How do space and architecture shape liturgical celebrations within a parish? In Theology and Form: Contemporary Orthodox Architecture in America, Nicholas Denysenko profiles seven contemporary Eastern Orthodox communities in the United States and analyzes how their ecclesiastical identities are affected by their physical space and architecture. He begins with an overview of the Orthodox architectural heritage and its relation to liturgy and ecclesiology, including topics such as stational liturgy, mobility of the assembly, the symbiosis between celebrants and assembly, placement of musicians, and festal processions representative of the Orthodox liturgy. Chapters 2-7 present comparative case studies of seven Orthodox parishes. Some of these have purchased their property and built new edifices; Denysenko analyzes how contemporary architecture makes use of sacred space and engages visitors. Others are mission parishes that purchased existing properties and buildings, posing challenges for and limitations of their liturgical practices. The book concludes with a reflection on how these parish examples might contribute to the future trajectory of Orthodox architecture in America and its dialogical relationship with liturgy and ecclesial identity.

Ahmad ibn Tulun (835-84), the son of a Turkic slave in the Abbasid court of Baghdad, became the founder of the first independent state in Egypt since antiquity, and builder of Egypt's short-lived third capital of the Islamic era, al-Qata'i' and its great congregational mosque. After recounting the story of Ibn Tulun and his successors, architectural historian Tarek Swelim presents a topographic survey of al-Qata'i', a city lost since its complete destruction in 905. He then provides a detailed architectural analysis of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, which was spared the destruction and is now the oldest surviving mosque in Egypt and Africa, from the time of its completion until today. Rare archival illustrations and early photographs document the changing appearance and uses of the mosque in modern times, while extraordinary 3D computer renderings take us back in time to recreate its architectural development through its early centuries. Plans, drawings, and maps complement the history, while striking modern color photographs showcase the elegant simplicity of the building's architecture and decoration.This definitive and generously illustrated book will appeal to scholars and students of Islamic art history, as well as to anyone interested in or inspired by the beauty of early mosque architecture.

This is the first comprehensive and up-to-date account of the internal arrangement of church buildings in Western Europe between 1500 and 2000, showing how these arrangements have met the liturgical needs of their respective denominations, Catholic and Protestant, over this period. In addition to a chapter looking at the general impact of the Reformation on church buildings, there are separate chapters on the churches of the Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions between the mid-sixteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, and on the ecclesiological movement of the nineteenth century and the liturgical movement of the twentieth century, both of which have impacted on all the churches of Western Europe over the past 150 years. The book is extensively illustrated with figures in the text and a series of plates and also contains comprehensive guides to both further reading and buildings to visit throughout Western Europe.

WINNER OF THE 2022 FRENCH HERITAGE SOCIETY BOOK AWARD The profound emotion felt around the world upon seeing images of Notre-Dame in flames opens up a series of questions: Why was everyone so deeply moved? Why does Notre-Dame so clearly crystallise what our civilisation is about? What makes ‘Our Lady of Paris’ the soul of a nation and a symbol of human achievement? What is it that speaks so directly to us today? In answer, Agnès Poirier turns to the defining moments in Notre-Dame’s history. Beginning with the laying of the corner stone in 1163, she recounts the conversion of Henri IV to Catholicism, the coronation of Napoleon, Victor Hugo’s nineteenth-century campaign to preserve the cathedral, Baron Haussmann’s clearing of the streets in front of it, the Liberation in 1944, the 1950s film of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, starring Gina Lollobrigida and Anthony Quinn, and the state funeral of Charles de Gaulle, before returning to the present. The conflict over Notre-Dame’s reconstruction promises to be fierce. Nothing short of a cultural war is already brewing between the wise and the daring, the sincere and the opportunist, historians and militants, the devout and secularists. It is here that Poirier reveals the deep malaise – gilet jaunes and all – at the heart of the France.

