The landmark of many cities is the cathedral. Some had their beginnings as monastic buildings, have stood for nearly a thousand years, and remain essential icons, or even emblems, of a city's character. Yet not all cathedrals look alike, and indeed these buildings were often the pioneers of new architecture as it developed over the centuries. Here, Cathedral Architecture takes the reader on a journey through time, enjoying the architectural experience of the styles of the Normans, Early English, Decorated Gothic, Perpendicular Gothic, and English Renaissance through to modern day. A beautifully illustrated guide featuring many of Britain's best-loved cathedrals.

A bright white temple as if carved from ice. Statues in candlelit caves. Massive red monastery walls in the midst of majestic mountains. In this beautiful book of travel photography, Christoph Mohr presents the most sacred places of Buddhism. Across Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Tibet, Ladakh, Zanskar, and other Asian regions, Mohr shows Buddhist temples, monasteries, sacred mountains, and illuminates the life of the historical Buddha. The images are accompanied by texts from Oliver Fulling, sharing the basics of Buddhism and everyday Buddhist practice and rituals.

Norwich is blessed with more surviving medieval churches than any other city north of the Alps. Architect David Luckhurst worked in the city for more than 40 years before turning to painting and drawing in his retirement, and many buildings he designed are to be seen there. This high-quality paperback reproduces his 32 paintings of Norwich's medieval churches (including the lone surviving tower of the bombed St Benedict), with an emphasis on their street setting. Each painting is accompanied by David's handwritten notes on the surrounding buildings and how the church interacts with them. The book is completed by David's hand-drawn map showing the location of each church and his pen drawing of their combined towers.

A glorious illustrated history of sixteen of the world's greatest cathedrals, interwoven with the extraordinary stories of the people who built them. 'An impeccable guide to the golden age of ecclesiastical architecture' The Times 'Vivid, colourful and absorbing' Dan Jones 'An epic ode to some of our most beautiful and beloved buildings' Helen Carr The emergence of the Gothic in twelfth-century France, an architectural style characterized by pointed arches, rib vaults, flying buttresses, large windows and elaborate tracery, triggered an explosion of cathedral-building across western Europe. It is this remarkable flowering of ecclesiastical architecture that forms the central core of Emma Wells's authoritative but accessible study of the golden age of the cathedral. Prefacing her account with the construction in the sixth century of the Hagia Sophia, the remarkable Christian cathedral of the eastern Roman empire, she goes on to chart the construction of a glittering sequence of iconic structures, including Saint-Denis, Notre-Dame, Canterbury, Chartres, Salisbury, York Minster and Florence's Duomo. More than architectural biographies, these are human stories of triumph and tragedy that take the reader from the chaotic atmosphere of the mason's yard to the cloisters of power. Together, they reveal how 1000 years of cathedral-building shaped modern Europe, and influenced art, culture and society around the world.

Cathedrals and abbeys are the most beautiful and iconic buildings of the British Isles, and have formed the bedrock of our nation for centuries. This absorbing collection of amazing and extraordinary facts opens the doors of these fascinating structures to reveal their rich historical and architectural heritage. From stories of English Popes, martyred archbishops and renegade bishops to iconoclastic kings, power-hungry nobles and architectural dynasties, as well as the role of the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, we explore how the people and religion in Britain have shaped these buildings over the last 2,000 years. Also read about the architectural heritage of British cathedrals, from troublesome spires, stained glass wonders and buy-a-brick campaigns to abbeys in the sea, fortified castle-cathedrals and mass graves. Along with tales of famous memorials and artefacts, fascinating folklore and architectural feats, these intriguing and diverse facts will provide something for every enthusiast to dip into and relish.

The rivalry between the brilliant seventeenth-century Italian architects Gianlorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini is the stuff of legend. Enormously talented and ambitious artists, they met as contemporaries in the building yards of St. Peter's in Rome, became the greatest architects of their era by designing some of the most beautiful buildings in the world, and ended their lives as bitter enemies. Engrossing and impeccably researched, full of dramatic tension and breathtaking insight, "The Genius in the Design" is the remarkable tale of how two extraordinary visionaries schemed and maneuvered to get the better of each other and, in the process, created the spectacular Roman cityscape of today.

