Where Longitude had ocean wastes, Brunelleschi's Dome has vertigo * Spectator *As each novel feat of genius engineering flowers high above the ground, details of scandals and pranks blow up from the city streets to create an altogether enchanting tale -- Dava Sobel, author of LongitudeAn adventure yarn set on the wild frontiers of human knowledge... abounding with excellent stories * Financial Times *A wonderfully vivid little book * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisMont Saint Michel and Chartres is a record not of a literal jouney but of a meditative journey across time and space into the medieval imagination. Using the architecture, sculpture, and stained glass of the two locales as a starting point, Adams breathes life into what others might see merely as monuments of a past civilization. With daring and inventive conceits, Adams looks at the ordinary people, places, and events in the context of the social conventions and systems of thought and belief of the thirteenth century turning the study of history into a kind of theater.As Raymond Carney discusses in his introduction, Adams' freeedom from the European traditions of study lends an exuberance—and puckish wit—to his writings.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout histTable of ContentsMont Saint Michel and ChartresAcknowledgments Introduction by Raymond Carney A Brief Chronology of Adams' Life A Note on the Text Mont Saint Michel and Chartres Notes Glossary of Architectural Terms Suggestions for Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisFor nearly eighteen centuries, two fundamental spatial plans dominated Christian architecture: the basilica and the central plan. In the 1880s, however, profound socio-economic and technological changes in the United States contributed to the rejection of these traditions and the development of a radically new worship building, the auditorium church. When Church Became Theatre focuses on this radical shift in evangelical Protestant architecture and links it to changes in worship style and religious mission. The auditorium style, featuring a prominent stage from which rows of pews radiated up a sloping floor, was derived directly from the theatre, an unusual source for religious architecture but one with a similar goal-to gather large groups within range of a speaker''s voice. Theatrical elements were prominent; many featured proscenium arches, marquee lighting, theatre seats, and even opera boxes. Examining these churches and the discussions surrounding their development, Jeanne HalgrTrade Review"Kilde's careful and thorough research in published and unpublished congregational denomnational , and architectural records successfully engages architectural history, religious studies, and social and cultural history, and this book will be beneficial to scholars in many disciplines."-- The Journal of Religion"Jeanne Halgren Kilde's impressive new book is a Rosetta stone for an udervalued genre of American ecclesiastical architecture. Kilde's work adds complexity to our understanding of both American religious architecture and American religious history."-- Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians"When Church Became Theatre expands, synthesizes, and enriches the narrative of both American religious history and American architectural history, which will enlighten professional and amateur scholars alike."-- Religious Studies Review"Reading architectural space is a highly rewarding enterprise, and one stands in awe of the author's ability to explore nonwritten texts so creatively. By skillfully chronicling the movement from one church type to another and linking this transformation to the social and cultural concerns of American evangelism, this book not only enriches our understanding of American religious history but also brings what was peripheral to center stage, illuminating old questions and opening up new ones."--Worship"Wonderfully insightful By the book's end, Kilde has enlightened us not only about architecture and interior design, but also about liturgical practice, music, theology, class, gender, power, technology, and the rise of consumer culture. It is hard to convey, in a short review, just how rich this book is." -- Journal of Presbyterian History"Jeanne Kilde's study of auditorium churches is a major contribution to the growing literature on 'reading' religious architecture as an important tool for discerning the significance of the material culture of religion in understanding broader themes in the religious, social, and cultural history of the United States."--Peter W. Williams, Miami University"This original and impressive book demonstrates how relevant the history of religious architecture can be for the study of American history. Jeanne Kilde's careful attention to the lived religion of worship spaces as well as to the cultural politics of space greatly advances the understanding of church architecture in the nineteenth century."--David Morgan, Valparaiso University"This is a very significant book for at least three disciplines: architectural history, church history, and liturgical studies....Kilde shows how changing concepts about the function of worship produced major changes in the design of church buildings, a process which has continued to the present. In so doing, she explains much of the ecclesiastical landscape of America."--James F. White, Drew University

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Book SynopsisJeanne Halgren Kildes survey of church architecture is unlike any other. Her main concern is not the buildings themselves, but rather the dynamic character of Christianity and how church buildings shape and influence the religion. Kilde argues that a primary function of church buildings is to represent and reify three different types of power: divine power, or ideas about God; personal empowerment as manifested in the individuals perceived relationship to the divine; and social power, meaning the relationships between groups such as clergy and laity. Each type intersects with notions of Christian creed, cult, and code, and is represented spatially and materially in church buildings. Kilde explores these categories chronologically, from the early church to the twentieth century. She considers the form, organization, and use of worship rooms; the location of churches; and the interaction between churches and the wider culture. Church buildings have been integral to Christianity, and KildTrade ReviewJeanne Halgren Kilde's Sacred Power, Sacred Space not only illuminates the intersection of power and space in Christianity, but it also reveals how historical movements and worship practices are revealed in a sacred space. * Julie Durbin, Geneva College, Global Forum on Arts and Christian Faith *...raising the question of power and ideology in relation to church architecture is worthwhile and provides plenty of ground for discussion. * Tim Gorringe, International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church *Table of Contents1. A Method for Thinking About Power Dynamics in Christian Space ; 2. Early Christian Meeting Space in the Roman Empire ; 3. Imperial Power in Constantinian and Byzantine Churches ; 4. From Abbey to Great Church, Fortress to Heavenly City ; 5. Transformations of the Renaissance and Reformation ; 6. Formalism and Non- or Anti-Formalism in Worship and Architecture ; 7. Historicism, Modernism, and Space ; 8. Concluding Observations

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Book SynopsisJeanne Halgren Kildes survey of church architecture is unlike any other. Her main concern is not the buildings themselves, but rather the dynamic character of Christianity and how church buildings shape and influence the religion. Kilde argues that a primary function of church buildings is to represent and reify three different types of power: divine power, or ideas about God; personal empowerment as manifested in the individuals perceived relationship to the divine; and social power, meaning the relationships between groups such as clergy and laity. Each type intersects with notions of Christian creed, cult, and code, and is represented spatially and materially in church buildings. Kilde explores these categories chronologically, from the early church to the twentieth century. She considers the form, organization, and use of worship rooms; the location of churches; and the interaction between churches and the wider culture. Church buildings have been integral to Christianity, and KildTrade ReviewJeanne Halgren Kilde's Sacred Power, Sacred Space not only illuminates the intersection of power and space in Christianity, but it also reveals how historical movements and worship practices are revealed in a sacred space. * Julie Durbin, Geneva College, Global Forum on Arts and Christian Faith *...raising the question of power and ideology in relation to church architecture is worthwhile and provides plenty of ground for discussion. * Tim Gorringe, International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church *Table of Contents1. A Method for Thinking About Power Dynamics in Christian Space ; 2. Early Christian Meeting Space in the Roman Empire ; 3. Imperial Power in Constantinian and Byzantine Churches ; 4. From Abbey to Great Church, Fortress to Heavenly City ; 5. Transformations of the Renaissance and Reformation ; 6. Formalism and Non- or Anti-Formalism in Worship and Architecture ; 7. Historicism, Modernism, and Space ; 8. Concluding Observations