Built in 1290, the cathedral at Orvieto, Italy, is a masterpiece of Italian gothic architecture. The decoration of the Cappella Nuova, commenced by Fra Angelico in 1447 and magnificently completed by Luca Signorelli in 1499 and 1504, displays an awe-inspiring Last Judgement and Apocalypse and, below it, scenes from Dante and classical literature. Drawing on years of detailed research into the history of the chapel, Sara Nair James identifies Signorelli's theological advisors as a group of Dominican scholars, known as the 'Masters of the Sacred Page of this city'. She presents the decoration as an integrated whole, a program complex in iconography, message, source material and theory and, through a detailed response to Dante's Divine Comedy and a moralized reading of classical legends, explains how the events of the end-time join the literary narratives to form a sermon on salvation through penance. The book is not simply a work of traditional iconography, explaining the stories behind the pictures. It is an important study in the theory and techniques of the visual representation of religious belief and its reception by the laity. The detailed illustration includes many photographs taken after the restoration of the chapel in 1996.

The countryside, towns and cities of Britain are full of churches. They represent some of the most iconic, beautiful and occasionally bizarre buildings in the country. They have a lot to say about our history, our art and our ideas. But how do you read them? Through charming illustrations, "Rice's Church Primer "reveals the basic grammar and vocabulary of church architecture throughout the United Kingdom. As Matthew Rice says, 'Once you can speak any language, conversations can begin, but without it communications can only be brief and brutish. The same is the case with Architecture: an inability to describe the component parts of a building leaves one tongue-tied and unable to begin to discuss what is or is not exciting, dull or peculiar about it.' "Rice's Church Primer" explains the language of architecture in churches, from the restrained Norman style of William the Conqueror to the gilded excesses of the Baroque. The primer begins with an explanation of the basic 'Grammar' of churches: elevation, plan, fronts, vaults and towers. This allows the reader to easily understand what follows. Next comes the 'Vocabulary' of styles in chronological order, from ancient Saxon churches to modern cathedrals. Each period covers component parts like doors, windows, towers, pews, panelling and pulpits. Finally, there is a map pinpointing some of the best churches around the country, so you can practise your newfound fluency in real life.With Matthew Rice's elegant and witty illustrations to guide you, suddenly you'll understand why naves are necessary, why towers are built as tall as possible and why sometimes even the most respectable church needs a good flying buttress.

Using detailed analyses of individual buildings as a point of departure, Professor Buchwald here examines various approaches to Byzantine architectural forms, and raises questions concerning the use of stylistic and other forms of analysis. One group of articles focuses on stylistic currents in Asia Minor, including that of the 13th-century Lascarid dynasty, previously unknown. Others explore methods which appear to have been used in the design of Byzantine churches, such as dimensional 'rules of thumb', modular and geometric systems of proportion, and the quadratura, hitherto recognised only in Western architecture. The final essays pose further questions: what were the goals and achievements of Byzantine architects, when they transformed older existing buildings? How, and why, did they use stereometric Euclidean geometry? And was there any ultimately Platonic connection?

When The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods first appeared in 1962, it was hailed by the critics for it erudition, historical imagination and boldness. Subsequently, this comprehensive study of Greek temples and site-planning has been widely accepted as a landmark of architectural history, for it offers an inspired and arresting insight into nature and function of Greek sacred architecture. Vincent Scully, one of America's most brilliant and articulate scholars, understands the temples as physical embodiment of the gods in landscapes that had for the Greeks divine attributes and sacred connotations. He explores the meanings inherent in the calculated interaction between man-made sculptural forces and the natural landscape, and he relates this interaction to our understanding of Greek culture from the pre-Greek Aegean to the Hellenistic period. Years of research and travel were devoted to The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods. Scores of sites were restudied on the spot, including many lesser-known sanctuaries throughout the Hellenic world. The study includes reconstruction drawings, plans, and maps along with its richly illustrated, detailed discussions of major sites.

In the past decade, cathedrals have blossomed as signs of growth for the Anglican Church in England and Wales. They have opened their doors to growing congregations, to widening participation at the major Christian festivals, and to visitors, pilgrims, and tourists on a changing quest for religious experience and for spiritual fulfilment. In this thought-provoking volume Leslie J. Francis' research group presents ten focused empirical studies that illuminate what is really going on in these cathedrals.

