The gothic cathedral

The soaring lines of the Gothic cathedrals epitomize the aspirations of the medieval world. Collectively they constitute Europe's greatest architectural heritage; individually they were the most important buildings erected in Europe for over a thousand years - in .most cities even today they remain the largest and most easily visible, dominating their immediate surroundings as well as the cities they serve.In this unusually splendid book Wim Swann, 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 unlettered masses. 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 a 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 Swann has provided some 400 superb 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. Christopher Brooke contributes a wide-ranging and perceptive introduction which places the cathedral against the background of medieval society. His writings include Europe in the Middle Ages, and he has edited Carte Nativorum, The Letters of John of Salisbury and many other works of scholarship. The book will have tremendous appeal not only to the many people who will have visited Europe's cathedrals, but also to those who have not had that opportunity, and at the same time will provide an authoritative basis for the study of this most important of all architectural achievements. The cathedrals covered: France: Laon, Paris, Chartres. Rheims, Amiens, Bourges, Coutances, Rouen, AIbi, Strasbourg.England: Canterbury. Lincoln, Wells, Peterborough, Salisbury, York, Ely, Gloucester.Germany and Austria: Cologne, Freiburg, Regensburg, Ulm, Vienna.Spain: Burgos, Toledo, Leon, Pamplona. Palma, Seville.Italy: Orvieto, Siena, Florence, Milan.