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Book SynopsisThinking about church architecture has come to an impasse. Reformers and traditionalists are talking past each other. In Theology in Stone, Richard Kieckhefer seeks to help both sides move beyond the standoff toward a fruitful conversation about houses of worship. Drawing on a wide range of historical examples with an eye to their contemporary relevance, he offers refreshing new ideas about the meanings and uses of church architecture.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: The First Factor: Spatial Dynamics 2: The Second Factor: Centering Focus 3: The Third Factor: Aesthetic Impact 4: The Fourth Factor: Symbolic Resonance 5: Late Medieval Beverley: Traditional Churches in a Traditional Culture 6: Chicago: Traditional Churches in a Modern Culture 7: Rudolph Schwartz: Modern Churches in a Modern Culture 8: Issues in Church Architecture Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThis remarkable book is the crowning achievement of the great scholar of Hinduism, D. Dennis Hudson. Although Hudson died without completing it, the work has been edited and brought to fruition by editor Margaret Case. The book is a finely detailed study of a renowned Tamil Hindu temple, the Vaikuntha Perumal (ca. 770 C.E.). Hudson uses this temple as an illustration of one major current and historical stage in South Indian Vaisnava religion. He offers a sustained reading of the temple as a coherent, organized, minutely conceptualized mandala, whose code can be cracked by close analysis of the temple iconography and structure, in the light of major literary and religious texts. Hudson takes the reader step by step on a tour of the temple, moving from the bottom level up, from one sculpted panel to the next. His primary thesis is that the temple itself constitutes a summa theologica for the Bhagavata tradition centered on Krishna as it had developed through the eighth century-by which time this tradition was already at least a thousand years old and had spread widely across South Asia and into Southeast Asia. He argues that, through its full expression of the theology and religious practices of this tradition, the temple offers a crucial hermeneutical key for understanding other temples and texts of the Bhagavata religion.Trade ReviewDennis Hudson's multidimensional 'decoding' of the 'Emperor's Palace' temple of Lord Vishnu in Kanchipuram is remarkable. He enables us to visualize a three-dimensional vision of God and God's cosmic body in which the central square of the temple symbolizes horizontally a cosmic day and night, and the four levels represent vertically God's transformations in creation and redemption... Dennis Hudson's crowning achievement, almost completed before his death, has been skillfully edited by Margaret Case. It is a gift to his many friends and to all readers who seek a deeper level of understanding of a central Hindu tradition of theology and worship. * John B. Carman, author of The Theology of Ramanuja: An Essay in Interreligious Understanding and Majesty and Meekness: A Comparative Study of Contrast and Harmony in the Concept of God *Table of ContentsEditor's Note: Margaret H. Case ; List of Illustrations ; Abbreviations ; Introduction: The Discovery ; Part I: The Approach to the Vishnu-house ; 1. The Significance of the Temple ; 2. Six Concepts ; 3. The Poem ; 4. The Emperor's Career Portrayed on the Prakara Wall ; Part II The Secret Dimension of the Vishnu-house ; 5. The Temple Mandala and the Bottom-Floor Sanctum ; 6. The Middle-Floor Sanctum: The Sculpted Program of the Northern Path ; 7. Northern Panels of the Northern Path: Transforming Power ; 8. Northern Panels of the Northern Path: Fortifying Omniscience ; 9. The Middle-Floor Sanctum: The Sculpted Program of the Southern Path ; 10. The Southern Panels of the Southern Path: "The Path of the Southern Doctrine" ; Part III The Public Dimension of the Vishnu-house ; 11. The Vimana Panels on the Western Side ; 12. The Panels on the Ardhamandapa or Porch ; 13. The Vimana Panels on the Northern Side ; 14. The Vimana Panels on the Eastern Side ; Appendix 1. Who Are the Bhagavatas? ; Appendix 2. Vasudeva's Path in the Satvata-samhita ; Appendix 3. Prithu, the People's Indra ; Appendix 4. Mantras in the Jayakhya-samhita ; Appendix 5. Periya Tirumoli 2.9 ; Notes ; Glossary ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisIn A Tale of Two Stupas, Albert Welter tells the story of Hangzhou Buddhism through the conceptions, erections, and resurrections of Yongming Stupa, dedicated to the memory of one of Hangzhou's leading Buddhist figures, and Leifeng Pagoda, built to house stupa relics of the historical Buddha.Trade ReviewAn eye-opening investigation of the multiple layers embedded in the construction and reconstruction of two of the most renowned pieces of religious architecture in East Asia. The narrative is engaging and revealing, bringing to light and relief a plethora of long-obscured elements of critical significance to medieval Chinese sociopolitical and religious history. Yet another tour de force by a dynamic historian of East Asian Buddhism and a must-read for all scholars from different fields of Asian History. * Jinhua Chen, Professor of East Asian History, University of British Columbia *A Tale of Two Stūpas highlights the politics of suppression and revival of Buddhism in the Hangzhou region in which secular power mingles with sacred space. The author's admirable research guides the reader through the fascinating interactions of religion, national identity, modernity, and economic intervention as well as the rich history of two stupas in Hangzhou, opening up a new horizon in understanding Chinese Buddhism through regional identity. * Jin Y. Park, Professor and Department Chair of Philosophy and Religion, American University *Table of ContentsForeword Preface Chapter One: Introduction: Buddhist Relic Veneration, Buddhist Sites and Translocations, and the Transformation of the Hangzhou/Jiangnan region into an Indian Buddhist Homeland Chapter Two: Hangzhou Buddhism in Historical Perspective Chapter Three: The Origins and Development of the Yongming Stupa Chapter Four: The Origins and Development of Leifeng Pagoda Chapter Five: A Tale of Two St=upas: The Parameters of Buddhist Revival in China Appendix 1: Translations Associated with the "resurrection" of Yanshou and establishment of the Yongming Stupa Appendix 2: Translations of The Precious Chest Seal Dharani Satra and selections from Jingci Monastery Gazetteer relating to Leifeng Pagoda Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisReligious Architecture in Latium and Etruria, c. 900-500 BC presents the first comprehensive treatment of cult buildings in western central Italy from the Iron Age to the Archaic Period. By analysing the archaeological evidence for the form of early religious buildings and their role in ancient communities, it reconstructs a detailed history of early Latial and Etruscan religious architecture that brings together the buildings and the people who used them.The first part of the study examines the processes by which religious buildings changed from huts and shrines to monumental temples, and explores apparent differences between these processes in Latium and Etruria. The second part analyses the broader architectural, religious, and topographical contexts of the first Etrusco-Italic temples alongside possible rationales for their introduction. The result is a new and extensive account of when, where, and why monumental cult buildings became features of early central Italic society.Trade ReviewWell prepared (including a chronology), well written (explanatory, clear and jargon-light), an incisive re-examination of the hefty secondary literature, an engagement with theory and debates on urbanisation cultural contact/exchange, but always focused on the evidence (and on the people who used them as well as the buildings themselves), and well presented: two maps, 42 figures and 95 illustrations as plates, all clear. * Gocha R. Tsetskhladze, Ancient West and East (AWE) *A highly valuable reassessment and interpretation of the archaeological corpus which has wide-ranging implications for our understanding of early Italic history. * Sinclair Bell (Northern Illinois University), The Journal of Roman Studies Vol.107 *a welcome and important work in the field of pre-Roman archaeology ... It is an internationally important achievement with a huge impact on the study of ancient architecture. Her book offers many new insights and urges the reader to reconsider established views. It is a rich, well-argued, and impeccably researched study, which will surely have a major impact on its field. * Patricia S. Lulof, University of Amsterdam *The special emphasis placed on the development of monumental religious architecture as a means of encouraging cross-cultural contact will also appeal to specialists interested in Mediterranean connectivity and urbanization. The value of the book lies primarily in the synthesis of an impressive amount of archaeological material in English, with an emphasis on the data recovered from the past fifty years or so of systematic excavation and study. The book's secondary value lies in the author's use of the archaeological evidence to challenge existing hypotheses concerning the identification of religious buildings and to propose new ways of understanding the role of monumentalization in the reconstruction of ancient societies. * J. Marilyn Evans, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Illustrations Abbreviations Chronology 1: Constructing Histories Part 1: From Huts to Temples 2: The First Religious Buildings: 'Sacred Huts' 3: The Architecture of Early Shrines and Temples 4: The Decoration of Early Shrines and Temples Part 2: Religious Monumentality in Context 5: Ritual Activation: Altars, Cult Statues, and Temples 6: Ritual Topographies: Landscapes, Cityscapes, and Temples 7: Accounting for Religious Monumentality 8: Conclusions Appendix: The Archaic Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in Rome Catalogue Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe History of the Church through its Buildings takes the reader to meet people who lived through momentous religious changes in the very spaces where the story of the Church took shape. Buildings are about people, the people who conceived, designed, financed, and used them. Their stories become embedded in the very fabric itself, and as the fabric is changed through time in response to changing use, relationships, and beliefs, the architecture becomes the standing history of passing waves of humanity. This process takes on special significance in churches, where the arrangement of the space places members of the community in relationship with one another for the performance of the church''s rites and ceremonies. Moreover, architectural forms and building materials can be used to establish relationships with other buildings in other places and other times. Coordinated systems of signs, symbols, and images proclaim beliefs and doctrine, and in a wider sense carry extended narratives of Trade ReviewAllen Doig has written an important and informative book; read it. * Brett Donham, Anglican and Episcopal History *This book is a well-illustrated pleasure to read, as the reader tours diverse sites from the essential epicentres of Hagia Sophia, the Cathedral of the Dormition in Moscow and St Peter's in Rome, to God's House at Ewelme in Oxfordshire and the Crimean Memorial Church in Istanbul via Cordoba and Aachen, finally concluding in Coventry. * Ayla Lepine, Modern Believing *Doig's architectural perspective offers fresh insights into centuries of Christian history. * W.L.Pitts, CHOICE Connect, Vol. 59 No. 8 *This is an extraordinarily learned book, both architecturally and theologically. It is worth living with the eccentricities for the riches embedded in such an attractive, readable and scholarly text. * Stephen Platten, The Living Church *It is a well-written work, replete with insightful information, and should be required reading in a course on ecclesiology. * Peter C. Phan, Catholic Books Review *Doig's book underscores the patently important role that church buildings played and continue to play in Christian, non-Christian, and post-Christian societies. Readers will appreciate the accessible treatment of the monuments; their contextualization through the use of primary sources; and the author's apt and intelligent commentary. In the middle of a pandemic, with severe travel restrictions still in place, Doig's lively descriptions and unbridled enthusiasm for these buildings allowed us to travel, and he reminds us that what is built for worship and wonder is worth its own story. * Vasileios Mari, Marginalia Review of Books *The book serves as an excellent introduction to particular buildings, especially those that are not normally taught in the context of a university in the United States.... it is an episodic account of the wonderful, weird, and glorious aspects of ecclesiastical architecture and its patrons. * Vasileios Marinis, The Marginalia Review of Books *[An] ambitious study... [a] well-illustrated tour of the Christian world's greatest landmarks of the base, earthly instincts that are intertwined in such heavenly buildings. * Peter Stanford, The Sunday Telegraph *The buildings in this book have epic stories to tell, and Doig has a tremendous knack for telling them. * Alison Shell, Times Literary Supplement *Doig's volume engages with a broad geographic range of key buildings and provides an accessible history of Christianity, engagingly told through its monuments and architecture. * Claire Nesbitt, Journal of Antiquity *This is a fascinating approach linking history with architecture and therefore the spaces of ritual and ceremony implying certain types of relationship. * David Lorimer, Paradigim Explorer *Each chapter examines a church in an original way, a thousand miles from usual guidebook historical rat-runs. * Christopher Howse, Spectator *What a treat to be taken on a tour of sacred sites in Rome and Istanbul, Moscow and Jerusalem, Aachen, Paris, Córdoba - and Ewelme and Coventry - by the Revd Dr Allan Doig! An architect, priest, and scholar, he is an expert guide: one who has walked these streets many times before; one who has read widely and long reflected on how faith and architecture intersect... no reader could resist the combination of scholarship and enthusiasm which runs throughout the volume, and it provokes the hope that others might follow its lead. * William Whyte, Church Times *This is a fascinating approach linking history with architecture and therefore the spaces of ritual and ceremony implying certain types of relationship... 12 buildings are chosen and illustrated... all of which provide a multifaceted and a vivid picture - 'a standing history of passing waves of humanity.' * Paradigm Explorer *an excellent introduction to particular buildings it is an episodic account of the wonderful, weird, and glorious aspects of ecclesiastical architecture and its patrons In Doigs experienced hands, the chosen sites make for scintillating and colorful stories the greatest strength of the book is that the general public will find it a rewarding readingdare I say a page-turner? In this one book, any interested reader can learn about Constantine and Putin, about Aachen and Istanbul, about medieval English chantries and mosques turned to cathedrals in Spain. * Vasileios Marinis, Marginalia *The most distinctive feature of this book is that it focuses not only on the church buildings themselves but also on the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of the people behind the buildings, paying attention to the historical process of the interaction between people and the building, as well as the history shaped by it. This book is suitable for scholars and a general readership interested in church history and the history of religious art. * Wei Xiong, Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1: 'The World's Most Miraculous Place': the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 2: Christianity at the Heart of the Roman Empire: Old St Peter's Basilica on the Vatican Hill 3: New Rome and the Horizons of Empire: Hagia Sophia in Istanbul 4: 'The Third Rome': the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin 5: Renovatio Romani Imperii: Charlemagne's Church of the Holy Mother of God at Aachen 6: 'Transported from this inferior to that higher world': The Abbey of St-Denis 7: 'To the increce of oure merites': God's House at Ewelme, Oxfordshire 8: The Western Caliphate and the Christian Monarchs: the Cathedral, Cordoba 9: Ultimate Authority Under Attack: the Building of Renaissance St Peter's 10: The Iberian Empires and the Evangelisation of the World: the Church of Sant'Ignazio, Rome 11: English Parish Churches Exported: the Crimean Memorial Church, Istanbul 12: 'A Phoenix too Soon': Coventry Cathedral Index