First full-length survey of the Temple Church, from its foundation in the twelfth century to the Second World War. Founded as the main church of the Knights Templar in England, at their New Temple in London, the Temple Church is historically and architecturally one of the most important medieval buildings in England. Its round nave, modelled on the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, is extraordinarily ambitious, combining lavish Romanesque sculpture with some of the earliest Gothic architectural features in any English building of its period. It also holds one of the most famous series of medieval effigies in the country. Major developments in the post-medieval period include the reordering of the church in the 1680s by Sir Christopher Wren, and a substantial restoration programme in the early 1840s. Despite its extraordinary importance, however, it has until now attracted little scholarly or critical attention, a gap that is remedied by this volume. It considers the New Temple as a whole in the Middle Ages, and allaspects of the church itself from its foundation in the twelfth century to its war-time damage in the twentieth. Richly illustrated with numerous black and white and colour plates, it makes full use of the exceptional range and quality of the antiquarian material available for study, including drawings, photographs, and plaster casts. Contributors: Robin Griffith-Jones, Virginia Jansen, Philip Lankester, Helen Nicholson, David Park, Rosemary Sweet, William Whyte, Christopher Wilson. Robin Griffith-Jones is Master of the Temple at the Temple Church; David Park is a Professor at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Winner of the DAM Architectural Book Award 2017 This book - an astonishing achievement following five years of detailed and original research - presents the first systematic survey of the fifty most important medieval parish church towers and spires in England, covering a period of some five hundred years. The introduction provides an overview of the technological and aesthetic development of towers and spires, and examines the evolution of their major architectural elements. The process of medieval steeple construction is also explored. The main part of the book is devoted to a richly illustrated survey of the fifty most important medieval steeples in England, from renowned Saxon churches such as Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, to those of almost cathedral-like proportions such as Salle in Norfolk or Chipping Campden in the heart of the Cotswolds. With over 250 high-quality photographs and around 175 immaculate explanatory line drawings, this book will appeal to the many thousands who visit England's parish churches and who find in them some of the greatest pleasures that buildings can offer.

This work is the first systematic study of how monumental buildings were constructed in medieval Russia. It deals specifically with ecclesiastical architecture, but also discusses such secular architecture, palaces or towers. In scope the book covers the territory of the Kievan state and the principalities that succeeded it, from the 10th century to the 13th century. Pavel Aleksandrovich Rappoport was the author of many of the standard works on the architectural history of Russia, whether monumental, military or domestic. He was also a leading archaeologist. In Building the Churches of Kievan Russia his aim is to investigate how people went about building them: from brickmaking and lime-firing to the roofing and decoration, from how the churches were laid out to how much brickwork was laid in a day. This book treats all these processes as one integrated and interconnected procedure. The detailed analysis enables Rappoport to identify the work of particular teams of builders, even individual masters, and to follow their progress from one site to another, and one town to a second. Similarly, he documents how the Byzantine styles and methods of church building, imported into Russia after its conversion in 989, were gradually adapted to meet the needs of local circumstances and climate. This study will be of direct relevance to those concerned with the architecture and the Church of pre-Mongol Russia, as well as its social history. The investigation of the earliest churches, furthermore, represents the sole extended discussion of Byzantine building practices. In terms of methodology, the book will be of interest to all architectural historians and archaeologists concerned with the Middle Ages, and makes accessible in English material that has hitherto only been available in Russian.

Shortlisted for the East Anglian Book Awards 2016! It has been estimated that over 90% of England's figurative medieval art was obliterated in the image destruction of the Reformation. Medieval angel roofs, timber structures with spectacular and ornate carvings of angels, with a peculiar preponderance in East Anglia, were simply too difficult for Reformation iconoclasts to reach. Angel roof carvings comprise the largest surviving body of major English medieval wood sculpture. Though they are both masterpieces of sculpture and engineering, angel roofs have been almost completely neglected by academics and art historians, because they are inaccessible, fixed and challenging to photograph. 'The Angel Roofs of East Anglia' is the first detailed historical and photographic study of the region's many medieval angel roofs. It shows the artistry and architecture of these inaccessible and little-studied medieval artworks in more detail and clarity than ever before, and explains how they were made, by whom, and why. Michael Rimmer redresses the scholarly neglect and brings the beauty, craftsmanship and history of these astonishing medieval creations to the reader. The book also offers a fascinating new answer to the question of why angel roofs are so overwhelmingly an East Anglian phenomenon, but relatively rare elsewhere in the country.

