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The volume investigates the visualization of both ritual and decorative aspects of auspiciousness and protection in the form of celestial characters in art and architecture. In doing so, it covers more than two and a half millennia and a broad geographical area, documenting a practice found in nearly every corner of the world. Its transcultural approach aims at gaining insights into cultural dynamics and consistent networks and defining new historical mindmaps; it examines reciprocal effects and aspects of interwovenness in art and architecture with a view to reconceptualizing their established realms. The collection opens a window on a phenomenon in the history of art and architecture that has never before been considered from this perspective. The book focuses on a transcultural iconography of aerial spirits, goddesses and gods in art history, pursuing a methodologically innovative approach in order to redefine and develop the practice of identification and classification of motifs as a means to understanding meaning, and attempting to challenge the categories defined by academic disciplines.
About the author
Niels Gutschow, Jg.1941 in Hamburg, studierte Architektur und Städtebau in Darmstadt, zahlreiche Forschungsprojekte und Veröffentlichungen zur Geschichte von Architektur und Stadt in Europa und Asien, Honorarprofessor der Universität Heidelberg, lebt in Abtsteinach (Odenwald) und in Bhaktapur (Nepal). Hans Stimmann, Jg. 1941 in Lübeck, studierte nach einer Maurerlehre Architektur, Stadt- und Regionalplanung in Lübeck und Berlin, zahlreiche Veröffentlichungen zur Architektur, zum Städtebau und zur Stadtentwicklung besonders Berlins, Senatsbaudirektor a. D. und Honorarprofessor am Institut für Stadtbaukunst der TU Dortmund.
Summary
The volume investigates the visualization of both ritual and decorative aspects of auspiciousness and protection in the form of celestial characters in art and architecture. In doing so, it covers more than two and a half millennia and a broad geographical area, documenting a practice found in nearly every corner of the world. Its transcultural approach aims at gaining insights into cultural dynamics and consistent networks and defining new historical mindmaps; it examines reciprocal effects and aspects of interwovenness in art and architecture with a view to reconceptualizing their established realms. The collection opens a window on a phenomenon in the history of art and architecture that has never before been considered from this perspective. The book focuses on a transcultural iconography of aerial spirits, goddesses and gods in art history, pursuing a methodologically innovative approach in order to redefine and develop the practice of identification and classification of motifs as a means to understanding meaning, and attempting to challenge the categories defined by academic disciplines.