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Book SynopsisHow to reconcile our idea of the traditional conservatism of Catholicism with the many modernist churches built in the middle of the twentieth century? Osborne shows how, finding links between postwar theology and architectural ambition.

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Book SynopsisWhereas 12th-century pilgrims flocked to the church of St-Lazare in Autun to visit the relics of its patron saint, present-day pilgrims journey there to admire its superb sculpture, said to have been created by Gislebertus. These two cults, of sculptor and of saint, form the basis for this study.

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Book SynopsisBeyond the Divide explores the mosques of Canada in their diversity, beauty, practicality, and versatility. Visiting ninety mosques across Canada to document the external and internal characteristics of each one, Gaber provides the first study to analyze these gendered spaces with architectural drawings, anecdotal experiences, and interviews.Trade Review“As the first comprehensive book on the mosque in Canada, Beyond the Divide is a timely entry into the field of social architecture and gender studies, covering an important contemporary issue for Muslims and other groups.” Hasan-Uddin Khan, School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation, Roger Williams University“Beyond the Divide is thoughtfully and necessarily constrained as a text, while addressing an important lacuna in Canadian architectural history and in Canada’s built environment. The surveyed buildings and their parallel social contexts of local and immigrant histories, peoples, ideas and efforts are given centre focus, and deservedly so. We have here, at last, a collected and more complete image of the history of Canada’s diverse Muslim communities, and of their attempts to build home, hub and community, in new geographical, climatic and social geographies.” RACAR“Beyond the Divide: A Century of Canadian Mosque Design provides a critical contribution to the international scholarship on the architecture of mosques and the social roles they play in diaspora Muslim communities throughout the world. Tammy Gaber has gifted our profession with a timely, welcome, and first-of-its-kind comprehensive study of Muslim sacred/social architecture here in Canada.” Canadian Architect

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Book SynopsisPublished in conjunction with a New-York Historical Society exhibition, this photo-filled, pocket-size guidebook by a New York Times senior writer covers 1,079 houses of worship in New York City.Trade ReviewWith 899 photographs and 24 maps, this encyclopedia of congregations and religious buildings in Manhattan is an indispensable resource for anyone who is interested in religion and architecture in the city... [A]n outstanding handbook on religion in Manhattan. Publishers Weekly The simple, poignant images in From Abyssinian to Zion... reveal a Gotham rife with sacred tradition. Time Out New York well-researched and profusely illustrated Black and White MagazineTable of ContentsForeword, by Paul Goldberger Preface Acknowledgments Neighborhood Maps Introduction A-Z Bibliography Credits and Permissions Index