Standing in the nave of a cathedral, it is hard not to wonder how ordinary human beings could have created sky-scraping, dizzyingly high buildings on which even the top-most parts were delicately decorated, in an age before even the simplest of power tools. Stone on Stone presents the full story of the men who built the cathedrals of the medieval era: who they were, how they lived and how with the simplest of hand tools they created the astonishing buildings that hundreds of years later still stand as monuments to their ingenuity and skill. Topics covered include the context for building such huge places of worship; the men who built: who they were, and the challenges they had to face; finding the materials; construction techniques; building control and finally, who paid for it all.

In the late fifteenth century the newly built Sistine Chapel was home to a vigorous culture of musical composition and performance. Josquin des Prez stood at its center, singing and composing for the pope's private choir. Josquin's Rome offers a new reading of the composer's work in light of the repertory he and his fellow papal singers performed from the chapel's singers' box. Comprising the single largest surviving corpus of late fifteenth-century sacred music, these pieces served as a backdrop for elaborately choreographed liturgical ceremonies-a sonic analogue to the frescoes by Botticelli, Perugino, and their contemporaries that adorn the chapel's walls. Author Jesse Rodin uses a comparative approach to uncover this aesthetically and intellectually rich musical tradition. He confronts longstanding problems concerning the authenticity and chronology of Josquin's music while offering nuanced readings of scandalously understudied works by the composer's contemporaries. The book further contextualizes Josquin by locating intersections between his music and the wider soundscape of the Cappella Sistina. Central to Rodin's argument is the idea that these pieces lived in performance. The author puts his interpretations into practice through a series of exquisite recordings by his ensemble, Cut Circle (available both on the companion website and as a CD from Musique en Wallonie). Josquin's Rome is an essential resource for musicologists, scholars of the Italian Renaissance, and enthusiasts of early music.

This book explores Louis I. Kahn's approach to tradition as revealed in two of his important, unbuilt, projects. Focusing on Kahn's designs for the Dominican Motherhouse of St. Catherine de Ricci, Media, Pennsylvania (1965-1969), and the Hurva Synagogue, Jerusalem, Israel (1967-1974), the book challenges prevailing aesthetic and methodological assessments of Kahn's use of tradition. It reveals how an authentic and critical theoretical-historical and humanistic study of tradition nourished Kahn's designs, enabling him to mediate historical rituals, ideas and beliefs - and to develop innovative designs rooted deep in human culture while addressing real modern concerns. The book evaluates Kahn's works as a creative recreation and re-interpretation of the past, shedding light on the potential value of the meaningful consideration of tradition in modern times.

Old Order Mennonites are deeply faithful, agrarian-rooted, Swiss-German Anabaptists who have called Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, home for 300 years. Their meetinghouses silently embody their religious traditions, and yet few outsiders have seen the startling utilitarian beauty of these rural structures up close. The author and photographer were allowed rare access to 22 austere houses of worship. The result is a one-of-a-kind book featuring over 300 photos and diagrams that document all aspects of the meetinghouses, from the design of their benches and buggy sheds to the arrangement of tables central to worship. As fast-growing Lancaster County encroaches on the Old Order way of life, their communities are changing. This book is a record of an extraordinary religious heritage.

‘Two days after Notre Dame burned, I flew to Paris to appear on the TV programme La Grande Librairie for a discussion about cathedrals. The following morning I had breakfast at the Hotel Bristol with my French publisher and she asked me to write a short book about Notre Dame and what it means to all of us. She said she would donate the publisher’s profits to the rebuilding fund and, if I wished, I could do the same with my royalties. Yes, I said; of course, I’d love to.’ - Ken Follett

Born of his admiration for an an iconic cathedral and how it has influenced his own work, this short book about Notre Dame’s history is Ken Follett’s contribution to the fund created to help rebuild it, a fund that will increase with every sale that is made of the book.

