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.

The Place of the Mosque: Genealogies of Space, Knowledge, and Power extends Foucault's analysis Of Other Spaces and the "ideological conflicts which underlie the controversies of our day [that] take place between pious descendants of time and tenacious inhabitants of space." The book uses this framework to illuminate how mosques have been threatened in the past, from the Cordoba Mosque in the eighth century to the development of Moorish aesthetics in nineteenth-century United States to the clashes surrounding the building of mosques in the West in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Foucault's genealogy allows us to elaborate and study the subjects that are caught in the emergence of a battle-the social and political will to power, the networks of power and the rituals of power-in the interstitial space which define the subjects and clears a space ruling both the body and space. In going beyond individual buildings to broader geographical and genealogical dimensions of the power struggles, The Place of the Mosque reconciles the public space experience, governmentality, and micro powers, paving the way for a new philosophical language. Expanding architectural and urban regional approaches, Kahera shows the biopolitical significance of the problem of space.

Green men are figures or heads that were carved in churches, abbeys and cathedrals from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Inspired by the illustrations in book margins where heads were used to terminate trails of foliage, they were usually carved in the form of human masks, cats' or demons' heads. The earliest architectural green men are found in the churches of the wealthy and influential, such as Henry I's private chapel in Derbyshire but they were still produced in lesser numbers into the nineteenth century. Richard Hayman discusses the origins and definitions of these fascinating figures and traces their many declines and revivals throughout history - a valuable guide for any church history enthusiast.

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 ruined silhouette of the Parthenon on its hill above Athens is one of the world's most famous images. Its 'looted' Elgin Marbles are a global cause celebre. But what actually are they? In a revised and updated edition, Mary Beard, award winning writer, reviewer and leading Cambridge classicist, tells the history and explains the significance of the Parthenon, the temple of the virgin goddess Athena, the divine patroness of ancient Athens.

"20 Sussex Churches" provides a concise and accessible introduction to the parish churches of Sussex reflecting the region's rich cultural history. Simon Watney has selected 20 buildings which represent the country's changing fortunes from Anglo-Saxon times to the 20th century. Ranging from grand urban buildings to remote and often humble country churches, as much attention is paid to the remarkable monuments and furnishings they contain, including murals and stained glass, as to their architecture. The question of why churches matter in the modern world, and the many kinds of pleasure they can provide to Christians and non-Christians alike, is also explored.

The ruin of St Peter's College has sat on a wooded hilltop above the village of Cardross for more than three decades. Over that time, with altars crumbling, graffiti snaking across its walls and nature reclaiming its concrete, it has gained a mythical, cult-like status among architects, preservationists and artists. St Peter's only fulfilled its original role as a seminary for 14 years, from 1966 to 1979. As its uncompromising design gave way to prolonged construction and problematic upkeep, the Catholic Church reassessed the role of seminaries, resolving to embed trainee priests not in seclusion, but in communities. Although briefly repurposed as a drug rehabilitation centre, the building was soon abandoned to decay and vandalism. Ever since, people have argued and puzzled over the future and importance of St Peter's. It has been called both Scotland's best and worst twentieth century building. In 1992, it was listed category A. One of its architects suggested the idea of `everything being stripped away except the concrete itself - a purely romantic conception of the building as beautiful ruin'. And now in 2016, St Peter's is renewed as a cultural space through the work of the arts organisation NVA. In this landmark book, Diane Watters looks at the history of a structure that emerged out of an innovative phase of post-war Catholic church building. She traces the story of an architectural failure which morphed into a tragic modernist myth: unappreciated architects betrayed by an unloving client, and abandoned by an uncaring society. This is a historian's account of the real story of St Peter's College: an exploration of how one of Scotland's most singular buildings became one its most troubled - and most celebrated.

The catacombs of Rome have captured imaginations for centuries. This innovative study takes a fresh look at these underground spaces, and considers how art, space, texts, and practices can tell us more about the catacombs and the people who dug and decorated them.

The Mosque in Mecca, arranged around the central Ka’ba, is the holiest site in Islam. Mecca is the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed. The Ka’ba was constructed on a site of a temple from a pre-Islamic period. The city of Mecca has grown over the centuries like its counterpart, Madinah, where the Prophet died in the seventh century. Mecca now accommodates as many as tens of thousands of pilgrims in a single day. The site is the point of pilgrimage to which pilgrims travel from across the world in the annual Hajj, a key point in Islamic spiritual life. The Ka’ba is a symbol of unity, a structure of the greatest geometrical simplicity containing a single door. It is, however, considered to be feminine in gender and is draped in a covering of black cloth known as Al Astar to protect its modesty. This cloth, woven with gold, is replaced every year with a special ceremony. On this one day, the Ka’ba is left exposed and unveiled. Adel Alquraishi, a Saudi photographer from Riyadh, had established his reputation with the authorities of the Great Mosque in Mecca with his work on the Guardians of the Mosque in Madinah, published in 2020 as The Guardians. In parallel with that great book, the authorities of the Great Mosque in Mecca have enabled Adel Alquraishi to photograph the Ka’ba, the epicentre of Islam, in its undraped state.