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Book SynopsisA landmark illustrated history of rural church monuments - the forgotten national treasures of England and WalesDeep in the countryside, away from metropolitan abbeys and cathedrals, thousands of funerary monuments are hidden in parish churches. These artworks - medieval brasses and elegant marble effigies, stone tomb chests and grand mausoleums - are of great historical and cultural significance, but have, due to their relative inaccessibility, faded from accounts of our art history.Over twenty-five years, C. B. Newham FSA has visited and photographed more than eight thousand rural churches, cataloguing the monumental sculptures encountered on his quest. In Country Church Monuments, he presents 365 of the very best, each accompanied by detailed photographs, biographies of both the deceased and their sculptors and a wealth of contextual material. Many of these works commemorate famous historical figures, from scheming Tudor courtier Richard Rich to VictTrade ReviewA magnificent book - a tremendous achievement, a thing of beauty and a volume that should have a place on every church lover's shelves -- Nigel Andrew * Literary Review *Astonishing and beautifully photographed... The 365 examples chosen for full-page illustration and commentary here are the clotted cream of the milk of human mortality. Newham has visited 9,000 country churches in the past few years for his stupendous project of photographing every rural church in England. His travels with a camera make Cobbett's Rural Rides seem like a bank-holiday jaunt... Newham's pictures are a revelation -- Christopher Howse * Telegraph *This is a true labour of love and one of the most wonderful books I have ever seen -- Marcus Berkmann * Daily Mail *A tour de force... Erudite... Church monuments may at first appear niche, but the subject matter deserves an audience beyond church crawlers or taphophiles. Funeral art provides a powerful insight into the culture and beliefs that they sprang from... Country Church Monuments is a treasure trove of sites just waiting to be discovered. -- Emma J Wells * The Times *Brilliant -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *A life-affirming survey -- Rose Washbourn * House and Garden *An excellent book... Its outstanding quality, however, is its photographs. Only someone who has craned theirneck in semi-darkness to discern the contours of an effigy lying at eye level can appreciate, even if they cannot explain, the expertise of Cameron Newham's technique. In many cases perfect images are provided of recumbent figures taken from directly overhead, often defying the actual space above them.... A wonderful selection, warmly recommended -- Timothy Connor * The Tablet *The wonderful result of 25 years of meticulously chronicling over 8,000 rural English and Welsh churches - and the effigies, marbles, monuments and brasses inside them. Newham has picked out 365 of the best monuments he has found - a feast of the celebrated and the obscure and an enthralling map of our aesthetic and social history -- Lucy Lethbridge * The Oldie *What fortunate isles are these, to boast thousands of local sculpture galleries scattered through towns and villages, nearly all accessible for free: churches that host funeral monuments and memorials spanning more than a millennium. Newham's book is an incomparable means of sampling the very best across England and Wales - a personalised visit for every day of the year, in superb photography and informed commentary * Diarmaid MacCulloch *This beautifully produced gazetteer invites us to look inside our extraordinary wealth of parish churches and see afresh the impressive, the touching, the beautiful and the downright sinister in their monuments, from the fourteenth-century obsession with mortality and the cadaver or the flourishes of baroque new men to the vainglorious fanfares or sentimental doggerel of the nineteenth century. Knights lying with their faithful dogs or wives, busts coolly neoclassical or lavishly periwigged are all accommodated in miniature showhouses in the architectural style of their period. A happy bedfellow for Nicholas Pevsner -- Matthew RiceAn enthralling testament to our ceaseless human striving for eternity -- Editor's Choice * Bookseller *Antiquarian CB Newham's book might seem more melancholy than merry. But it is a life-affirming survey of Britons through the ages * House and Garden *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This book, an important and much-needed contribution to the field of Islamic calligraphy, provides a nuanced and complex study of this enigmatic art form by placing it into a transcultural context and examining it from new vantage points. It is stimulating, carefully thought out, and well documented."—Maryam Ekhtiar, Curator of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art"Muthanna not only makes a welcome intervention in the larger field of the history of calligraphy, but also highlights the specific practice of mirror writing, which has hitherto received almost no attention. The book brings religion and art together in an innovative and meaningful fashion, and Akın-Kıvanç is to be commended for her courageous pioneering work."—Emine Fetvaci, Boston University"A truly groundbreaking study of a little-understood subject, muthanna (mirror writing) in Arabic script. Although all too often discussed as simple decoration, grounded at least in part by an alleged Islamic prohibition of figural imagery, the author shows that muthanna was, in fact, governed by a complex aesthetic and that its roots go back to inscriptions in Greek, Syriac, Samaritan, and Hebrew. A remarkable work of historical, cross-cultural, and aesthetic scholarship, Professor Akın-Kıvanç's book will doubtless stand as the go-to source for this distinctive, but much misunderstood, subject."—Howard Crane, The Ohio State UniversityTable of ContentsA Note on Transcription and Translation Introduction: Axes Part I: A History of Mirror Writing 1. Perspectives: Previous Scholarship on Mirror Writing 2. Foundations: The Practice of Mirror Writing 3. Orientations: Reversed and Repeated Writing in Non-Arabic and Arabic Scripts 4. Convergences: Mirror Writing in Greek and Arabic 5. Diffractions: Mirror Writing in Arabic Part II: A Theory of Mirror Writing 6. Reflections: Mirrors in Islamic Studies 7. Illuminations: A New Discourse on Mirror Writing 8. Directions: The Single-Letter Muthanna 9. Receptions: Multiletter and Multiword Muthannas 10. Projections: Calligraphic Nazires and Mobility Conclusion: Refractions Works Consulted Index

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Book SynopsisThe Chapels of Notre Dame celebrates the university's unique identity as a Catholic academic community, depicting photographs of the chapels located throughout Notre Dame's campus.Trade Review"It is striking that the idea for the publication of this book came not from the university's officers nor its media office but from a lay person who was inspired by the beauty of one of our chapels when visiting the campus. Like the ancient psalmist who cried out, 'I have loved the beauty of thy house, O Lord' (Psalm 26:8), this visitor saw that the chapels on Notre Dame's campus are an integral part of its story. She was so right that her idea was taken up immediately by the university itself. This beautiful volume is the result of that inspiration." —Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame"From its origins, the University of Notre Dame has attempted to fulfill the ancient Catholic truth that we know God through reason and faith. Faith, of course, is not merely something that is affirmed; it is also performed. This beautiful book illustrates many of those places on our campus where the faith is performed in its formal worship as well as in its informal prayers and devotions. The chapels on the campus of Notre Dame are a visible testimony to our common Catholic faith; a lasting reminder of the generosity of our many benefactors; and an iconic tribute of that beauty coming from human hands as a reflection of the source of all beauty—God." —Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President, University of Notre Dame"Here at Notre Dame, in what John Cardinal O'Hara once called the 'City of the Blessed Sacrament,' in addition to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and Sacred Heart Parish, we have a plethora of chapels which dot the campus and serve as places of worship for various components of our extended community. In this extraordinary pictorial display, we can see in sharp focus chapels in residence halls, in academic buildings, in Holy Cross community space, in the apses of the Basilica itself, and in a variety of other locations. Together, they are a powerful and recurring manifestation of the University's deep commitment to its Catholic nature and identity." —Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., President Emeritus, University of Notre Dame"From the building of the rustic Log Chapel to the most recent residence hall chapels, designated places of worship have reminded the Notre Dame family that the love of God is the first commandment. I am absolutely delighted to see this book come to life, because the history of the Notre Dame chapels is a witness to the bedrock conviction that faith expressed in worship is a foundational element of the University of Notre Dame's mission. . . . Enjoy the guided tour of the most sacred places at Notre Dame. Please be sure to make time to visit some chapels during your next trip to campus." —from the Introduction by Dr. John F. Affleck-Graves, Executive Vice President". . . a large-format collection of more than 200 full-color photographs of 60 chapels located throughout Notre Dame's campus, many of which are tucked away in little-known settings." —Publishers Weekly“This book features 200 full-color photographs taken by Cashore, interspersed with Cunningham’s commentary on the theological, artistic, architectural and historic dimensions of the 57 chapels embedded throughout Notre Dame’s campus.” —NDWorks“In The Chapels of Notre Dame, the university’s most sacred spaces are brought to life in rich color and story. . . . [The book] captures the centrality and significance of Notre Dame’s chapels in the spiritual life of this 170-year-old university.” —Catholic Missourian“The text, by Notre Dame theology professor Lawrence S. Cunningham, provides a picture of the worship in these chapels along with reflections on the traditions, history, architecture and art works that adorn them.” —South Bend Tribune“The Chapels of Notre Dame is a 152-page compendium comprised of the superb full color photography of Matt Cashore, enhanced with the informative commentary of Lawrence S. Cunningham, as each of Notre Dame’s chapels are perfectly showcased in a truly beautiful coffee-table volume that would grace the table and enhance the library collection of anyone of any institution with an interest in the subject.” —Library Bookwatch“Featuring over two hundred full-color photographs of the fifty-seven chapels located throughout the University of Notre Dame’s beloved campus, The Chapels of Notre Dame is a great gift idea for all Notre Dame alumni and friends.” —U.S. Catholic