This book presents the first overview of Muslim architecture in Britain, from the earliest examples in the late 19th century, to mosques being built today. Key architectural stages are identified and explained alongside the social history of Muslim settlement and growth. The analysis focuses on the way in which the mosque as a new cultural and architectural form has benefitted into the existing urban fabric of Britain’s towns and cities, and how this new building type has then impacted its urban landscape, socially, culturally and architecturally. The British Mosque is an architectural as well as a social history, and describes the evolution of Britain’s Muslim communities through the buildings they have built. By presenting this architectural narrative for the first time, the book opens up a new field of British Islamic Architecture. The architectural story charts a course from the earliest mosques formed through the conversion of houses, to other large scale conversions through to purpose built mosques and with these the emergence of an Islamic architectural expression in Britain. As the mosque is not solely considered in terms of its architectural style, but also from its social history and cultural meaning, this book provides an observation into the character of British Muslim life and practice and how these have been embodied through its buildings. The future of Islamic architecture in Britain is also considered, and how this will be affected by the growing cultural and social diversification of Britain’s Muslim communities.

Contents: The Pre-Conquest Sculptural Tradition in Durham (Rosemary Cramp); Early Medieval Durham: the Archaeological Evidence (M.O.H. Carver); The Spiral Piers of Durham Cathedral (Eric Fernie); The Galilee Chapel (Richard Halsey); The Nine Altars at Durham and Fountains (Peter Draper); The Neville Screen (Christopher Wilson).

Contents: Sutton in the Isle of Ely and its Architectural Context (Richard Fawcett); Medieval Timberwork at Ely (John Fletcher); The Fourteenth-Century Tile Pavements in Prior Crauden's Chapel and in the South Transept (Lawrence Keen); Ely Cathedral: the Fourteenth-Century Work (Nicola Coldstream).

Between the ninth and fourteenth century, hundreds of architecturally exquisite Byzantine churches, many of them adorned with beautiful frescoes, were built in the area now known as the Republic of Macedonia. The condition of these buildings has been of ongoing concern because of deterioration and destruction from forces both human and natural, including devastating earthquakes.
This book summarizes the results of a four-year study to develop and test seismic retrofitting techniques for the repair and strengthening of those ancient Byzantine churches still in existence. The volume considers the conservation of historic buildings in seismic zones; surveys the condition of fifty existing Byzantine churches in Macedonia; and details the design, construction, and seismic testing of a half-scale model church. The volume also includes representative experimental and technical data.

Following Spains democratic transition during the late 1970s, political and business elites strategically exploited Spains rich Islamic heritage in order to further projects of national redefinition, tourist promotion, and urban revitalization. Large and ornate mosques were built in several Spanish regions, and the State granted Muslim communities an extensive array of rights and privileges that was arguably without parallel in Europe. Toward the onset of the 21st century, however, tensions surrounding Islams growing presence in Spain became increasingly common, especially in the northeastern region of Catalonia. These tensions centered largely around the presence, or proposed establishment, of mosques in Barcelona and its greater metropolitan area. This book examines how Islam went from being an aspect of Spains national heritage to be recovered and commemorated to a pressing social problem to be managed and controlled. It traces the events and developments that gave rise to this transformation, the diverse actors involved in the process, and the manner in which disputes over Muslim incorporation have become entangled with deeply-divisive debates over churchstate relations and territorial autonomy. The core of Rebuilding Islam in Contemporary Spain centers on the shifting political and social dynamics surrounding the establishment of mosques, and the question of why anti-mosque mobilizations have been more prevalent and intense in Catalonia than other Spanish regions.

Notre-Dame of Amiens is one of the great Gothic cathedrals. Its construction began in 1220, and artistic production in the Gothic mode lasted well into the sixteenth century. In this magisterial chronicle, Stephen Murray invites readers to see the cathedral as more than just a thing of the past: it is a living document of medieval Christian society that endures in our own time. Murray tells the cathedral's story from the overlapping perspectives of the social groups connected to it, exploring the ways that the layfolk who visit the cathedral occasionally, the clergy who use it daily, and the artisans who created it have interacted with the building over the centuries. He considers the cycles of human activity around the cathedral and shows how groups of makers and users have been inextricably intertwined in collaboration and, occasionally, conflict. The book travels around and through the spaces of the cathedral, allowing us to re-create similar passages by our medieval predecessors. Murray reveals the many worlds of the cathedral and brings them together in the architectural triumph of its central space. A beautifully illustrated account of a grand, historically and religiously important building from a variety of perspectives and in a variety of time periods, this book offers readers a memorable tour of Notre-Dame of Amiens that celebrates the cathedral's eight hundredth anniversary. Notre-Dame of Amiens is enhanced by high-resolution images, liturgical music, and animations embedded in an innovative website.