How to Read Churches - A Crash Course in Ecclesiatical Architecture

A handy and easy-to-carry book which offers a visual approach to reading the architecture of churches. Covering all the ecclesiastical building types of Western Christianity, you are taken on a journey tracing the development of the church building from the simple stone halls of the Anglo-Saxon period right through to the eclectic designs of the nineteenth century. Another addition to the bestselling series, How to Read Churches is a pocket-sized practical guide showing you how to search for architectural clues that tell hidden stories expressing the liturgical function and spiritual symbolism of a church building.>

List of contents

Introduction

Building Types
Church Types
A Grammar of Styles
Materials
Floor Plans
The Nave
Apses & Sanctuaries
Choirs & Stalls
Vaulting & Buttresses
Domes & Cupolas
Façades & Portals
Baptisteries & Fonts
Windows & Tracery
Towers & Spires
Altars & Tabernacles
Stained Glass
Ornaments & Symbols

Glossary
Resources
Index
Acknowledgements

About the author

Denis R. McNamara holds a BA in the history of art from Yale University and a PhD in architectural history from the University of Virginia. He is the author of two books on Christian architecture and is currently assistant director of The Liturgical Institute, University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Illinois.

Product details

• Authors: Denis R McNamara, Denis R. Mcnamara, Denis R. Tilney Mcnamara, Dr Denis R. McNamara, Henry Tilney
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 21.02.2011
• EAN: 9781408128367
• ISBN: 978-1-4081-2836-7
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 136 mm x 168 mm x 17 mm
• Series: How to Read
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Architecture; RELIGION / Christian Church / History, Christianity, History of Religion, History of Architecture, Church history