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Book SynopsisExamines churches and chapels built on campuses during the twentieth century to reveal declining role of religion within the mission of the modern American university.Trade Review"In this important new book, Margaret Grubiak tells the fascinating story of how religion declined on twentieth-century American campuses and yet, at the same time, administrators persisted in building college chapels, including some of great size and striking architectural merit. This well-written and thoroughly researched account reveals much about American architecture but even more about the larger cultural retreat from Protestantism by the nation's intellectual elites. We have long needed such a study, and Grubiak has done a masterful job in presenting it." —W. Barksdale Maynard, Princeton University“In White Elephants on Campus, architectural historian Margaret M. Grubiak examines the changing role of religion within certain elite American universities and colleges and concludes that because these institutions’ core missions and identities are no longer religious, their magnificent chapels and other religiously informed structures have become white elephants. . . . As Grubiak notes, the massive chapels built during the fat 1920s represented university administrators’ attempts to reinforce the notion that religion was a positive and eternal force even as religion’s place in society and the academy was in transition.” —Christian Century"When I first saw the gothic chapel at Princeton University many years ago, I was quite taken aback. It was large, beautiful inside and out with a spectacular stained glass window over the altar, and seemed surprisingly Catholic for a university that I had always taken to be professionally secular, neutral and mainly disinterested in religious matters. Margaret Grubiak's book offers a great deal of enlightenment on the unusual circumstances and controversies over chapel construction and gives intriguing thoughts on the reasons for their decline. When finished with the book, I actually wished for an extension of it into current times to see what has since been the fate of the 'white elephants.'" —America“What can campus architecture tell us about the shifting tides of religion in American higher education? Architectural historian Margaret M. Grubiak addresses this question through five case studies. . . . Grubiak supports her discussion of these symbolically charged building projects with thorough archival work and attention to the architectural and decorative features of the buildings.” —American Historical Review“In taking readers to various campuses, Grubiak, an associate professor of architectural history at Villanova University, places them in the midst of the debates and the decisions regarding not only chapels, but also libraries and science labs. She explains the architectural styles of various structures – explanations that might be a challenge to comprehend for those not versed in that field. But what is more important is her explanation of the significance of those structures, their locations, e.g., the Yale Divinity School being constructed nearly a mile from the campus center, and even their names, e.g., the University of Pittsburgh’s library, the Cathedral of Learning.”—TheBostonPilot.com“The reasons for the building of these white elephants are complicated and fascinating, and Grubiak deftly explores the intersection of the rise of science with the decline of Christianity, and the social and cultural causes and effects of these changes. . . . In the end, Grubiak provides a thorough history that explains architectural shifts in the light of religious shifts in American higher education.”—History of Education Quarterly“Grubiak has written a model micro-history that has macro implications beyond ‘the decline of the university chapel in America, 1920-1960.’ This study demonstrates how buildings reflect the relative strengths of sacred and secular in the university.” —Anglican and Episcopal History“. . . Grubiak traces the declining influence of conventional Christian religion in American higher education, particularly at large, prestigious universities. However, she does not merely rehearse that now familiar narrative; instead, drawing upon her expertise as an architectural historian, Grubiak investigates campus chapels (and some other buildings), demonstrating effectively that they were designed and erected as tangible strategies to secure a continuing, yet contemporary role for religion in university life even as scientific disciplines gained prominence. Scholars of higher education, American religion, and religious architecture, as well as those involved in campus ministry, will find the book engaging and instructive.” —Lutheran Quarterly“What is the relationship between architecture and cultural, social, religious, and spiritual values? To what extent do our buildings reflect our core values and commitments? . . . Margaret M. Grubiak approaches these questions through a particular lens: religious buildings, notably chapels, on the campuses of what she identifies as ‘elite’ American universities, each of which had something of a Protestant heritage, including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Yale, and MIT.” —International Journal of Christianity and Education“By presenting the history of the plans for and construction of chapel buildings on private university campuses, Margaret M. Grubiak advances the argument that colleges and universities in the United States became more secularized in the twentieth century. Especially interesting is Grubiak’s inclusion in her study of nonchapel buildings that were given religious meaning and design.” —The Catholic Historical Review