Changes in the layout of the cathedral and its close traced over 600 years, using Norwich as a case-study. Winner of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award What explains the layout of the cathedral and its close? What ideas and beliefs shaped this familiar landscape? Through this pioneering study of the development of theclose of Norwich cathedral - one of the most important buildings in medieval England - from its foundation in 1096 up to c.1700, the author looks at changes in cathedral landscape, both sacred and social. Using evidence from history, archaeology and other disciplines, Professor Gilchrist reconstructs both the landscape and buildings of the close, and the transformations in their use and meaning over time. Much emphasis is placed on the layout and the ways in which buildings and spaces were used and perceived by different groups. Patterns observed at Norwich are then placed in the context of other cathedral priories, allowing a broader picture to emerge of the development of the English cathedral landscape over six centuries. Roberta Gilchrist is Professor of Archaeology and Research Dean at the University of Reading. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and held the post of Archaeologist toNorwich Cathedral for 12 years.

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.

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.

Founded in 1421, the Collegiate Church of Manchester, which became a cathedral in 1847, is of outstanding historical and architectural importance. But until now it has not been the subject of a comprehensive study. Appearing on the 600th anniversary of the Cathedral's inception by Henry V, this book explores the building's past and its place at the heart of the world's first industrial city, touching on everything from architecture and music to misericords and stained glass. Written by a team of renowned experts and beautifully illustrated with more than 100 photographs, this history of the 'Collegiate Church' is at the same time a history of the English church in miniature. -- .

The Genius of Japanese Carpentry tells the story of the 1200-year-old Yakushiji monastery in Nara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the dedicated modern-day craftsmen who are working to restore what has been lost to the depredations of time, fire and warfare. Although the monastery's reconstruction will not be fully completed until 2030, one of the primary temples, the Picture Hall, has been wholly restored employing the same materials, tools and techniques originally used in its creation over a millennium ago. Featuring intricate, puzzle-like joinery and the integration of timber pieces to orient them in the same direction as when it was a growing tree, this book skillfully documents the stunning craftsmanship of the ancient Japanese, which is still alive today. First published more than thirty years ago, this book has become a classic. Author Azby Brown, one of the world's leading experts on Japanese architecture, chronicles the painstaking restoration of the Yakushiji monastery through: Extensive interviews with carpenters and woodworkers Original drawings based on the plans of master carpenter Tsunekazu Nishioka Detailed photographs and diagrams showing the woodworking techniques, tools and materials used This revised edition of the book contains a new foreword by Mira Locher, one of the world's leading experts on vernacular and modern Japanese architecture. An inspiring testament to the dedication of these craftsmen and their philosophy of carpentry work as a form of personal fulfillment, The Genius of Japanese Carpentry offers detailed documentation of the restoration of this historic building and a moving reminder of the unique cultural continuity found in Japan.

The 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 its sacking by Cromwell's men during the Civil War, and as its secrets are gradually revealed it continues to stimulate the historical imagination.

The Tempietto, the embodiment of the Renaissance mastery of classical architecture and its Christian reinvention, was also the pre-eminent commission of the Catholic kings, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, in papal Rome. This groundbreaking book situates Bramante's time-honored memorial dedicated to Saint Peter and the origins of the Roman Catholic Church at the center of a coordinated program of the arts exalting Spain's leadership in the quest for Christian hegemony. The innovations in form and iconography that made the Tempietto an authoritative model for Western architecture were fortified in legacy monuments created by the popes in Rome and the kings in Spain from the later Renaissance to the present day. New photographs expressly taken for this study capture comprehensive views and focused details of this exemplar of Renaissance art and statecraft.

Temples for a Modern God is one of the first major studies of American religious architecture in the postwar period, and it reveals the diverse and complicated set of issues that emerged just as one of the nation's biggest building booms unfolded. Jay Price tells the story of how a movement consisting of denominational architectural bureaus, freelance consultants, architects, professional and religious organizations, religious building journals, professional conferences, artistic studios, and specialized businesses came to have a profound influence on the nature of sacred space. Debates over architectural style coincided with equally significant changes in worship practice. Meanwhile, suburbanization and the baby boom required a new type of worship facility, one that had to attract members and serve a social role as much as it had to to honor the Divine. Price uses religious architecture to explore how Mainline Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, and other traditions moved beyond their ethnic, regional, and cultural enclaves to create a built environment that was simultaneously intertwined with technology and social change, yet rooted in fluid and shifting sense of tradition. Price argues that these structures, as often mocked as loved, were physical embodiments of a significant, if underappreciated, era in American religious history.

