Brough's Books on Cathedrals

Cathedrals

Books on Architecture and Symbolism in Medieval Europe
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Great Cathedrals
by Bernhard Schutz
From Chartres to the cathedral of Florence, this volume covers the major Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals in France, England, Germany, Italy and Spain. Over 300 photographs showing the cathedrals inside and out, including close-up architectural and sculptural details and an authoritative text, combine to produce a survey of these buildings.
Hardcover from Harry N. Abrams
Cathedral : The Story of Its Construction
Macaulay, David
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback (October 26, 1981)
Houghton Mifflin Co; ISBN: 0395316685

The English Cathedral
by Tim Tatton-Brown, John Crook
Hardcover from New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd

 

The Construction of Gothic Cathedrals: A Study of Medieval Vault Erection
The Construction of Gothic Cathedrals: A Study of Medieval Vault Erection
by John Fitchen
Paperback from University of Chicago Press (Trd)
The Gothic Enterprise : A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral
by Robert A. Scott
The great Gothic cathedrals of Europe are among the most astonishing achievements of Western culture. Evoking feelings of awe and humility, they make us want to understand what inspired the people who had the audacity to build them. This engrossing book surveys an era that has fired the historical imagination for centuries. In it Robert A. Scott explores why medieval people built Gothic cathedrals, how they built them, what conception of the divine lay behind their creation, and how religious and secular leaders used cathedrals for social and political purposes. As a traveler's companion or a rich source of knowledge for the armchair enthusiast, The Gothic Enterprise helps us understand how ordinary people managed such tremendous feats of physical and creative energy at a time when technology was rudimentary, famine and disease were rampant, the climate was often harsh, and communal life was unstable and incessantly violent.
While most books about Gothic cathedrals focus on a particular building or on the cathedrals of a specific region, The Gothic Enterprise considers the idea of the cathedral as a humanly created space. Scott discusses why an impoverished people would commit so many social and personal resources to building something so physically stupendous and what this says about their ideas of the sacred, especially the vital role they ascribed to the divine as a protector against the dangers of everyday life.

Scott's narrative offers a wealth of fascinating details concerning daily life during medieval times. The author describes the difficulties master-builders faced in scheduling construction that wouldn't be completed during their own lifetimes, how they managed without adequate numeric systems or paper on which to make detailed drawings, and how climate, natural disasters, wars, variations in the hours of daylight throughout the year, and the celebration of holy days affected the pace and timing of work. Scott also explains such things as the role of relics, the quarrying and transporting of stone, and the incessant conflict cathedral-building projects caused within their communities. Finally, by drawing comparisons between Gothic cathedrals and other monumental building projects, such as Stonehenge, Scott expands our understanding of the human impulses that shape our landscape. 

Hardcover from University of California Press

 

The Gothic Cathedral
by Otto Georg Von, Simson, Otto Von Simson
Paperback from Princeton Univ Pr
1988
Guided by a Stone-Mason: The Cathedrals, Abbeys and Churches of Britain Unveiled
by Thomas Maude
Paperback from I.B. Tauris 

 
Cathedrals of Europe
by Anne Prache
Hardcover from Cornell Univ Pr
The Gothic Cathedral: The Architecture of the Great Church 1130-1530
by Christopher Wilson
Paperback from Thames & Hudson
1992
High Gothic the Classic Cathedrals of Chartres, Reims and Amiens
by Hans Jantzen, James Palmes
Paperback from Princeton Univ Pr
1984
Cathedrals
by Robin S. Oggins
Hardcover from Metro Books

The Early Stained Glass of Canterbury Cathedral, Circa 1175-1220
by Madeline Harrison, Caviness
Hardcover from Princeton Univ Pr
1978
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