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Building the Great Cathedrals
The great European cathedrals are the most conspicuous legacy of medieval times. But how were they commissioned, designed, and built? In this extensively illustrated volume, which includes photographs, architectural drawings, and pages from illuminated manuscripts, historian and author offers a lively, detailed account of the process by which these wondrous structures were erected. approx 220 illustrations, mostly in color.
- GenresNonfictionArchitecture
200 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 29, 2008
Those who have not had the good fortune to stand next to a Gothic cathedral -- and if you live in Washington, you have the National Cathedral, the 7th largest in the world, a magnificent edifice -- perhaps cannot understand the immense sense of awe that I feel for their creators. To think they were built without the assistance of the basic powered machines that we take for granted boggles the mind. They remain extraordinary testaments to the engineering skills and motivation of man in his continuing effort to dominate his landscape.
It has been estimated that by the thirteenth century there was a church for every 200 inhabitants. More stone was quarried to build cathedrals between 1050 and 1350 than was unearthed to create all of the pyramids. They could not have been built without the concomitant transformation of society. The land could no longer support all of the residents through agriculture, so people flocked to towns, which became cities which then sought to build bigger and better monuments than their neighbors. Stone replaced wood, and as new walls were built to hold ever increasing populations, urban patriotism increased. Stone also permitted much larger and taller churches.
Financing was always difficult. Building churches required huge sums of money (for a masterful fictional account of what it must have been like to work on a cathedral, listen to Pillars of the Earth…. by John Follett — excellent), and by the end of the thirteenth century many of the great building sites were left incomplete, as wars and the defense of the realm began to compete for limited funds. Finding a quarry with good stone was essential. It had to be close by if at all possible to reduce cartage costs. To reduce weight of the stone transportation, much of the cutting and sizing was done right at the quarry by the stone carvers. Lower on the economic ladder from the carver was the quarryman. Despite the danger and hardship, because his job was not considered skilled, he was paid the minimum. The most prestigious was the architect. He organized the site under the watchful eyes of the church chapter which collected taxes and paid the workmen.
Preliminary drawings were made on the ground. Changes could easily be made and parchment was very expensive. Final, life-size plans were drawn and traced permanently on the paving floor where many can still be seen today. Medieval builders employed several ingenious devices for moving heavy pieces of stone. The most intriguing was a treadmill built in the shape of a cylinder or wheel. One or two laborers would be employed to walk the wheel that was connected to a rope that ran over several pulleys to a claw. One man working this way could lift up to 1300 pounds. Even though stone became the primary structural commodity, wood was essential for scaffolding and to build frameworks for ceilings. The carpentry skills required for these projects came from the naval traditions. Many carpenters doubled as shipbuilders. Some of their work was unbelievably beautiful, and this book has some extraordinary photographs of some famous examples. As Gothic design reduced the need for solid walls, fresco paintings used to portray religious in symbols and stories were replaced by stained glass. The famed windows at Chartres date from the thirteenth century. Corporations and wealthy individuals vied with each other to have the most glorious windows. The names of the donors were carefully inscribed on the windows. Glass was created by heating river sand and beech ash together. It was then delivered to the lodge where it was cut using the red-hot-point of a knife (diamonds were not used to cut glass until the sixteenth century). The glass was colored using a process and powders that were jealously guarded secrets. Even today, it is impossible to reproduce some of the colors because we have no idea how they were made.
It has been estimated that by the thirteenth century there was a church for every 200 inhabitants. More stone was quarried to build cathedrals between 1050 and 1350 than was unearthed to create all of the pyramids. They could not have been built without the concomitant transformation of society. The land could no longer support all of the residents through agriculture, so people flocked to towns, which became cities which then sought to build bigger and better monuments than their neighbors. Stone replaced wood, and as new walls were built to hold ever increasing populations, urban patriotism increased. Stone also permitted much larger and taller churches.
Financing was always difficult. Building churches required huge sums of money (for a masterful fictional account of what it must have been like to work on a cathedral, listen to Pillars of the Earth…. by John Follett — excellent), and by the end of the thirteenth century many of the great building sites were left incomplete, as wars and the defense of the realm began to compete for limited funds. Finding a quarry with good stone was essential. It had to be close by if at all possible to reduce cartage costs. To reduce weight of the stone transportation, much of the cutting and sizing was done right at the quarry by the stone carvers. Lower on the economic ladder from the carver was the quarryman. Despite the danger and hardship, because his job was not considered skilled, he was paid the minimum. The most prestigious was the architect. He organized the site under the watchful eyes of the church chapter which collected taxes and paid the workmen.
