Christian Architecture: Gothic Architecture

In this unusually splendid book Wim Swaan,architect,art historian and photographer, gives an illuminating account of the many and various aspects of medieval life that cathedral building involved.The cathedral was not only a place of worship for clergy and laity,but it was also a meeting place ,theatre,and concert hall of the people.In contrast to the Romanesque Abbey,often placed in a deliberately isolated situation,the Gothic cathedral was an expression of a new civic consciousness in the rapidly growing towns,providing a focus of artistic and intellectual life.The cathedral schools,typified by Chartres,were the basis from which the universities grew; the buildings themselves provided the focal point for the arts and crafts,the mathematical knowledge and the philosophy of beauty of the age. "The Gothic Cathedral" covers thirty-three cathedrals in six countries and gives a detailed account of how they were built,of the styles, of the master builders,and of the political events involved.In addition Wim Swaan has provided some 400 new photographs and diagrams,many of them in color,giving a panoramic view of the cathedrals as an architectural achievement,of the magnificent stained -glass windows,which were so much a part of these buildings,and of the great range of liturgical objects-chalices,reliquaries,crucifixes-which amassed in the cathedral treasuries.

"This study of Gothic architecture traces the meaning and development of the Gothic style through medieval churches across Europe. Ranging geographically from Poland to Portugal and from Sicily to Scotland and chronologically from 1093 to 1530, the book analyzes changes from Romanesque to Gothic as well as the evolution within the Gothic style and places these changes in the context of the creative spirit of the Middle Ages. This book is a history - a view of things created, and more than that, an analysis of the essence of the Gothic style and of the ideas that inspired its development."--Jacket.

The book is based on the idea that every civilization is founded on a new ideal of man.In the case of the Gothic masters,they were the first artists to give visual form to the Christian idea of the worth of the individual soul.Their view of man-related to the deepest religious and philosophical ideas o the time-appears not only in the marvellous sculptures of Chartres and other churches but also in the new spatial effects they created using the pointed arch soaring vaults. Through their supreme mastery of applied geometry and the engineering skills of the age, the Gothic masters were among the founders of later Western supremacy in science and technology.Through their daring constructions in stone,wood,and glass they demonstrated through the means of art the beneficent power man can exert over matter and his environment.Their works transcend their age,for they speak as forcefully to us today as to those who first saw them.

It was at Notre-Dame that Joan of Arc was beatified,Napoleon crowned emperor,and Mary Queen of Scots married.Here the rebellious Count of Toulouse was publicly scourged;and here Princess Marguerite,sister of Charles IX.married a Huguenot-triggering the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre of thousands of French Protestants.Within these sacred walls the French prayed for victory in the Crusades,for an end to the Hundred Year's War,and for deliverance from the horror of the Black Death. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,architects tampered with the structure in the name of baroque elegance;during the Reign of Terror,mobs scarred its beauty in the name of revolution.The story of the construction,disfigurement,and final restoration of the cathedral as told in "Notre-Dame de Paris" reflects the drama of France's past ages.
Stunning photographs of Notre-Dame,especially taken for this volume by Adam Woolfitt,reveal details obscured until the present decade by centuries of grime.In addition to these modern views,'Notre-Dame de Paris" is richly illustrated with diagrams and drawings,manuscript illuminations,reliquaries,statues,and paintings-about 150 illustrations, one third in full color.-Dust jacket.

Contents/The Gothic and The Renaissance in Granada/The Royal Chapel/The Gothic Part pf the Royal Chapel//Beginning and progress of the works//Tradition and originality in the architecture of the chapel//Doorways and Chapels/The Renaissance Part of the Royal Chapel//The Tomb of the Catholic Monarchs by Fancelli//The Golden Era of Charles V//The Tomb of King Felipe and Queen Juana,by Bartolome's Ordonez//The High Altar-retable:Bigarny,Berruguete and Siloe// Master Bartolome's exquisite grille//Other creations of the Renaissance :Jacopo Florentino and Machuca//The Baroque Part of the Royal Chapel/The Royal Chapel as a Museum of Paintings/The Incorrectly Named-Minor Arts in The Chapel Museum/The Cathedral Within The Panorama of the City/The Cathedral as The Synthesis of Two Periods and Styles/The Emperor Charles V Fonseca and changes in the design.The Novelty of Siloe's Ideas/The Chancel And The Unity of It's Program//The stained glass windows//The great paintings by Cano//Other decorative and religious pieces.The Chapel entrance//The Doorways By Siloe//Completion of The Building Process,From Maeda To Rodriguez Navajas/The Tower and The Main Facade/The Cathedral as a Museum of Painting and Sculpture/The Retables and Their Development/Mobiliary Arts/Basic Bibliography.

You hold in your hands a short guide to Toledo cathedral.This is not just one more cathedral,like those you have alrady visited,but the most important monument and museum of the City of Toledo.It is in itself a summary and compendium of the art,traditions and legends of this magical city.
This book mainly describes what is normally on view,although it does contain additional information on places which are more difficult to visit.There is a popular saying which,in several different forms ,describes the cathedral together with several of its sisters:"Pulchra Leonina,Fortis Abulensis,Dives Toletana, Sancta Ovetensis":Leon cathedral is pure,Avila's is strong,Toledo cathedral is rich and that of Oviedo is Holy.-Dust jacket.

Along with the studies of selected monuments,this collection includes a number of more theoretical studies of the historiography of modern scholarship;the classification of periods,styles,and concepts;and the development of separate disciplines that often have impeded larger,more synthetic studies of the Gothic building.Several papers focus on the issue of liturgy in its broadest definition,as the use of the building by those owning and operating it.Several authors probe the function of the monument beyond its primary users to the larger sociohistorical setting within medieval history.Thus we see a dialogue among seeing,describing,and interpreting and the mechanics of other interpretive acts beyond the "visual" or the "art" of art history.-Dust jacket.