Salisbury Cathedral - English edition

The widespead and numerous Romanesque churches in the northern half of Spain rival those of France for their distinctiveness and originality and for their remarkable sculpture. They were mainly built between about 1000 and 1200 and mirror the progressive rolling back of Islamic power in the long reconquista, first of all along the north coast and in Catalonia, which was only occupied by the Muslims for about a hundred years, and then in Leon and Castile. Their architectural styles vary greatly from region to region, and some of them contain fine frescoes as well. Romanesque style introduced the first revival of the art of sculpture since Roman times, and in Spain there good examples of decorative carving as far back as the seventh century. It was the age of pilgrimages and many of the churches were founded along the pilgrim routes from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, which are popular destinations for travellers in Spain today. Romanesque Churches of Spain, which covers a hundred and twenty churches in Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre and the Basque Country, Cantabria, Castile, Leon, Asturias and Galicia, and includes no less than twenty pre-Romanesque churches in the Visigothic, Asturian and Mozarabic styles of 600-1000, many with exotic features such as the horseshoe arch, is the first comprehensive book to be published on the subject. It is a perfect companion for travellers, with its ten maps and its regional arrangement, and will be a stimulus for the exploration of wild and remote areas that are unfamiliar to many people, especially across the Pyrenees and in the mountainous areas of Aragon, Cantabria and Asturias. It will also be invaluable as a reference book, with its 262 illustrations, for all those with a general interest in the history of Spanish architecture and sculpture, many of the churches possessing outstanding examples such as Santiago de Compostela, Jaca, Soria, Agramunt, Ripoll, Armentia, Estibaliz, Sanguesa, Santo Domingo de Silos and San Pedro de la Nave. Peter Strafford is a distinguished journalist who worked on the Times for more than three decades, including in Paris and Brussels, and was, among other things, the Times correspondent in New York for five years. His acclaimed Romanesque Churches of France has recently been reprinted.

A series of meditations and prayers focusing on the spiritual history of 22 cathedrals around the UK.

Notable undiscovered architects, like undiscovered composers, are implausible, yet Frances Xavier Velarde OBE, 1897-1960, could be just such a person hiding in plain sight. A stylish architect who took a road less travelled then died as he was getting into his stride. There have been no followers. Yet whenever enthusiasts gather to discuss modern church architecture his name will be mentioned. He was no earnest modernist; instead he loved patterns, bold colour and gold. The Catholic churches he built in Liverpool and London are closer to European Expressionism than International Modernism; many of them have a toy like quality and come with a campanile like a rocket. Today his buildings seem fresh and playful, but also poignant as they evoke the 1950s, brightening the drab parts in which they are to be found and serving to make both spiritually and architecturally aware those who visit. Many are threatened and have been published here for the first time. Dominic Wilkinson and Andrew Crompton have combined Velarde's papers with interviews and archive images, including many by his friend and famous photographer Edward Chambre Hardman. Their book, lavishly illustrated with new photography by Historic England, is a must for architects, students and connoisseurs wanting to discover a different route that modernism could have taken.

What value do we place on our cultural heritage, and to what extent should we preserve historic and culturally important sites and artefacts from the ravages of weather, pollution, development and use by the general public? This innovative book attempts to answer these important questions by exploring how non-market valuation techniques - used extensively in environmental economics - can be applied to cultural heritage.The book includes twelve comprehensive case studies that estimate public values for a diverse set of cultural goods, including English cathedrals, Bulgarian monasteries, rock paintings in Canada, statues in the US, and a medieval city in Africa. The authors demonstrate the potential utility of these techniques, and highlight the important social values that cultural heritage can generate. Given limited resources, such studies can help set priorities and aid the decision making process in terms of their preservation, restoration and use. The authors conclude by reviewing the majority of cultural valuation studies done to date, and draw some general conclusions about the results achieved and the potential benefits, as well as the limitations, of valuing these types of goods. This highly original book will be of great use and interest to academics in the fields of environmental, resource, and cultural economics, as well as NGOs and policymakers involved in cultural heritage at the national, international and global level.

Victorian churches were often of high quality, reflecting in physical terms the intense theological debates of the time. This highly-illustrated book by a leading authority describes many of the finest examples. Many churches were built in England during the reign of Queen Victoria: most were in various varieties of Gothic Revival. Often exquisitely furnished, they were visible expressions of the presence and importance of religion at the time. Their architectural qualities reflected aspirations of clergy, laity, and individual benefactors. The finest were the results of passionate commitment to an architecture soundly based on scholarly studies known as Ecclesiology. James Stevens Curl places English churches of the period in their complex social and denominational settings, giving comprehensive accounts of the religious atmosphere and controversies of the times. He charts the progress and development of the Gothic Revival, explains differences in the architecture of various denominations, outlines the influences of the chief protagonists involved, and describes the demands made on craftsmen and industry to produce the materials, furnishings, and fittings necessary in making some of the finest buildings ever created in England. He reveals something of the individuals and events that shaped the religious climate of the epoch, while specially commissioned illustrations reveal the rich variety found in Victorian churches.

