Great Cathedrals

There are European cathedrals in almost every architectural style, including Romanesque, Baroque and Renaissance. But it is the Gothic style, perfected during the Late Middle Ages, that has come to epitomize the essence of the continent's truly great cathedrals. In this book, Schutz, an architectural historian at the University of Munich, explores the towering Gothic cathedrals of France, England, Spain, Italy and Germany, all nations of the former Holy Roman Empire. Schutz explains the complex structure of Gothic design, in which the most imposing edifices are "mere frameworks" whose soaring lines appear to belie the laws of gravity. Schutz's text is strong on architectural detail but weak on the social upheavals and theological transformations that marked the centuries he describes. However, this is a very useful art book, complemented as it is by 310 photographs and illustrations, 270 of them in full color, many of them full-page. The photographs by Albert Hirmer, Florian Monheim and Joseph Martin mix attention to detail (stained-glass windows at Strasbourg, the cloisters at Gloucester) with a fine sense of the whole. Here we see the glories of Chartres, Notre Dame and Reims cathedrals in France; Canterbury and Salisbury in England; and the Italian gems at Milan and Venice. This sumptuous book will make a lovely gift for spiritual pilgrims, art aficionados and armchair travelers alike