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Book SynopsisExamines the aesthetic principles and spiritual operations at work in Hagia Sophia. Drawing on art and architectural history, liturgy, musicology, and acoustics, explores the Byzantine paradigm of animation.Trade Review“The interdisciplinary methods of exploration and the development of digital technology in the cultural heritage preservation of the Hagia Sophia’s aural and visual environment in Pentcheva’s book are intriguing, well-researched, and rich to a depth previously unexplored. Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium is worth adding to any collection exploring new innovations in archeoacoustical, art historical, and architectural research in Byzantine or medieval periods.”—Marianne R. Williams ARLIS/NA Reviews“Evocatively rendered in careful prose, new photography, and recorded sound, this synthetic account breathes new life into a remarkable, elusive monument. Highly recommended.”—M. Rautman Choice“Reminds us not only how much the study of aurality in Byzantine studies has yet to offer but also what the hidden aspects of Hagia Sophia might still yield.”—Mati Meyer caa.reviews“Pentcheva’s book is a bold and at times thrilling attempt to decipher the building as living architecture.”—Amy Papalexandrou Speculum“This handsome volume reflects the author’s deep and sustained engagement of more than a decade with the sensory world of Byzantine worshippers as they experienced objects, ritual performance, and Hagia Sophia’s architectural setting.”—Nina Macaraig Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians“In this forceful study we come to understand how sound and image come alive in architecture. Hagia Sophia does important work in paving the way towards a multisensorial analysis of architecture that does not prioritize or privilege one sense over another nor flatten distinctions between the senses.”—Emanuela Vai Art History“This erudite, highly original book explores the ways in which the sixth-century church of Hagia Sophia engaged all the senses in a rich and dynamic exchange of air, sound, fragrance, movement, and light between heaven and earth to create an all-enveloping spiritual experience for the worshipper. Using sources ranging from modern acoustic science to sixth-century poetry, Pentcheva establishes a fluid, multisensory, kinetic interpretive model that will transform our understanding of Byzantine sacred space.”—Deborah Howard,coauthor of Sound and Space in Renaissance Venice“Pentcheva’s Hagia Sophia dares us to think creatively about the materials we study and all those things that we cannot definitively prove or validate within conventional art historical frameworks. It is a book that glimmers and murmurs to us about the past, densely filling in our mental images of these spaces and rituals with smells and sounds.”—Roland Betancourt Art Bulletin“Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium is, simply put, an extraordinary achievement, an unprecedented exploration of the liturgical experience afforded by the Great Church of Constantinople in its nine-century career (532-1453 CE) as a Christian holy place.”—Brian A. Butcher Reading ReligionTable of ContentsContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1 Sophia and Choros: The Making of Sacred Space in Byzantium2 Inspiriting in the Byzantine Consecration (Kathierōsis) Rite3 Icons of Breath4 Aural Architecture5 Material Flux: Marble, Water, and Chant 6 The Horizontal Mirror and the Poetics of the Imaginary7 Empathy and the Making of Art in ByzantiumConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisExamines Gothic architecture and the visual and cultural significance of the adoption of externalized buttressing systems in twelfth-century France. Demonstrates how buttressing frames operated as sites of display, points of transition, and mechanisms of demarcation.Trade Review“This clearly written and beautifully produced book tests a model for examining a single architectural feature from many angles and provides much-needed context for the study of cathedral exteriors beyond portal sculpture.”—Meg Bernstein Architectural Histories“A rich and compelling story of one of the most quintessential features of Gothic architecture.”—Nancy Wu CAA.Reviews“Hutterer compellingly transforms our understanding of the French Gothic buttress from a purely structural and visual component to one that also has social and cultural significance for the medieval viewer. Markers of divine space, buttresses are now understood to serve a variety of functions, including providing the setting for commercial exchange and serving as markers of jurisdiction. They now stand revealed as not only part of an architectural system of element and support but also part of a cultural network of sacred meaning and religious authority.”—Lisa Reilly,author of An Architectural History of Peterborough Cathedral“From the commercial zones flying buttresses defined on the ground to the protective gargoyles they held up against the sky, the many roles and meanings of this most characteristically Gothic architectural invention are illuminated in Maile Hutterer's lucid, beautifully illustrated book.. Apart from their structural importance, Hutterer expertly demonstrates how, through their distinctive formal design and figural embellishments, flying buttresses shaped urban space and declared the church’s efficacy both within and far beyond the cathedral precinct.”—Jacqueline E. Jung,author of The Gothic Screen: Space, Sculpture, and Community in the Cathedrals of France and Germany, ca. 1200-1400“Framing the Church explores the multivalent impact of the new buttressing systems that transformed Gothic architecture. Anchored by case studies of French buildings from twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, Maile Hutterer creates a rich conversation between ecclesiastical and secular architecture, the visual arts, and historical sources to reveal the push and pull between aesthetics and stability in the design of structural frames, their surprising social consequences, and their role as agents of symbolic expression.”—Michael T. Davis,Mount Holyoke College“Maile Hutterer opens our minds to what our eyes have always told us about the great French cathedrals: that the giant flying buttresses that ring their exteriors are not mere structural devices but inspired works of architecture as an art. Unlike the relatively uniform interiors of these huge buildings, no two sets of buttressing are alike. They vary in extravagant and subtle ways, and in the process, they accrue important layers of meaning through sculptural ornament as well as their structure and shaping of space. They now have a meaningful history. A breakthrough contribution to the study of medieval architecture.”—Marvin Trachtenberg,author of Building-in-Time: From Giotto to Alberti and Modern Oblivion“A provocative and stimulating book.”—Caroline Bruzelius EuropeNow“Framing the Church will appeal to a broad range of art, architectural, and urban historians. A stimulating volume on a vast topic, it seems likely to incite new studies of churches not only in France, but the rest of Europe, the Latin East, and perhaps the earliest permanent European settlements in the Americas.”—Kyle Sweeney Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture“In its scope, accessibility, and import, Framing the Church provides a compelling, interdisciplinary contextualization of the seminal features of Gothic church design in the cultural and aesthetic fabric of French medieval life.”—Alyce A. Jordan The French ReviewTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsNote on the Fire at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris, 2019Introduction1. Visualizing Buttressing and the Aesthetics of the Frame2. Negotiating Buttress Spaces3. Sculptural Programs and the Assertion of Ecclesiastical Hegemony4. Buttressing-Frame Systems as Signs of Spiritual ProtectionConclusionsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"In this beautifully illustrated and carefully researched book, Chanchani offers an innovative breakthrough study of the religion, art, architecture, and culture of the northern Ganga River and central Himalayan area. . . . This study is as pleasurable to read as it is informative. The ideas Chanchani puts forth are provocative and will interest scholars, in various disciplines, who work on the region. Nonspecialists who are curious about the region will also appreciate this work." * CHOICE *"[A]n indispensable resource." * The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians *"[B]eautifully written, deeply engrossing, and insightfully interdisciplinary book." * Journal of Asian Studies *"This delightful, well-illustrated study of Central Himalayan temple architecture and statuary marks a significant addition to the history of Uttarakhand." * The Indian Economic and Social History Review *"The author’s holistic approach is particularly stimulating; he does not look at temples simply as archaeological monuments inserted into an often-blurry historical context, but as symptoms of larger phenomena that he investigates, combining geographical, ecological, literary, historical, political, social, epigraphical, religious, cultural, stylistic and architectural perspectives." * Arts Asiatiques *"An essential text for art historians, central Himalayan scholars, or anyone interested in artifact-based research. It is carefully and incisively written, visually lush with over 100 images...and almost every chapter has a dedicated map focused on that chapter’s sites." * Reading Religion *

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Book SynopsisBy the tenth century CE, Mount Wutai had become a major pilgrimage site within the emerging culture of a distinctively Chinese Buddhism. This book traces confluence of factors that produced this transformation and argues that monastic architecture, more than texts, relics, or pilgrimages, was the key to Mount Wutai's emergence as a sacred site.Trade Review"A must read for any reader interested in Buddhist arts and architecture, or the history of East Asian religious traditions, Building a Sacred Mountain is a superb piece of scholarship and a model of appreciation for the integral relationships between religion and the arts." -- John Renard * Religion and the Arts *"Reflects a remarkably ambitious and rigorous scholarly undertaking. It illustrates the reciprocal relationship between a unique geographic phenomenon and a sensitive and enlightened human response. The wide-ranging and exhaustive research that supports this book will give it enduring value to a wide range of scholars. " * Choice *"[T]he overall themes of visions, buildings, and pilgrimage that run throughout this beautifully illustrated, meticulously documented book are consistently compelling: there was, Lin demonstrates, much more to building Wutai than buildings." -- John Kieschnick * Journal of Asian Studies *"As Lin’s insightful work makes abundantly clear, through the ontology of Wutaishan—from mountain, to monastery, to mandala, to mural, and from vision to built environment—Mount Wutai was always something like a ‘virtual mountain.’" -- Johan Elverskog * American Historical Review *"[A] rich and nuanced historicization of Mount Wutai’s ascent and transformations from the third through the tenth century, and an insightful account of the ever-shifting and contextual grounds of sacred geography. Lin’s book is a substantial contribution to the recent wave of scholarship on Mount Wutai, but it’s impact will be felt well beyond the borders of this subfield. . . . Elegantly written and produced. . . . [A] careful reader is rewarded with an expanded vista from which to see the Foguang Monastery, and through which to enter the field of sacred geography anew." -- Wen-shing Chou * Monumenta Serica *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Chronology of Chinese Dynasties Introduction 1. Building the Monastery, Locating the Sacred Presence 2. Entering the Mountains, Localizing the Sacred Presence 3. The Sacred Presence in Place and in Vision 4. Mediating the Distance to Mount Wutai 5. Reconfiguring the Center 6. Narrative, Visualization, and Transposition of Mount Wutai Conclusion Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Conventions and Abbreviations Notes Glossary Bibliography List of Illustrations Index

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Book SynopsisMany masterpieces of Islamic art, such as the Alhambra and the Taj Mahal, were produced during the period between the early 13th century and the advent of European colonial rule in the 19th. This work surveys the architecture and arts of the traditional Islamic lands during this era.

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Book SynopsisSt. Paul is generally considered the first Christian hermit, and the monastery built around his cave in Egypt is one of the very oldest. This sumptuous volume grew out of a conservation project of the monastery's superb wall paintings, which were broadly produced in two phases in the 13th and 18th centuries.

