Product Description

In the twelfth century, Christians in Europe began to build a completely new kind of church - not the squat, gloomy buildings we now call Romanesque, but soaring, spacious monuments flooded with light from immense windows. The inception of the age of Gothic architecture in the late twelfth century marked a profound change in the way some prominent Western intellectuals and theologians pictured the Universe and humanity's relationship with it. They began to imagine a God who built the cosmos using logical 'rules', based on geometry, that mankind could deduce using the faculty of reason.This faith in an ordered, rational and harmonious universe was given physical expression in the great cathedrals, and more than any other in Chartres Cathedral, an unparalleled feat of craftsmanship in which all the elements of the new style cohered perfectly for the first time. This change in thinking was by no means universal, and it led to furious debates about how far it was 'proper' to enquire into the nature of the universe. These conflicts mark the beginning of the tensions that are still felt today between faith and reason. "Universe of Stone" establishes Chartres Cathedral's iconic role in Europe's history: a revolution in thought embodied in stone and glass, a philosophy made concrete through the cooperation of theologians, craftsmen and engineers. It shows us that there are other ways of seeing the world and reveals, as never before, the complex workings of the medieval mind.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75047 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
`lively...illuminating sections...masterpiece. The erudition with which Ball imparts his knowledge does nothing to diminish his sense of wonder' --Observer

Review
'lucid, resplendent book'

Review
'riveting'

Customer Reviews

It's not all about architecture
A quite superb history of not just Chartres Cathedral but a history of the medieval era, economics, politics, religion, warfare, it's all in here. Deftly written, you will struggle to find a more enjoyable history book this year - especially, if like the copy I bought, it is in the "Architecture" section!

By the way the Amazon price is a snip!

Rocky subtitle
Two thirds of this book was primarily about the building and the edifice that is Chartres Cathedral, and was fascinating. The author went to some lengths to put this amazing feat (that is a Gothic cathedral) into a religious, philosophical and scientific context. Since just about every scientific 'belief' the builders and sponsors had at the time was erroneous, I have a problem with the word "Triumph" in the sub-title. However, I really enjoyed the book, and as one reviewer who was quoted on the cover said: ". . the impulse to catch the next Eurostar and head out to Chartres is strong"