Originally published in 1979, Gold Was the Mortar details the financing and the building of the medieval cathedrals at Paris, Amiens, Toulouse, Lyon, Strasbourg, York, Poitiers and Rouen. The book examines the raising of funds and their expenditure, not only on the Cathedrals themselves, but also on the worldly ambitions of the bishop or archbishop, which went beyond the 'wars and natural disasters' theory to explain the reasons that caused the delays in building the cathedrals. The book also looks at the issues of building the cathedrals, such as the availability of finance and how for some there was a steady flow of funds while others suffered prolonged breaks. The book also provides case studies of specific cathedrals and examines how places such as York were held up by the internecine disputes with Canterbury; Toulouse and Poiters by the vast expropriations following conquests; and Lyon by the suppression of the commercial and social hierarchy. All the cathedrals depended on the benevolence of patrons, but the part played by the commoners, as revealed in wills and contemporary documents, was an extraordinary contribution, usually exceeding that of the nobility and royalty and sometimes that of the hierarchy itself.

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.

Social groups formed around shared religious beliefs encountered significant change and challenges between the 1860s and the 1970s. This book is the first collection of essays of its kind to take a broad, thematically-driven case study approach to this genre of architecture and its associated visual culture and communal experience. Examples range from Nuns' holy spaces celebrating the life of St Theresa of Lisieux to utopian American desert communities and their reliance on the philosophy of Teilhard de Chardin. Modern religious architecture converses with a broad spectrum of social, anthropological, cultural and theological discourses and the authors engage with them rigorously and innovatively. As such, new readings of sacred spaces offer new angles and perspectives on some of the dominant narratives of the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries: empire, urban expansion, pluralism and modernity. In a post-traditional landscape, religious architecture suggests expansive ways of exploring themes including nostalgia and revivalism; engineering and technological innovation; prayer and spiritual experimentation; and the beauty of holiness for a brave new world. Shaped by the tensions and anxieties of the modern era and powerfully expressed in the space and material culture of faith, the architecture presented here creates a set of new turning points in the history of the built environment.

On San Marcos Avenue in St. Augustine, Florida, stands the replicated Mission Nombre de Dios. Towering over the mission is a 208-foot stainless steel cross marking the site of the first known Catholic mass celebrated in Florida in 1620. A few hundred miles to the north in Montgomery, Alabama, sits the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, known to many as the birthplace of the civil rights movement. Newport, Rhode Island's Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1763, urged new leaders Washington and Jefferson to form a government ""which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance."" From the pre-Columbian Anasazi kivas of Colorado built in the 1300s to the Peace Chapel constructed in 1970 on the Canadian border, this work examines the roots of 51 historic sites throughout the United States. Each entry provides detailed background material on the place of worship and those who established it, along with its location and religious affiliation. Sites include those devoted to Indian or Native American, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, Baha'i, and other beliefs. The essays also place the church or site into an historical perspective, tracing how their foundings impacted the development of the United States.

Parisian churches are revered around the globe. Their stunning stained-glass windows and intricate Gothic architecture are accomplishments of unrivalled elegance. Churches of Paris gathers 37 of the finest in the City of Light, spanning the 12th to the 19th centuries. Each entry is embellished with beautiful colour photography and behind-the-scenes historical commentary. Offering insight into the buildings' construction and genesis, this book narrates how each church was shaped by war, revolution and time. With information on restoration and preservation, this is an invaluable guide for Francophiles and curious armchair travellers alike. Featured churches include: Basilique du Sacre-Coeur de Montmartre, Basilique Sainte-Clotilde, Basilique Cathedrale de Saint-Denis, Notre-Dame Cathedral, La Chapelle de l'Epiphanie des Missions Etrangeres et la Salle des Martyrs, La Chapelle Notre-Dame de la Medaille Miraculeuse, La Chapelle Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, La Madeleine, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux, Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, Cathedral Saint-Alexandre-Nevsky, Saint-Augustin, La Sainte-Chapelle, Sainte-Elisabeth-de-Hongrie, Sainte-Marguerite, Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, La Sainte-Trinite, Saint-Eugene-Sainte-Cecile, Saint-Eustache, Saint-Francois-Xavier, Saint-Germain-des-Pres, Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais, Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas, Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes, Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile, Saint-Merry, Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, Saint-Roch, Saint-Severin, Saint-Sulpice, Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, The American Cathedral in Paris

Religion in Britain after the Reformation was remarkably unstable and places of worship were the focus of dispute and regular change. This book is the first substantial synoptic account of Nonconformist church architecture in England and aims to provide a history of Nonconformist architecture, using existing buildings wherever possible. It includes examples from the 17th century to the present day, covering all parts of the country and each of the main religious traditions within Nonconformity. Despite the loss of very large numbers of chapels in the past half-century, there are still around 20,000 Nonconformist congregations in England. The book includes some of the smallest wayside chapels as well as some grand urban structures and aims to mention the most influential Nonconformist buildings as well as giving examples of the most common types. These examples are set in the architectural, religious and cultural context of the development of English Nonconformity. The chronological arrangement allows the reader to follow the main architectural development in the Nonconformist world The range and varied nature of the architecture is illustrated with new photographs of both interiors and exteriors.