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Book SynopsisFor over a millennium Durham has occupied a central place in English religious history, with its Norman rebuilding (1093-1133) marking it as an internationally significant masterpiece in the history of architecture. This volume offers a comprehensive account, on the founding, development, building and decoration of this important edifice.Trade Review‘The life as well as the liturgy of the cathedral is celebrated in photographs… This is a story told by 30 contributors, all witness to the pride of the place cathedrals retain in the community.’—Marcus Binney, the Times. -- Marcus Binney * The Times *‘This volume draws together a very broad array of recent research. It’s range is progidious, stretching from the conception of the physical building… to it’s intellectual, liturgical and spiritual context’—Gabriel Byng, TLS. -- Gabriel Byng * TLS *

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Book SynopsisFlorence Cathedral, familiarly called Il Duomo, is an architectural masterpiece and home to celebrated works of art. Perhaps the most beloved example is Luca della Robbia's sculptural programme for the organ loft. In this title, Luca's sculptures are examined alongside illuminated manuscripts commissioned for musical performances.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review “Scholarship, observation and thoroughness come across on each page [. . .] This is another tribute to Pevsner’s ‘Buildings of England’ series, which is now nearing the end of its task of updating the earlier editions. It’s hard to over-praise them. They make looking at England ever more rewarding, for resident and visitor alike.” —Roger Bowdler, Country Life“A Pevsner guide remains an indispensable way to discover those gems, providing as it does clarity and enlightenment at some of the most fascinating, complex and potentially confusing sites”—The Library“[An] excellent new edition”—Christopher Woodward, The Victorian“[. . .] Hertfordshire had to be a special volume, and it is good to report that Bettley has risen to the challenge, as Bridget Cherry did before him” — Elain Harwood, C20“[A] joy to use, not just for information it packs in, but for its clarity of presentation, including town maps, attractive historic engravings throughout the text, and brilliant indexes by Judith Waldman.”—Robert Thorne, Ancient Monuments Society “James Bettley […] has done an admirable job of updating the Hertfordshire volume. His work brings an already invaluable resource up to date and ensures that this edition gives due consideration to the many and varied buildings of one of England’s smallest counties.” – Katie Carmichael, Vernacular Architecture

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Book SynopsisTrade Review “One of the many improvements of this new edition is to acknowledge that these ancient buildings have a history far more complicated than was once imagined” —Simon Heffer, The Daily Telegraph “The ‘Pevsner’ series [. . .] is said to be the unrivalled source for authoritative and comprehensive information on the architecture of the British Isles. In Sussex:West, new research accompanies 130 specially commissioned colour photographs” —Mid Sussex Times“[The book] follows a now-familiar format, with longer and updated texts, numerous additional figures and an expanded collection of colour photographs” —John Goodall, Country Life“West is another solid achievement in this magnificent series.”—Graham Kent, Ancient Monuments Society

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This is a high-quality production with magnificent photographs...The text contains a serious discussion of the history and philosophy of war cemeteries (by no means confined to the Great War) and explores the differing aesthetics and objectives of the various warring nations.”—Richard Mawrey, The Historic Gardens Foundation Newsletter “A wonderful photographic voyage into a variety of European war cemeteries dating from the First World War to the present”—Jonathan Trigg, Church Monuments

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“A highly scholarly and perceptive book about a complicated, enigmatic dynasty: the Fatimids. The author explains the meaning of early Fatimid architecture in Tunisia and Egypt by probing their sectarian identity and bid for political legitimacy.”—D. Fairchild Ruggles, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign“This book offers a new reading of Fatimid architecture and urbanism, using texts, archaeology, and monuments to explore artistic creation—and destruction—against a backdrop of contested medieval religious identities and the negotiation of sectarian differences.”—Glaire Anderson, University of Edinburgh

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Book SynopsisThe extraordinary story of St. Paul’s Churchyard—the area of London that was a center of social and intellectual life for more than a millenniumTrade Review“It was the book trade for which St. Paul’s Churchyard became famous. . . . Willes, a liveryman of the Stationers’ Company, relishes this hive of industry; it is when she writes of the book trade that her own book comes alive.”—Paul Lay, Sunday Telegraph“Wonderfully engaging. . . . Willes gives a diverting account of searing political pamphlets . . . and the first printing of literary sensations such as Lyrical Ballads, with walk-on appearances from Charlotte Brontë and Mary Wollstonecraft. . . . Londoners have taken this territory for granted for too many decades, and Willes is here to put that right.”—Sinclair McKay, Spectator“This book is an exceptional compendium and encyclopedic survey of historic events and actions. . . . Willes writes in a pleasing, clear, and lively style.”—Seventeeth-Century News“Invariably accurate, clear and fascinating. . . . [Willes] discovers infinite historical riches in this one small patch of London, and delivers them to the reader without complication or prejudice.”—Robert Gray, Catholic Herald“St Paul’s Cathedral survived the Blitz, but the area surrounding it was erased together with its vibrant community. Margaret Willes’s elegant writing, beautifully illustrated, makes it present to us once again.”—Alex Faludy, The Tablet“As this engagingly written book reveals, the area around the cathedral has a discrete but fascinating history that illuminates the story of London as a whole. . . . The author has spent her career in publishing and the care with which this book is written and structured reflects that experience.”—John Goodall, Country Life“In this new book, handsomely illustrated and produced by Yale University Press . . . the story moves briskly forward, enlivened by colourful anecdotes, from Medieval London to the events surrounding Occupy and the erection of a protest camp in 2011.”—Richard Chartres, Church Times“Whether or not you have London ancestors, this is a fascinating look at the history of London from a new and different angle. . . . There are plenty of interesting illustrations to help bring the story to life, as do the lively and evocative descriptions of a now lost part of London’s history.”—Family Tree Magazine“There is no doubt that this book is a significant contribution to the histories of London and of print . . . There has long been a need for this book and Willes has fulfilled that need excellently."—Joe Saunders, The Local Historian“Margaret Willes offers a unique exploration of a lost world, centring on the publishing community which once clustered around St Paul’s Cathedral. Her fascinating book spans centuries, introduces an array of memorable characters, and offers important insights into an enthralling aspect of London’s history.”—Margarette Lincoln, author of London and the 17th Century“When St Paul’s Churchyard was destroyed by the Luftwaffe in December 1940, the “Second Great Fire of London” obliterated centuries of London publishing history overnight. Now Margaret Willes offers us a thrilling and evocative resurrection of the stories buried beneath the ashes.”—Jerry White, author of The Battle of London, 1939–45“A revelatory new insight into a part of London that I thought I knew well. I couldn’t put it down.”—Adrian Tinniswood, author of His Invention so Fertile: A Life of Christopher Wren “This wonderfully evocative book recreates the business and bustle of an area that was the vibrant heart of London for over a millennium and the historic centre of the nation’s literary life. Once again, Margaret Willes demonstrates her gift for blending scholarly research and entertaining anecdote.”—George Goodwin, author of Benjamin Franklin in London

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Book SynopsisThe author of the magisterial England''s Thousand Best Churches turns his eye to England''s cathedrals, with fascinating, personal - and often funny - insight into their history and their place in English lifeEngland''s cathedrals are the nation''s glory. They tower over its landscape, outranking palaces, castles and mansions. They attract roughly half the nation''s population each year. For a millennium they have been objects of pilgrimage for those seeking faith, consolation and beauty. Still at the start of the twenty-first century, they remain unequalled in their size and splendour.More than any other English institution, cathedrals reflect the vicissitudes of history and should be treasured as such. They are custodians of culture and of the rituals of civic life. They offer welfare and relieve suffering. They uplift spirits with their beauty. In a real sense they are still what they were when first built a millennium ago, a glimpse of the sublime.England''s Cathedrals takes us on an enthralling tour of the nation and its history, through some of our most astonishing buildings.''Inspired... encourages us to take a fresh look at the familiar'' The Times''An essential supplement to his marvellously illuminating guidebook England''s Thousand Best Churches'' Evening Standard