The tiny island of Iona has been a vibrant centre of Christian worship since Columba arrived in AD 563. His monastery thrived for centuries, despite repeated Viking raids beginning in 795. Around 1200, the abbey and nunnery were founded, introducing new forms of worship and new buildings, while still welcoming pilgrims to St Columba's shrine. Even after the Protestant Reformation of 1560 brought an end to Scotland's monasteries, Iona served briefly as a Cathedral of the Isles. Restoration of the buildings began in 1899, and in 1938 the Iona Community was formed, revitalising the abbey's spiritual role. This unique site bears witness to a long history of religious practice that still flourishes today.

Eminent French literature professor R. Howard Bloch has become renowned for his insider tours of Paris, given to college students abroad. Long sought after for his encyclopaedic knowledge of French cathedrals, Bloch has at last decided to share his intimate knowledge with a wider audience. Here, six cathedrals-Saint-Denis, Chartres, Sainte-Chapelle, Reims, Amiens and Notre-Dame-are illumined in magnificent detail as Bloch, taking us from the High Middle Ages to the devastating fire that set Notre-Dame ablaze in 2019, traces the evolution of each in turn. Contextualising the cathedrals within the annals of French history, Bloch animates the past with lush evocations of architectural splendour-high-flying buttresses and jewel-encrusted shrines, hidden burial grounds and secret chambers-and thrilling tales of kingly intrigue, audacious architects and the meeting of aristocratic and everyday life. Complete with the author's own photographs, Paris and Her Cathedrals vitally enhances our understanding of the history of Paris and its environs.

Discover the fascinating stories of the world's most beautiful cemeteries, featuring spectacular photography, unique histories and famous residents. Cities of the Dead takes us on a tour of memorial sites, ranging from monastic settlements to grand cathedrals, Shinto shrines to Gothic chapels, tombs and crypts. Enjoy tales of myths and monsters, grave-robbers, pilgrimages, spiritual retreats, remembrance and community. Marvel in cemeteries with a hundred thousand to a handful of graves which feature famous headstones, weeping angels, ocean views, woodlands, thousands of glowing lanterns and a tomb of poets. From London's famous Highgate Cemetery, which houses famous names from Karl Marx to Malcolm McLaren, George Eliot to Christina Rosetti, to Hawaii's breathtaking Valley of the Temples, this book spans the globe to bring you the most fascinating, intriguing and evocative cemeteries across cultures and continents. Together with evocative images, the stories behind these notable burial sites bring these sanctuaries to life, detailing the features that make them special, highlighting both similarities and differences between time periods, religions and cultures, and showing how cemeteries are about and for the living as much as the dead.

In recent years, there has been a noticeable and enthusiastic increase of interest in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in Japan. The legends of these temples and shrines are recorded in many historical manuscripts and these genealogies have such great significance that some of them have been registered as national treasures of Japan. They are indispensable to elucidate the history of these temples and shrines, in addition to the formation process of the ancient Japanese nation. This book provides a comprehensive examination of the genealogies and legends of ancient Japanese clans. It advances the study of ancient Japanese history by utilizing new analytical perspective from not only the well-known historical manuscripts relied upon by previous researchers, but also valuable genealogies and legends that previous researchers largely neglected.

Westminster came into existence in the later Anglo-Saxon period, and by the mid-11th century, when Edward the Confessor's great new abbey was built, it was a major royal centre two miles south-west of the City of London. Within a century or so, it had become the principal seat of government in England, and this series of twenty-eight papers covers new research on the topography, buildings, art-history, architecture and archaeology of Westminster's two great establishments - Abbey and Palace. Part I begins with studies of the topography of the area, an account of its Roman-period finds and an historiographical overview of the archaeology of the Abbey. Edward the Confessor's enigmatic church plan is discussed and the evidence for later Romanesque structures is assembled for the first time. Five papers examine aspects of Henry III's vast new Abbey church and its decoration. A further four cover aspects of the later medieval period, coronation, and Sir George Gilbert Scott's impact as the Abbey's greatest Surveyor of the Fabric. A pair of papers examines the development of the northern precinct of the Abbey, around St Margaret's Church, and the remarkable buildings of Westminster School, created within the remains of the monastery in the 17th and 18th centuries. Part II part deals with the Palace of Westminster and its wider topography between the late 11th century and the devastating fire of 1834 that largely destroyed the medieval palace. William Rufus's enormous hall and its famous roofs are completely reassessed, and comparisons discussed between this structure and the great hall at Caen. Other essays reconsider Henry III's palace, St Stephen's chapel, the king's great chamber (the 'Painted Chamber') and the enigmatic Jewel Tower. The final papers examine the meeting places of Parliament and the living accommodation of the MPs who attended it, the topography of the Palace between the Reformation and the fire of 1834, and the building of the New Palace which is better known today as the Houses of Parliament.

First comprehensive overview and analysis of Buddhist architecture in North America following the parallel history of the religion's emergence in the U.S. since the California Gold Rush to the present day. A ground-breaking investigation of Buddhist structures with respect to the humanistic qualities associated with Buddhist doctrine and how Buddhist groups promote their faith and values in an American setting. A unique study of interest to religion, architecture, space and place, US history, Asian Studies and Buddhist Studies.

Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council, architectural historian Robert Proctor examines the transformations in British Roman Catholic church architecture that took place in the two decades surrounding this crucial event. Inspired by new thinking in theology and changing practices of worship, and by a growing acceptance of modern art and architecture, architects designed radical new forms of church building in a campaign of new buildings for new urban contexts. A focussed study of mid-twentieth century church architecture, Building the Modern Church considers how architects and clergy constructed the image and reality of the Church as an institution through its buildings. The author examines changing conceptions of tradition and modernity, and the development of a modern church architecture that drew from the ideas of the liturgical movement. The role of Catholic clergy as patrons of modern architecture and art and the changing attitudes of the Church and its architects to modernity are examined, explaining how different strands of post-war architecture were adopted in the field of ecclesiastical buildings. The church building's social role in defining communities through rituals and symbols is also considered, together with the relationships between churches and modernist urban planning in new towns and suburbs. Case studies analysed in detail include significant buildings and architects that have remained little known until now. Based on meticulous historical research in primary sources, theoretically informed, fully referenced, and thoroughly illustrated, this book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the church architecture, art and theology of this period.

A comprehensive study of the sacred buildings built and designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, this book offers scholarly discussion with analytical drawings and photographs. These projects represent different periods of Wright's career (from 1886 to 1958), new building technologies, and application of his design concepts as demonstrated in his sacred architecture. This unique contribution will be useful to all those interested in Wright's architecture and theory as well as in sacred architecture.

Designed by Le Corbusier, the Chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut draws thousands of visitors each year. Renzo Piano's new project includes three main elements: the gatehouse, the monastery and the landscape. Deep in the lush vegetation, the monastery is a place "of silence, prayer, peace and joy", where everything contributes to spiritual contemplation. Most of the material used in this book has not been previously published, and has been made available through the constant and detailed work of cataloguing and classifying the Foundation's archives. The history of this project will be shown through Renzo Piano's personal notes and memories, starting with his first visit to the site to the opening on September 2011

A guide to over 60 of Britain's most notable abbeys and monasteries. Taking you on a journey that has inspired pilgrims and visitors for centuries, Abbeys and Priories of Britain is the perfect introduction to some of the country's oldest and most beautiful religious centres. The guide will take you from the wilds of the Isle of Iona in Scotland and Iona Abbey to Tintern Abbey in the beautiful Wye Valley in Wales, to the pomp and circumstance of Westminster Abbey, shining regally in England's capital. While many of the entries are now ruins due to Henry VIII's 'Dissolution of the Monasteries' period, a visit still reveals the rich influence and legacy they have had on Britain's history. Beautifully illustrated with over 130 stunning colour images, and with concise and accessible history for each entry, this is both a perfect guide and a much-cherished souvenir of a visit. Includes extended entries on Binham Priory, Blanchland Abbey, Buckfast Abbey, Dryburgh, Fountains Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey, Hexham Abbey, Holyrood Abbey, Jedburgh Abbey, Lindisfarne Priory, Melrose Abbey, Mountgrace Priory, Rievaulx Abbey, Selby Abbey, Strata Florida Abbey, Tewkesbury Abbey, Tintern Abbey, Westminster Abbey, Whitby Abbey and St George's Windsor.

How should we construct sacred spaces, the places where we worship? Transcending Architecture considers the mysterious, profound, and real power of designed environments to address the spiritual dimension of our humanity. By incorporating perspectives from within and without architecture, the book o ers a wide, critical, and nuanced understandin of the lived relationship between the built and the numinous worlds. Far from avoiding the charged issues of subjectivity, culture andintangibility, the book examines phenomenological, symbolic and designerly ways in which the holy gets fixed and experienced through buildings, landscapes, and urban forms, and not just in institutionally defined religious or sacred places. Acknowledging that no individual voice can exhaust the topic, Transcending Architecture brings together a stellar group of scholars and practitioners to share their insights: architect Juhani Pallasmaa and philosopher Karsten Harries, comparative religion scholar Lindsay Jones and architectural theoretician Karla Britton, sacred architecture researcher Thomas Barrie and theologian Kevin Seasoltz, landscape architect Rebecca Krinke and Faith & Form magazine editor Michael Crosbie, are among the illustrious contributors. The result is the most direct, clear, and subtle scholarly text solely focused on the transcendental dimension of architecture available. This book thus provides, on one hand, understanding, relief, and growth to an architectural discipline that usually avoids its ineffable dimension and, on the other hand, a necessary dose of detail and reality to fields such as theological aesthetics, material anthropology, or philosophical phenomenology that too often fall trapped into unproductive generalizations and over-intellectualizations.