Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
The Gothic cathedral is one of humanity's greatest masterpieces--an architectural feast that couldn't help but attract the attention of renowned author-illustrator David Macaulay. Once an architectural student at the Rhode Island School of Design, Macaulay glories in the intricacies and beauty of structure, as evidenced in his masterful pen-and-ink drawings in critically acclaimed children's books such as Castle, Pyramid, and Rome Antics. He begins Cathedral in 1252, when the people of a fictitious French town named Chutreaux decide to build a cathedral after their existing church is struck by lightning. We first meet the craftspeople, then examine the tools, study their cathedral plans, and watch the laying of the foundation. Week by week we witness the construction of this glorious temple to God. Macaulay intuitively hones in on the details about which we are the most curious: How were those enormously high ceilings built and decorated? How were those 60-foot-high windows made and installed in the 13th century? And how did people haul those huge, heavy bells up into the skyscraper-high towers? Thanks to Macaulay's thorough, thoughtful tribute to the Gothic cathedral, not a stone, turret, or pane of stained glass is left unexamined or unexplained. (Ages 9 and older) --Gail Hudson
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Good for kids and grown-ups
Customer Rating:
I was reminded the other day how much I used to love these books when I was a kid so I bought a couple of them. They're still great - and surprisingly dense. I liked the pictures when I was young; now I like the extremely detailed explanation of each step of the process of building.
Cathedral's my favorite so far; it was just a lot more complicated than a pyramid. (No offense, dead Egyptian dudes, please don't show up all staggering around in my living room with bits of rotting flesh dripping out from under your bandages; it's bad enough that the cats shed all over the couch.)
DIY on a Cathedral...
Customer Rating:
I first found out about David Macaulay when I got this book as one of the many text books I had to get in my French Culture class in college. It is a wonderful book showing us how a fictional cathedral was made in France. The sketches are lovely in their detail, and the book is a fine gift for either a child or an adult. I urge you to collect are many of his books are you can get you hands on. I have!
Stories for Children Magazine 4 Star Review
Customer Rating:
This first book in David Macaulay's series of well illustrated descriptions of how things in history were built explains the construction of a thirteenth-century Gothic cathedral. In 1252, the people of Chutreaux, France, wished to erect a new cathedral to express thanks for peace, the end of the plague, good weather, plenty of food to eat, and successful business for the city's merchants, after the old one was struck by lightning and damaged. Both the cathedral and people of Chutreaux are imaginary, but the methods of the cathedral's construction correspond closely to the actual building of a medieval cathedral, and the single-minded spirit of the city's populace is typical of people from the twelfth through fourteenth century in Europe.
The book makes a very good resource to accompany a study of the Middle Ages. The Church was extremely important to life in medieval Europe. Since the work on the cathedral covered 86 years, it took three architects--William of Planz, Robert of Cormont, and Etienne of Gaston--to guide the choosing of timbers and stone, laying the foundation, building the walls, installing the glass, and all the other activities needed for the completion of the cathedral in 1338, said to be the longest, widest, highest, and most beautiful cathedral in all of France. The wonderful drawings are quite helpful in being able to see what was happening and to understand the terms that are used. Cathedral was a 1973 Caldecott Honor book.
REVIEWED BY: Wayne S. Walker
Gothic Cathedral
Customer Rating:
Excellent book with fascinating illustration. Good for children and at the same time for universitary pupils!
Macaulay's books
Customer Rating:
This book lives up to my expectations of David Macaulay's books in that it's very well drawn, has an abundant amount of useful information and is presented in a clear, exciting manner!
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