دانلود کتاب The gothic cathedral

The soaring lines of the Gothic cathedrals epitomize the aspira-
tions 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 situa-
tion, 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.

This book covers thirty-three cathedrals in six coun-
tries 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 superb
photographs and diagrams, many of them in colour, giving a pan-
oramic 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.

The book will have tremendous appeal not only to the many peo-
ple 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.