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Book SynopsisThe British Archaeological Association Conference held at Peterborough in 2015 provided a welcome opportunity for a new analysis of the cathedral's architecture, sculpture and artistic production, and a reassessment of the relationship between the former abbey, the city and its institutions, and the Soke over which it held sway.This ambitious volume casts new light on the Roman occupation of the Nene valley, and the rich Anglo-Saxon sculptural and manuscript context that preceded the construction of the present cathedral, as well as exploring the vital Romanesque tradition of the Soke and the essential contribution of the Barnack quarries.But inevitably the most exciting new disclosures concern the church: its high-quality building campaigns during the 12th to 16th centuries, its abbots' tombs and the reconstruction of the lost 14th-century High Altar screen from descriptions and loose fragments. Peterborough has attracted the attention of antiquarian scholars since itTable of ContentsPreface; 1. Roman Buildings in the Lower Nene Valley (STEPHEN G. UPEX); 2. A relief depicting two dancing deities and other Roman stonework from Peterborough cathedral (PENNY COOMBE, KEVIN HAYWARD, AND MARTIN HENIG); 3. The Anglo-Saxon Abbey of Peterborough: A Review of the Evidence (RICHARD GEM); 4. Anglo-Saxon Sculpture of Peterborough and its Region (ROSEMARY CRAMP); 5. Contexts of Discovery of Roman and Anglo-Saxon Stone (Jackie Hall); 6. The ‘Missal’ of Robert of Jumièges and Manuscript Illumination at Peterborough c.1015-1035 (T. A. HESLOP); 7. Potestas Petri: Barnack and Peterborough in the Middle Ages (PAUL EVERSON AND DAVID STOCKER); 8. Abbey and Town: Post-Conquest Topography and Lay Access (JACKIE HALL); 9. Peterborough Abbey: the Norman Church (ERIC FERNIE); 10. Architecture during the rule of Abbot Benedict (1177‒94) (PETER FERGUSSON); 11. Coming and Going: The Great Gate of Peterborough Abbey as a Zone of Interaction (HARRIET MAHOOD); 12. The Figure Sculpture of the West Front of Peterborough Cathedral and Its Setting (JULIAN LUXFORD); 13. What Is the Subject Carved on the Socle in the West Doorway of Peterborough Abbey? (CATHERINE OAKES); 14. A Few Ancient Recumbent Effigies of Abbots, Not One of Which Occupies Its Original Position (RON BAXTER); 15. The 14th-Century Great Altar Screen of Peterborough Cathedral (STUART HARRISON); 16. The Trinity Chapel at Peterborough Cathedral (LISA REILLY); 17. The Palm Sunday Procession, from the Peterborough Abbey Consuetudinal, as a Source for Topographical Identification (BROTHER SIMON OF YARWELL WITH INTRODUCTION, TRANSLATION AND NOTES BY T. M. HALLIDAY); 18. The New Building at Peterborough: Questions of Attribution, Date and Status (FRANCIS WOODMAN); 19. ‘Valuable Matter’ versus ‘Local Twaddle’: Peterborough Cathedral and Architectural Expertise in the Nineteenth Century (ALEXANDRINA BUCHANAN); 20. Peterborough Cathedral in the Late Victorian Period: The Central Tower and West Front Controversies (CLAUDIA MARX); Index

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Book SynopsisThe popular image of the traditional western city has usually been dominated by the cathedral, whose sheer size seemed to create an isolated physical and spiritual focal point. In this iconoclastic study, the author sets out to reverse some of the romantic myths which have accrued about the medieval cathedral, in particular that the cathedral was a separate entity, self-sufficient, sublime and apart. Here the cathedral is shown to be a dynamic, evolving and unpredictable force in the development of the medieval city. Taking France as the main focus, but including material on England, Germany, Italy, Spain and Bohemia, the author describes the growth of diocesan authority and the consequent experiments in the layout of cathedral plans. Full use is made of recent archaeological research to show how architectural, social, financial and religious considerations combined to form a structure that was above all a practical, functioning concern, a 'city within a city'.Trade Review'Nobody, after reading this book, will be able to look at cathedrals in the same way. Erlande-Brandenburg compellingly draws back an opaque Romantic veil and makes an inaccessible world live for a post-Christian age.' Anthony Symondson, The Architectural ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction: myth or reality; 1. The bishop in the city; 2. The Imperial dream; 3. The Gregorian reform; 4. Gothic construction; 5. Men, finance, and administration; 6. The churches in the cathedral; 7. The Gothic palace; 8. The canonial precinct; 9. The hotel-dieu.

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Book SynopsisThis is the third in a series of four volumes intended to present a complete Corpus of all the church buildings that were built, rebuilt or simply in use in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. This volume deals exclusively with Jerusalem, the capital of the Kingdom from 1099 to 1187.Trade ReviewReview of the hardback: 'Since the appearance of the first volume in 1993, the Corpus has represented the best in academic research and publication. Pringle's command of the documentary sources and knowledge of the architecture and archaeology of the buildings themselves is, literally, second to none, and Cambridge University Press is to be congratulated for its continuing commitment to the publication of this carefully produced and generously illustrated series. Research in the ecclesiastical history of the crusader states is inconceivable without it, and this volume more than matches the quality of its predecessors.' The Journal of Ecclesiastical HistoryTable of ContentsList of plates; List of figures; Preface; List of abbreviations; Corpus; Bibliography; Maps; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe Pinecone is set in the village of Wreay, near Carlisle, where a masterpiece in Victorian architecture stands - the strangest and most magical church in England. This vivid, original book tells the story of its builder, Sarah Losh, strong-willed and passionate, an architect and an intellectual who dumbfounded critics with her genius and originality. Born into an old Cumbrian family, heiress to an industrial fortune, Sarah combined a zest for progress with a love of the past. The church is Losh''s masterpiece, richly decorated with symbolic carvings there are images of ammonites, scarabs and poppies, and everywhere there are pinecones, her signature in stone. The church is a dramatic rendering of the power of myth and the great natural cycles of life and death and rebirth. The Pinecone is also the story of Sarah''s radical family, friends of Wordsworth and Coleridge; of the love between sisters and the life of a village; of the struggle of the weavers, the co

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Book SynopsisThis comprehensive, interdisciplinary collection illuminates many previously unexplored aspects of the Basilica of San Lorenzo’s history, extending from its Early Christian foundation to the modern era. San Lorenzo depicts this church as a living Florentine institution, continually reshaped by complex historical forces.Trade ReviewThe scholars go inside and out and from bottom to top, and they deal with the entire complex—the basilica’s architecture, paintings, and sculpture along with that in the sacristies, cloisters, library, Medici Chapel, and piazza—and they present its role in Florentine urbanism, culture, politics, and patronage; address liturgy, preaching, music, and its personnel and operations, even a kitchen sink, neglecting almost nothing. -- C. W. Westfall * Choice *

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Book SynopsisCities of the Dead is a collection of the world’s most picturesque, historic and notable cemeteries.Table of ContentsGreen-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, USA Hollywood Forever, Los Angeles, California, USA Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, USA Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, USA Terlingua Cemetery, Texas, USA Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, USA Mount Hope, Rochester, New York, USA Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Valley of the Temples, Kaneohe, Oʻahu, Hawaii, USA Cementerio Municipal Sara Braun, Punta Arenas, Chile Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires, Argentina Cemitério São Joao Batista, Botofaga, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Pisagua Viejo Cementério, Tarapacá region, Chile Cementério Municipal Jose María Azaél Franco Guerrero, Tulcán, Carchi province, Ecuador Cementerio Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis, San Juan, Puerto Rico Mount Pleasant, Toronto, Canada Highgate Cemetery, London, England Abney Park Cemetery, London, England St Mary's Church Graveyard, Whitby, Yorkshire, England Rèilig Odhrain, Iona, Scottish Hebrides, Scotland Glasgow Necropolis, Glasgow, Scotland Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol, England Glendalough Graveyard, Co. Wicklow, Ireland Isola di San Michele, Venice, Italy Pere Lachaise, Paris, France Merry Cemetery (Cimitirul Vesel), Săpânța, Romania Skogskyrkogarden Woodland Cemetery, Stockholm, Sweden Gubbio Cemetery Mount Ingino, Umbria, Italy Sighisoara German Church on the Hill and Cemetery, Romania Okopowa Jewish Cemetery, Warsaw, Poland Montjuïc Cemetery, Barcelona, Spain Old Jewish Cemetery of Prague, Czechoslovakia Kerepesi Cemetery, Budapest, Hungary Cimitero Acattolico (Protestant Cemetery), Rome, Italy Kensal Green Cemetery, London, England Brompton Cemetery, London, England Zentralfriedhof, Simmering, Vienna Douaumont Ossuary/Verdun Memorial, Verdun, France Gran Camposanto, Messina, Italy Cemitério do Alto de São João, Lisbon, Portugal City of the Dead, Dargavs, Caucasus Mountains, Russia Waverley Cemetery, Sydney, NSW, Australia Aoyama Cemetery, Tokyo, Japan South Park Street Cemetery, Kolkata, India Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, Israel Okunoin Cemetery, Mount Koya, Japan Maqbaratol Shoara, Tabriz, Iran Novodevichye Cemetery, Moscow, Russia Fadiouth Shell Island, Joal-Fadiouth, Mbour, Senegal Issyk-Kul cemeteries, Kyrgyzstan

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