A history of Reading's iconic gaol: architectural landmark, cultural emblem and symbol for a community determined to cherish the town's heritage. Layers of history and art are carefully peeled back as Peter Stoneley reveals its past as architectural showcase for Sir George Gilbert Scott's decorative (and expensive!) style, location for experiments in prison reform, training ground for the leaders of the Irish Independence movement and, of course, the inspiration for Oscar Wilde's famous Ballad of Reading Gaol. Bringing the narrative right up to the present day with the discussions over its future use, the impact of the ArtAngel exhibition and Banksy's graffiti, this book is a timely platform for the building to tell us its story.

Knights of the sword and Cross
The principal tenets of the chivalric code of the Christian Knights of the middle ages were to fear God, to protect the afflicted and to serve ones master faithfully. The foundation of these essential principles were inevitably fertile ground for the emergence of the military religious orders of the medieval period. All was in place but the organisational structure in which the individual could live out his vows and these were introduced in several organisations of varying size and influence. This book explains the creation, activities, campaigns and battles and the knights who lived and fought under the banner of Christ often in opposition to the forces of Islam in the Middle East of the Crusades period. Within its pages the reader will discover the Knights of St. John-the Hospitallers, the Knights Templars and many minor, but interesting orders-including the Order of Avis, the Order of the Holy Ghost and the Order of Our Lady of the Lily-which flourished in Britain and Europe during the period. This is an invaluable insight into the organisation of knights of the medieval period. Available in softcover and hardback with dust jacket.

Palaces like the Aljaferia and the Alhambra rank among the highest achievements of the Islamic world. In recent years archaeological work at Cordoba, Kairouan and many other sites has vastly increased our knowledge about the origin and development of Islamic palatial architecture, particularly in the Western Mediterranean region. This book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of Islamic palace architecture in Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and southern Italy. The author, who has himself conducted archaeological field work at several prominent sites, presents all Islamic palaces known in the region in ground plans, sections and individual descriptions. The book traces the evolution of Islamic palace architecture in the region from the 8th to the 19th century and places them within the context of the history of Islamic culture. Palace architecture is a unique source of cultural history, offering insights into the way space was conceived and the way rulers used architecture to legitimize their power. The book discusses such topics as the influence of the architecture of the Middle East on the Islamic palaces of the western Mediterranean region, the role of Greek logic and scientific progress on the design of palaces, the impact of Islamic palaces on Norman and Gothic architecture and the role of Sufism on the palatial architecture of the late medieval period.

"Ajanta: Year by Year" is planned as a biography of this remarkable site, starting with the earliest caves, dating from some two thousand years, to its startling renaissance in the brief period between approximately 462 and 480. Concentrating on the excavations of the later period, during the reign of the Vakataka emperor Harisena, it attempts to show how, after a surprising gap of some three hundred years, Ajanta's proud and pious courtly patrons and its increasingly committed workmen created not only the greatest but the latest monument of India's Golden Age. Nearly three hundred illustrations, in color and black and white, reveal the exuberant flowering of Ajanta and related Vakataka monuments, as well as the manner of their sudden demise.

Gandhara, with its wide variety of architectural remains and sculptures, has for many decades perplexed students of South and Central Asia. Kurt Behrendt in this volume for the first time and convincingly offers a description of the development of 2nd century B.C.E. to 8th century C.E. Buddhist sacred centers in ancient Gandhara, today northwest Pakistan.
Regional variations in architecture and sculpture in the Peshawar basin, Swat, and Taxila are discussed. At last a chronological framework is given for the architecture and the sculpture of Gandhara, but also light is being shed on how relic structures were utilized through time, as devotional imagery became increasingly significant to Buddhist religious practice.
With an important comparative overview of architectural remains, it is indispensable for all those interested in the development of the early Buddhist tradition of south and central Asia and the roots of Buddhism elsewhere in Asia.

If you are looking for a book to help you get ready for the fast paced and exciting field of technical engineering