Preliminary drawings were made on the ground. Changes could easily be made and parchment was very expensive. Final, life-size plans were drawn and traced permanently on the paving floor where many can still be seen today. Medieval builders employed several ingenious devices for moving heavy pieces of stone. The most intriguing was a treadmill built in the shape of a cylinder or wheel. One or two laborers would be employed to walk the wheel that was connected to a rope that ran over several pulleys to a claw. One man working this way could lift up to 1300 pounds. Even though stone became the primary structural commodity, wood was essential for scaffolding and to build frameworks for ceilings. The carpentry skills required for these projects came from the naval traditions. Many carpenters doubled as shipbuilders. Some of their work was unbelievably beautiful, and this book has some extraordinary photographs of some famous examples. As Gothic design reduced the need for solid walls, fresco paintings used to portray religious in symbols and stories were replaced by stained glass. The famed windows at Chartres date from the thirteenth century. Corporations and wealthy individuals vied with each other to have the most glorious windows. The names of the donors were carefully inscribed on the windows. Glass was created by heating river sand and beech ash together. It was then delivered to the lodge where it was cut using the red-hot-point of a knife (diamonds were not used to cut glass until the sixteenth century). The glass was colored using a process and powders that were jealously guarded secrets. Even today, it is impossible to reproduce some of the colors because we have no idea how they were made.
November 23, 2014
Wow, my book reading has been cut down by my first year of teaching, but I did manage to get through this one in brief moments before I collapsed of exhaustion before bed. The fact that it was translated from French showed a bit too much. The pictures were nice, and the general argument about cathedrals was good, if a bit too philosophical at times. If nothing else, this book made me appreciate cathedrals all the more.
March 26, 2026
Beautifully illustrated, this book comes across as also being the result of in-depth research. This looks like a coffee table book - it isn’t. Now I’ve found somewhere else I want to go - Museum of the Oeuvre Norte-Dame de Strasbourg.
June 22, 2026
This is a very in-depth look at a very particular subject. It contains a lot of good history, but the translation is poor in a number of places.
March 16, 2020
Pros: lots of large illustrations and photographs, goes over the entire process, easy to read
Cons: some extraneous information, refutes bad information by first teaching it to the reader
The book consists of six chapters: The Age of the Cathedrals; Patronage, Financing, and the Workshop Committee; The Architect; Before Reaching the Cathedral Construction-site; The Cathedral Construction-site; and The Memory of the Builders. I was hoping for a more in depth explanation of how cathedrals are built, from beginning to end. This turned out to be a very basic primer of the process. Turns out that’s all I really needed. There are over 200 colour photos, making this is a luscious book. It’s oversized so the photos are also quite large. There’s a good mix with a lot of building images and photos from various cathedrals.
The emphasis here is on French cathedrals and guilds, branching out briefly to touch on other places. I found it a bit annoying how the author kept refuting beliefs. Yes, it’s important to correct misconceptions but I’d prefer that be done by simply explaining the correct answer rather than taking up room to teach the bad information first. I also found the short chapter on whether a modern French confraternity descends from the medieval guilds unnecessary.
The last chapter includes information on a sketchbook that survives from the middle ages which reproduces many cathedral design elements. That was fantastic. I also appreciated the translations of some of the guild regulations for stonecutters.
This is a basic guide to the construction of cathedrals - from start to finish - whose illustrations really make it worth the price.
Cons: some extraneous information, refutes bad information by first teaching it to the reader
The book consists of six chapters: The Age of the Cathedrals; Patronage, Financing, and the Workshop Committee; The Architect; Before Reaching the Cathedral Construction-site; The Cathedral Construction-site; and The Memory of the Builders. I was hoping for a more in depth explanation of how cathedrals are built, from beginning to end. This turned out to be a very basic primer of the process. Turns out that’s all I really needed. There are over 200 colour photos, making this is a luscious book. It’s oversized so the photos are also quite large. There’s a good mix with a lot of building images and photos from various cathedrals.
The emphasis here is on French cathedrals and guilds, branching out briefly to touch on other places. I found it a bit annoying how the author kept refuting beliefs. Yes, it’s important to correct misconceptions but I’d prefer that be done by simply explaining the correct answer rather than taking up room to teach the bad information first. I also found the short chapter on whether a modern French confraternity descends from the medieval guilds unnecessary.
The last chapter includes information on a sketchbook that survives from the middle ages which reproduces many cathedral design elements. That was fantastic. I also appreciated the translations of some of the guild regulations for stonecutters.
This is a basic guide to the construction of cathedrals - from start to finish - whose illustrations really make it worth the price.
November 17, 2014
I’ve just finished re-reading Follett’s Pillars of the Earth, in preparation for the sequel, and that got me interested again in the process of erecting the great Gothic cathedrals. I was looking mostly for good illustrations and architectural plans and drawings, and while this oversized volume has some of that, it’s really not what I expected, based on the title. Icher is apparently a leading French authority on medieval crafts guilds, and much of the book is given over to describing how the stonemasons were organized, how one became a master, and so on. There’s considerably less about the actual planning and construction of the buildings, and almost nothing on the evolution of the Gothic style from the Romanesque. A nice book, but far from being the best.
March 29, 2008
This is one of the most interesting books I have read. I picked it up at the Washington National Cathedral bookstore, and I'm so glad that I carried this heavy book as I walked across DC.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews