The fortified religious buildings of Christendom, Islam and Tibetan
Buddhism, described by an acknowledged expert who also includes his
own photographs and detailed plans. Throughout history, great
faiths have been subjected to persecution and attack from beyond
the wall - literally walls, in Peter Harrison's remarkable book of
the great monastery-fortresses, and church-fortresses, of the
world. The fortified religious buildings of Christendom, Islam and
Tibetan Buddhism are some of the most dramatic buildings of the
middle ages. Though they shared a common purpose in defending the
living faith from the armies of the unbeliever, they are
astonishingly different from each other. Peter Harrison has spent a
lifetime in scholarly pursuit of fortified religious buildings
dating from a thousand years ago and more, in the Old and New
Worlds, the Orient, and the Occident, ranging through New Mexico,
North Africa and Tibet, though the majority are to be found in
Europe. The wild, often hostile, terrain in which these fortresses
were built speaks of a militant faith, and Peter Harrison's purpose
is to show how and why religious establishments incorporated
military architecture. He considers this unstudied subject from a
uniquely wide point of view, historical, military, and
architectural. Every formof religious building that received
fortifications is illustrated, from the humble parish churches of
the Anglo-Scottish Borders to the Potala Palace of the Dalai Lama
and the Vatican. Particular features of this book are the author's
photographs, taken in some of the wildest and most inaccessible
parts of the world, and his own very detailed plans and
illustrations of many of the buildings described. SHORTLISTED FOR
THE LONGMAN-HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2005 AWARD. Dr PETER
HARRISON is Research Associate, Centre for Medieval Studies,
University of York.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
